LCUSA

In mid-July of this year, Fr. Bob Maloney reached out to the Vincentian Family to help support the second year of its scholarship program with the Foundation for the Technological and Economic Advancement of Mirebalais (FATEM) to educate economically disadvantaged elementary students in Haiti. With the support of Vincentian Family members, last year FATEM educated more than 2,000 Haitian children in 14 rural schools, each of whom received a nutritious daily meal and the school supplies necessary for success. This was accomplished through Zafèn, the online microfinance initiative the International Vincentian Family created to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the deaths of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac.

The LCUSA responded to Fr. Maloney’s call by providing $1,000 to fund 20 scholarships through Zafen. The LCUSA is grateful to its members for making it possible to help the Vincentian Family reach its goal.

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Walk with a purpose with the Ladies of Charity, St. Vincent De Paul/Guardian Angel Chapter in their second annual WALK to support their ministries to the poor and homeless in St. Louis.  One and three mile routes will be posted.  Proceeds from the WALK will be used to respond directly to the many requests for assistance.  The Ladies of Charity have been serving in the St. Louis area since 1857.

WHAT:  Heart and Sole Walk – Pounding the Pavement for the Poor

WHEN:  Saturday – September 10 –  9:00-11:00 AM
Rain date:  Sunday -  September 11 – 10 AM to Noon

WHERE:  Carondelet Park

REGISTRATION: $25 by personal donation or sponsorship — includes t-shirt  refreshments, activities for the kids & music. Bring a pair of gently-used mens’ tennis shoes as a donation!

CASH DONATIONS ARE APPRECIATED.

RESERVATIONS:

St Vincent De Paul Church
LOC WALK
1408 South 10^th Street
St. Louis, MO 63104

or call:  314-231-9328

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Six students of the Pensacola High School International Baccalaureate are the charter members of a Junior Ladies of Charity group, sponsored by the Ladies of Charity of Sacred Heart Health Systems of Pensacola, Florida, who have been dreaming of founding a junior group since their own inception in 2003. The young women are enthusiastic about this opportunity and very interested in helping their community. They will begin formal activities in August, under the guidance of their Sister Moderator Elaine Jordan. Founding President Carolyn Hamilton writes “We look forward to serving others who need our help and wish to make a noticeable difference in the lives of those around us!”

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The following is taken from the Summer 2011 Servicette

Mary Ann Dantuono, Diocese of Brooklyn

Two recent local news reports heightened interest in the topic of Human Trafficking in our area. In a suburban area of Suffolk County on Long Island, NY, two cantinas were closed and the owners prosecuted under Human Trafficking Laws. Women were ostensibly employed as waitresses at two pubs that federal officials say were at the center of a sexual–slavery ring. According to federal prosecutors, the women were forced into sex with customers. If they did not comply, they were beaten, abused and threatened with deportation by the three men on trial for sex trafficking, forced labor and harboring and transporting illegal aliens.

The second story involved two Indonesian young women enslaved as domestic workers by a wealthy immigrant couple in a multi–million dollar home. The couple brought the two workers to the US on a visitor’s visa.

For about two years the young women were forced to work long hours for no wages, suffer beatings, endure hunger and live in a closet. The conditions of enslavement were horrifying and the couple was eventually convicted of several criminal charges including forced labor and harboring aliens under federal Trafficking Laws.

These stories are not limited to the east coast. Across the United States and the globe, modern day slavery is a multi–billion dollar enterprise. Human Trafficking is an umbrella term that is used when one person obtains or holds another person in compelled service. Major forms of human trafficking include: forced labor, sex trafficking, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor and child sex trafficking. While estimates are difficult, the International Labour Organization estimates 12.3 million victims are in some form of forced labor and the US Department of State estimates that 56% are women and girls.

The Ladies of Charity have the opportunity to help in the fight against this modern slavery. The Board of LCUSA as part of our advocacy and educational efforts to end Violence against Women joined the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking. This umbrella group organized by the Migration and Refugee Services at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops consists of national and international Catholic agencies working to eliminate Human Trafficking. The Coalition’s main purposes are to:

•  formulate plans for combating trafficking and serving its victims.
• promote the development of services for trafficking victims and approaches to empowerment of trafficking victims
• dialogue with government officials and others engaged in public polices affecting this issue
• devise strategies for public education, awareness–raising and grass roots action.

The Board joined this Coalition for three reasons. The first is that as part of the Vincentian Family we are challenged to work for systemic change collaboratively with others who share our values. Secondly, in 2011, federal legislation, The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, will be reauthorized. We have an opportunity to work with our sister agencies to achieve more services, protections and law enforcement resources to end this terrible crime against humanity. Third, this crime is very lucrative and a growing scourge. Each and every individual and association is needed to help provide education awareness and action on the international, national and state level.

How can we help? As Vincentian leaders of women acting together against poverty, we can:

• Host educational, training and technical assistance programs on the issue of human trafficking
• Meet with government officials to promote the legislative priorities of the Coalition of Catholic Organizations
• Work on the state level with the State Catholic Conferences to support safe harbor for minors, services for victims of sex or labor trafficking and just criminal penalties for traffickers.

We will be posting information about this issue on the advocacy tab of the Ladies of Charity USA web site http://aic.ladiesofcharity.us/advocacy/ and you can also visit the website of the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking: http://www.usccb.org/mrs/traffickingweb3.shtml

We look forward to working together to ensure human dignity and rights for all women and girls and the end to all forms of violence against women. †

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The following is taken from the Summer 2011 Servicette

Mary Domer & Mary Johnson, Co–Presidents, LC Milwaukee

Lately, as Ladies of Charity, we have talked about systemic changes in our organizations. Yet, this is not a new idea. The founder of Ladies of Charity, St. Louise deMarillac, and others, were part of systemic changes from 1625–1635. Your organization may want to learn about these early Ladies of Charity. Sr. Frances, Ryan, D.C., Ph.D., shared that history with the Association of the Ladies of Charity, Milwaukee, WI, at our March 8th Day of Reflection.

Questions to ponder:

Did you know that Ladies of Charity heard the call to serve the poor, before the Daughters of Charity were founded?

Who are Madame Goussault, Mademoiselle Pouallalion and Madame, The Duchess of Aiguillon?

What did these early women do with foundlings?

How does one supply milk to foundlings left on a door step?

For answers to the above, consider asking Sr. Fran to come speak to your organization. She is filled with a wealth of historical knowledge.

Sr. Fran shared a current and important question for all Ladies of Charity to consider, “As the federal budget cuts governmental programs, what will be the challenge for the Ladies of Charity and other non-profit organizations?”

You may contact Sr. Fran by contacting the LCUSA Service Center.

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Ladies of Charity, Central Alabama (LCCA) installed new members on May 19, 2011. Gayle Johnson, President–Elect, LCUSA, attended the installation and general luncheon meeting that followed. Her comments regarding the important role of the Ladies of Charity were encouraging and a wonderful reminder of our responsibility to uphold the Vincentian tradition in service to the poor, especially through systemic change. †

Back row: Sr. Dinah White, DC, Sr. Moderator, Jean Holt, Gayle Johnson, Susan Mee, Becky Walker, Marlyss Giles, President, LCCA.

Front row: Lorraine Holt, Polly Rookis, Sylvia Wetta, Bridget McCaffrey, Sr. Anne Marie Schreiner, DC

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Sue Ann Gilman, Diocese of Dallas

The Vickery Meadow Neighborhood Alliance Food Pantry was established in November 2009 to provide supplemental food to the low income, largely refugee and immigrant families living in the Vickery Meadow neighborhood of Dallas, Texas.

This collaborative effort began following a meeting convened by the counselors at an elementary school located in the heart of Vickery Meadow. They reported how students were unable to focus on their school work because they were perpetually hungry.

The Vickery Meadow Improvement District contacted organizations and churches already working in the area, such as Catholic Charities, Temple Emanu–El, National Council of Jewish Women and the International Rescue Committee. The core group reached out to St. Vincent de Paul Council, Ladies of Charity of Dallas, Jewish Family Services and Park Cities Baptist Church to create the Vickery Meadow Neighborhood Alliance Food Pantry.

The participating organizations mobilized and a small pantry opened in a 750 square foot, one bedroom apartment, 3 days per week for 3 hours a day. Each agency and organization has made a significant commitment of financial, volunteer and professional resources to address hunger in this neighborhood and make up the pantry’s management team.

Volunteers from all the organizations are essential to its operation, securing food, stocking shelves, registering and serving clients. Within the first year, 15,597 individuals (unduplicated) have received food assistance; three hundred families, on average (unduplicated), are currently helped monthly. A part time case manager has been funded by United Way to help families address the causes of their food insecurity and address other needs.

The vision for the pantry is that it will be the anchor for a continuum of wraparound employment, counseling, clothes closet and social services to help people establish and maintain self-sufficiency. †

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The following is taken from the Summer 2011 Servicette

Lucy Ann Saunders, President

With change of the seasons and the approaching summer, formation of a new Daughters of Charity Province will take place in St. Louis, Missouri. The new province unites four provinces in the United States and Canada. Sister Louise Gallahue has been designated Visitatrix of the new Province of St. Louise. Our prayers and thoughts will be with Sister Louise and the Daughters as they celebrate together this new chapter of community life.

With the first half of 2011 almost behind us, “Have we stepped or moved forward as a national organization?” This is a question that I have asked myself since becoming president. From my position, officers and board members are striving to put forth their effort, time and talent into keeping pace with the needs of their members. Regional vice presidents have forwarded all association presidents a summary of the Spring Board Meeting. Executive Administrator Maureen McMillan is gathering the regional statistics for the associations and updating the list of local association officers for the President’s Handbook. Letters have been sent regarding the award of Hager and Diane Downey Grants. National Assembly Scholarship applications will be acknowledged and awarded by June 20. Yes, LCUSA’s officers and board members are making strides to connect with you and your associations. As we all know, this is a two way street. LCUSA needs your cooperation and communications to make it work. Is this a challenge? Yes, it is a challenge to you and your association to connect to national and give feedback for the betterment of LCUSA’s mission and your mission as an individual association.

Devastation has been rampart throughout our country. As a national organization, we are here to render aid or assist in any manner necessary. Only you can keep us up-to-date about the concerns and needs of your community. We need to be offering a hand up, as well as meeting the immediate needs of our brothers and sisters. We all stand ready to serve and meet those in need despite the obstacles that may impede our immediate course of action. Today’s Systemic Change is a strategy to improve the lives of others and write another chapter in the history of LCUSA. Our organization is diligently working to educate members on this meaningful transformation to having those less fortunate stand on their own and be proud of who they are. As Ladies of Charity, we need to help with a hand up instead of a hand out, affording them the opportunity to see systemic change take place in their lives.

LCUSA’s Advocacy Committee will be sharing with you ways to begin to answer the question, “What is Systemic Change calling us to do?” With the committee’s help, information will be disseminated to all associations. Local associations will be asked to evaluate their overall mission of how they are dealing with those living in poverty. At all levels, associations are encouraged to offer support and join with other groups stressing systemic change. Assistance will be offered by the Advocacy Committee to review projects that associations are currently supporting. If you have been doing something for 50 years, maybe it’s time for a modification or change. Lift up your heart and your attitude will follow as all of us prepare to change the lives of others by reaching out and offering a hand–up approach. To quote St. Louise de Marillac, “How obvious it is that God loves you since He gives you so many opportunities of serving Him.”

Opportunities await us all as we continue to serve rather than be served. Let us enjoy this summer season with focus on all the love we can share with each other as individuals, communities and members of the Vincentian Family. Join me in Kansas City for LCUSA’s annual national assembly and tap into the spiritual tradition that enriches all of us as members! I look forward to seeing and meeting you in September. †

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The following is taken from the Summer 2011 Servicette

Effective January 1, 2012, LCUSA membership dues will increase to $10 per member. At the Spring Board Meeting, members voted to increase dues based on the financial support that is necessary to maintain the National Service Center Office and sustain the position of Executive Administrator held by Maureen McMillan. As our only employee, Maureen is there to serve you and your association.

Your financial support as a dues–paying member is necessary to continue the organizational efforts of LCUSA to lead and unite the Ladies of Charity throughout the country. In 1960, our leaders worked together to foster better communications and alignment of Ladies of Charity associations. A statement was made at one of the brunches hosted by the Ladies of Charity that in “unity there is strength.” Right now, that unity and strength is more important than ever, because in today’s society we need to serve and foster opportunities for those less fortunate.

As a national organization, we continue to make a difference in the lives of those we serve. As members of LCUSA, you are recognized throughout the world as women who provide leadership and compassion to those who are our brothers and sisters through Christ. The Ladies of Charity of the United States of America share with local associations their leadership in developing the necessary formation for Vincentian spirituality and passion to serve others. Each member’s support is vital to the future of LCUSA.

LCUSA needs you to be an active member with the same commitment today that has given the Ladies of Charity their legacy through the centuries. Together we will strengthen and preserve our corporal works of mercy following the footsteps of St. Vincent de Paul, whose concern for the poor compelled him to provide for the future. The LCUSA Board is committed to ensuring that the same future is available today as it was in the past for the Ladies of Charity. This will happen only with your support and commitment in the years ahead.

With payment of the required $10 dues, members will be eligible to receive LCUSA’s national newsletter, the Servicette. More information on this will be forthcoming. The Servicette provides ideas for you to share with your group, as well as spiritual guidance and prayer. Articles are written from both national and local perspectives, and reflect the activities of Ladies of Charity throughout the United States. The Servicette provides insight from other associations that are successful in recruitment and changing the lives of others. In order to activate the subscription, names and address are required from local associations on a disk in a format to be specified by LCUSA. †

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The following is taken from the Summer 2011 Servicette

Bishop David A. Zubik, Episcopal Chairman

There are a host of legal definitions of justice – the balancing of the scales; the unbiased judgment of conflicting claims; a search for truth only dimly seen; the compensation due the victimized; even the penalty for crime. We can give justice a social definition as well – balancing the needs of the many with the rights of the individual; a commitment to a society that removes all pre–established barriers; a society’s particular presumption in favor of the poor, the weak and the helpless.

All these are good definitions. All these have benefits. But there is a problem with these definitions of justice – they are elusive and can seem almost unattainable. Justice is always our goal in this life; but justice is never quite perfect, and often far from reach.

In Acts, the story is told of the Apostles Peter and Paul curing a crippled man. To prove that no good deed goes unpunished, Peter and John were promptly tossed into jail after the miracle. When they were hauled before the authorities the next day they were asked by what power or what name they cured. Peter, filled with the Spirit, answered that it “was in the name of Jesus the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed” (Acts 4: 1–11).

Did you ever notice how much of the New Testament takes place in the backdrop of arrests, imprisonment and trials? John the Baptist is hurled into Herod’s dungeons. In the Acts of the Apostles the disciples of Jesus seem to spend as much time in jail as out of it. And there are the central events of the arrest, trial and condemnation of Jesus.

Scripture is immersed in the concept of the hunger for justice. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes that those seeking justice – who hunger and thirst for righteousness – will be satisfied in the Kingdom of Heaven. But there are those who read of the horrible destruction of a tornado in Missouri, or of an earthquake killing tens of thousands in Haiti or Japan, and argue that God has abandoned us. Or there is no God at all.

The new school of atheism trots out the old arguments. There is no God because there is no justice in this life. They argue that the inequities of this world – that evil triumphs over good, that the poor never win, that humans suffer without regard to merit or guilt – prove a non–existent God. No God worthy of worship could allow evil to persist so victoriously, they say.

This means only that we fail to understand God’s justice. When you think about it at all, you realize that the shortcomings of the human search for justice are not God’s fault, but humanity’s fault. The failure of justice in the human condition does not speak to a non–existent God–it in fact speaks to a living, loving God.

Understanding God’s justice means knowing that we not only define ourselves by our basic beliefs, but that we act in concert with them. It means that we seek to become more like God. It means that we seek the good for all of God’s creation and by our lives try to create harmony and peace in our world. God’s justice means that we understand that God has created us to live his love. And that our lives will be judged accordingly.

God’s justice gives fundamental meaning to every life. God’s justice is the assurance that goodness and rightness will prevail, no matter what we perceive in this life.

When we search for God’s justice, when we live for God’s justice, we will find it. It is there. It is real. It is Truth. It is indeed the mind and the heart of God. †

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