By Kelley Kepler
Catholic Herald

St. Vincent de Paul group is at work in Superior

SUPERIOR --After some reorganization and relocation to an office in the Catholic Charities building, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, an international organization of Catholic lay people dedicated to serving the poor, is again active in Superior and seeking new membership.

The Sacred Heart Conference is named after Superior's first cathedral and consists of members from the city's four parishes: Cathedral of Christ the King, St. Anthony, St. Francis Xavier and Holy Assumption.

Sr. Rita Marie Schneider, SSND, president of the conference, gave pulpit talks at each of the parishes during the end of September and beginning of October. She hoped to make St. Vincent de Paul more visible in the community and invited parishioners to attend orientation meetings on Oct. 8 and Oct. 22.

"We are not a social service agency -- we are a person to person Catholic ministry that sees the face of Christ in the faces of those who are suffering," Schneider explained during her speech. "We are in nearly every state in the nation and in 132 countries in the world. The St. Vincent de Paul society is probably the most well-known Catholic presence for the poor and needy."

Founded in 1833 by Blessed Frederic Ozanam, a 20 year-old student at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul now has about 880,000 members, 60,000 of which are in the United States.

When people think St. Vincent de Paul, they often think thrift shop. Indeed, many Superiorites may be familiar with the thrift store that closed in 1997. However, Schneider pointed out that thrift stores are only one of the many works of the organization. Schneider said there are already a number of thrift stores in the Twin Ports area and that the Sacred Heart Conference is not set up to run a store. The organization accepts donations of money but does not have space to store food or clothing.

The main work of the Sacred Heart Conference consists of members going in pairs to reach out to the poor. "The poor will be with us always," Schneider said, quoting words of Jesus. To these words, she added, "They are found not only in the inner city, but in our own city and parish. They are families and individuals on limited income who are having problems paying their rent, utility bills and may not even have enough money to buy food for their family. They are people who have had bad luck. They are people who come through our city in desperate need."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2002