General Assembly

Over a hundred Vincentians gathered Saturday, February 22, 2020 for the General Assembly at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Austin. The day of prayer, reflection, development, and fellowship helped Vincentians grow spiritually and as an organization to collaborate on ways to better serve those in need.

The day started with the Mass of the Chair of Peter, celebrated by Vincentian Father Kevin Fausz of San Antonio. Father Fausz presented the opening session of the assembly on Vincentian Spirituality. He reminded Vincentians of their two-fold mission to serve the poor and grow in spirituality through their work. When discussing the mission, he encouraged Vincentians to “be creative and think outside the box” especially when recruiting new members and serving the poor. He opened the floor for discussion by taking questions from the members about various concerns and issues.

Another key part of the day was the Strategic Planning workshop presented by Alison Tate, Secretariat Director of Formation and Spirituality for the Diocese of Austin. Through a series of activities, Ms. Tate encouraged participants to share their ideas of what they want to see the Society accomplish in five years. During small group discussions, they discussed challenges and different ways to overcome those challenges. The data from this session will be made available at a later date.

The Assembly concluded with two breakout sessions that featured six workshops. The topics included job searching and financial literacy presented by Allison Lujan and Patricia Cox from Moody Bank; home visits presented by Barbara Kimble and Cecilia Schmidt; officer training presented by Joleen Boyer, Council President; starting a new conference presented by Raymond DuPont, Extension Coordinator; spiritual advisors presented by James Davis, Spiritual Advisor and Susie Way; conference reports presented by Roz Gutierrez, Executive Director; and welcoming new conference members by Tom O’Brien, Vice President.