As members from across the Ontario Region gathered in Etobicoke this April for the ONRC Annual General Meeting, I was reminded of one of our Society’s values: that we ‘come together as a family’. We say it at our conference and council meetings, every time we recite our Mission Statement. It is one of the main reasons we have conference meetings and it helps to make us who we are, a family.
Our family is diverse and growing. According to ssvp.global.org 536 conferences were aggregated in 2017. For that, we thank God!

Yet we hear that so many of our conferences here in Canada are searching for ways to increase membership. Our members are aging and there aren’t enough new Vincentians to replace those who become inactive. There are many reasons for this. Younger adults are busy people. Lay Catholics are fewer in number and participating less. The list of reasons goes on.

I wonder if we sometimes forget that we are members of more than just our own conference. We are members of the global Vincentian Family. Every Vincentian in every conference in the six continents where we have conferences is my brother or sister. I may never meet or converse, or even e-message with these siblings of mine, but they are my sisters and brothers. So are the Vincentians of my Particular Council, my Central Council, my Regional and my National Councils and I can be a part of these. The ONRC meeting in Etobicoke was the latest opportunity to engage with some of my extended Vincentian Family. In June the Annual General Assembly of the Society in Canada will take place in St. John’s Newfoundland. Many Vincentians will travel from across Canada to meet and pray and share our family stories.

Newfoundland is far for most Ontario Vincentians to travel. But let’s mark our calendars for the next Ontario Region and National meetings. The ONRC Fall meeting will be held on September 28 and 29, 2018 in Sarnia. In June, 2019 the AGA for all of Canada will be held in Windsor. Ontario’s Vincentians could fill those meetings with members bringing prayers and ideas for the future of our Society. Until then, we have a new prayer to be added to our Conference and Council meetings:

Denise