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SVP - Supporting the Very Poor and needy; It's no charity
Topic Started: Thursday, 26. November 2009, 19:32 (237 Views)
Anne-Marie

KatyA - in another thread
 
Anne-Marie, that sounds wonderful, and you've pricked my conscience! The SVP do a great deal of work in my parish - of which most parishioners are completely unaware

While doing other things today, a thought has been forming somewhere inside me.
Being in the SVP, Supporting the Very Poor and needy, is making me re-think so much of what I have taken so thoughtlessly for granted.

People assume the SVP is charitable… that the SVP gives or dispenses charity to those in need. It doesn’t.
The SVP isn’t about charity, whatever it may be registered as.

Think of scourging and crucifixion:
The thought of being whipped on our bare skin instantly makes us recognise how terrifying facing such painful torture would be – indeed, is for some;
But scourging isn’t/wasn’t being whipped;
Think of a set of cords, each with a meat-hook on the end, perhaps with several sharp prongs on it;
And each of the many times it hits your bare flesh it tears the skin off your bones… and that unendurable pain just goes on and on and gets worse with each blow.
And when they’ve finished scourging you, they then crucify you naked for people to see you dying in excruciating agony.
That’s what they did to God… to Jesus.

Jesus, God Himself, didn’t endure the nightmare torture of scourging and crucifixion as an act of charity. He didn’t endure the final excruciating pain (as if humiliation mattered in the least compared to the agony!) as an act of charity.
Charity didn’t come into Jesus’ death.

Jesus didn’t suffer and die as an act of charity. NOR as an act of love.
Jesus wasn’t tortured and killed because He loves us.
He was tortured and crucified because He refused to STOP loving us.

The SVP does what it does because it is not prepared NOT to love.
Edited by Anne-Marie, Thursday, 26. November 2009, 20:10.
Anne-Marie
FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI
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DannyD

Are you getting all "theological" on us, Anne-Marie?! :jaw:
Dorothy Day (co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement) put it very well in 1945:-

"For a total Christian, the goad of duty is not needed - always prodding one to perform this or that good deed. It is not a duty to help Christ, it is a privilege"
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Deleted User
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If anyone wants to find out more, the website is .svp.org.uk
Because the work they do often involves confidentiality,(visiting the sick, the lonely, the addicted, the imprisoned and those suffering from disabilities). it isn't widely acknowledged at parish level - at least in my parish. Quite often, the only work attracting recognition is the annual party for the elderly
KatyA
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Joe Valente
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I first joined the St.Vincent de Paul in March 1961. At the time it was an all male organisation. Then as today we stood at the Church doors after Mass every Sunday and Holyday of Obligation with our red collection boxes. During the troubles we continued as normal.
I must say, as an addition to Anne Marie's post, the SVP is but a channel. It is the ordinary Catholic who every week drops a 50p or A £1 and often more into the boxes at those weekly collections and then generously supports our annual appeal who makes, whatever we do possible. Not forgetting those who contribute furniture, clothing, jewelery , books etc to our charity shops, these donors are not always Catholics. Thanks to all of them
What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul
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pat
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I've been a SVP member for a few years now and I have met some wonderful people through it. Although there are funds to be disbursed, the majority of the work is in befriending people who are isolated or lonely, letting them know that whatever they're going through they don't have to suffer alone.

As Anne-Marie says it is not about charity. For me, it is an absolute privilege to be allowed to serve in whatever way I can, whether it is helping someone with form-filling or just being a listening ear.
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Joseph

Just as an aside - our local church scrapped its SVP several years ago.

It preferred to do its own thing independently by forming a Care Group.

Something to do with not wishing to be committed to a national organisation, I believe.

Is there a fee to be paid by groups to belong to the SVP society?
Joseph
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Anne-Marie

Joseph
Friday, 27. November 2009, 17:52
Is there a fee to be paid by groups to belong to the SVP society?
'Groups' don't actually belong to the SVP - you have to set up a conference (branch, for the uninitiated) of the SVP.

But, YES, Joseph... that is the catch.
The HQ helps itself to a whopping 20% of whatever you get - even if a school (for example) hands you its own funds and asks you to make the disbursements in your name.

All that is fine, if you want whatever national and international links you can't otherwise organise... but personally I'd rather do it myself and use all the money ourselves!

I DO resent having to hand over 20% to a bureaucracy! I just don't see the point. We get no 'added-value'!
I'd rather have an CSLC - Catholics/Christians Serving the Local Community.
If I could 'liberate' some money, I'd do it myself.
I think your parish is right, Joseph.
(You can tell why I never made it as a politician - I'm too honest!)
Anne-Marie
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Joe Valente
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Anne Marie,

Unless the SVP is organised differently in England to Ireland help can always be obtained from central funds when needed.
It is a question of trying for a fair distribution, some branches in wealthy parishes can raise much more than a branch in a poor parish where more help is actually needed. The wealthy branches help to subsidise the poorer branches.
What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul
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Rose of York
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Is an SVP Conference in a parish responsible to the SVP National Charity, the parish priest, or both?
Keep the Faith!

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Anne-Marie

Rose of York
Friday, 27. November 2009, 18:32
Is an SVP Conference in a parish responsible to the SVP National Charity, the parish priest, or both?
It's PART of the national charity... but the local conference decides what to do with its funds. The PP only dominates it if he tries to and you let him - he has no rights in reality, whether he likes that or not.
Where it can get more interesting is that parish collections tend to go through the parish - which then pockets the tax relief for itself! Partly because it holds the covenant agreements.
Anne-Marie
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Joe Valente
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Anne-Marie
Friday, 27. November 2009, 18:59
Rose of York
Friday, 27. November 2009, 18:32
Is an SVP Conference in a parish responsible to the SVP National Charity, the parish priest, or both?
It's PART of the national charity... but the local conference decides what to do with its funds. The PP only dominates it if he tries to and you let him - he has no rights in reality, whether he likes that or not.
Where it can get more interesting is that parish collections tend to go through the parish - which then pockets the tax relief for itself! Partly because it holds the covenant agreements.
He has one unassailable right. He decides wether or not you can operate in the Parish. Experience tells me that most PPs are fully aware of the "set up" and are most encouraging. The same criteria applies to the Legion of Mary or the Apostolic Workers. Organisations with a national executive, for want of a better term, but reliant on the support and blessing of the PP.
Anne Marie a parish can only hold the covenant agreements if they are made out in the name of the Parish.
What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul
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Anne-Marie

Joe Valente
Friday, 27. November 2009, 19:07
Anne Marie a parish can only hold the covenant agreements if they are made out in the name of the Parish.
Unless you're making a regular contribution to the SVP, you are unlikely to have a separate covenant with them.
Most parishes that have an SVP only have an annual colelction, raising probably under £1000. And most of those donors probably won't have any covenant, so making separate arrangements probably isn't realistic.
Anne-Marie
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Emee
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How about if the SVP were to give out their own separate gift-aided envelopes for their collections - different to the parish's gift-aided envelopes?

That way the SVP would be sure to get the tax relief.

(My Dad also got a lot out of being an SVP member. I think it gave him a new lease of life when he got older...)

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Rose of York
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Emee
Friday, 27. November 2009, 23:30
How about if the SVP were to give out their own separate gift-aided envelopes for their collections - different to the parish's gift-aided envelopes?

That way the SVP would be sure to get the tax relief.

The Gift Aid must be given to a named registered charity. SVP nationwide is one charity, so the tax relief would go to their central fund. Joe mentioned above the the Head Office give grants to conferences in need of funds, so it does seem a good idea.
Keep the Faith!

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Rose of York
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http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=21618

Quote:
 
Volunteers distribute winter survival packs on streets of London

As temperatures plummeted this week, St Vincent de Paul (SVP) volunteers have been out in force for the second year, distributing Vinnie Packs to homeless people on the streets of London, as well as hot drinks and sandwiches.

On Tuesday night, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, behind St Anselm and St Cecilia's Catholic Church, they gave out nearly 150 Packs which contain essentials for keeping warm outdoors, including a woolly hat, gloves, socks, toiletries, thermal blanket and information booklet.

Siobhan Garibaldi, Vice President of the Diocese of Westminster’s St Vincent de Paul Society, explained that the contents of the pack was decided after talking with clients on some of the soup runs they organise around the capital.

"Last year we raised funds and were able to distribute 1,000 packs in London" she said. "They went like hot cakes. Fortunately we were then approached by London firm, Arrow Communications, who sponsored and packed another 1,000 for us as a 'team-building exercise'. This year we have got 5,000 packs. The SVP will be distributing these in several cities around the country."

Tuesday's group of volunteers included Katharina Muller, Interreligious Adviser to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, Dr Monica Janowski and Chris Driscoll from the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN). The day was also supported by the Gurseva Sikh community project.

The project was started up last year, and was endorsed by Archbishop Vincent Nichols who said at the time: “This is an excellent idea. I know that sometimes people are reluctant to make a donation to homeless street sleepers. I am sure they will welcome being able to give a ‘Vinnie Pack’ as a way of helping people living on the streets of London. I thank the St Vincent de Paul Society for this imaginative initiative.”

At £3, the packs can be bought by people who would like to give them to people on the street. Vinnie Packs can be bought from churches, bookshops or by post from the St Vincent de Paul Society. If you would like to make a donation, order some Vinnie Packs, or if your company would like to be involved in the project, please write to SVP, 46 Brunswick Court, Regency Street, London SW1P 4AE, or contact Siobhan Garibaldi on 07929 490090 e-mail: siobhan.garibaldi@ntlworld.com


Article reproduced in full, with permission.
Keep the Faith!

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