By Lynne Conner, Observer Correspondent
ROCKFORD—“Communicating effectively across socioeconomic barriers is the first step in helping our brothers and sisters in Christ,” contended Dr. Donna Beegle, the keynote speaker for the annual fall St. Vincent de Paul Diocesan Assembly held on Oct. 4 at St. Rita Church.
A nationally recognized speaker and author, Dr. Beegle was born into a migrant labor family and married at the age of 15. She received her GED at 26 and, within 10 years, received her doctorate in Educational Leadership. Dr. Beegle is the only member of her family who has not been incarcerated.
Her journey from poverty and homelessness to attaining a doctorate gives Dr. Beegle an understanding of the barriers that surround people living in poverty and those wanting to help them.
“Communicating more effectively across poverty barriers is essential in the work you do,” Dr Beegle told the 150 Vincentians gathered at the assembly. “Effective communication starts with listening.”
“Far too often, due to the dehumanization of those in poverty, we don’t listen to them. We’re quick to offer resources and programs that are supposed to help. Still, until we establish a personal connection using active listening skills and open dialogue, we aren’t going to be effective in meeting the needs of the poor,” she said.
Dr. Beegle encouraged those gathered to use three levels of self-disclosure — surface, intermediate, and deep — in establishing and maintaining communication in their work with those less fortunate. Since Vincentians often meet people in their homes, having the communication tool of self-disclosure is paramount in their work with those living in poverty.
“Practicing self-disclosure builds relationships that matter. It builds trust and increases follow-through,” Dr. Beegle said. “Level one shares basic information, level two shares personal beliefs and experiences and level three shares deep feelings
and vulnerabilities.”
“If there’s anything that poverty teaches you, it is not to trust others,” she said. “By sharing self-disclosure through your feelings and experiences, you garner the trust of the poor, you give them hope, and they now see you as not so different from them. They receive hope, which is the wings of opportunity.”
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul parish conferences provide concrete resources to those in need. “We’re there to help the less fortunate with paying the rent, restoring electricity, obtaining car repairs and helping with groceries. We perform the Corporal Works of Mercy and do these things in the spirit of love,” said Laura Ortiz, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Rockford Council. “We are serving the Lord by serving His people.”
The Society also has a jail ministry and a micro-loan program.
Tagra Grennan, president of the St. Vincent de Paul conference at St. Mary Parish in Byron, got involved with the group as a way to give back to her community. “I have a heart for those in need, and I really enjoy going on home visits,” she said. “While it’s gratifying to help others financially, we also want to meet people where they are in life and hear what’s on their hearts.”
Mary Kathryn Stenzel, a Vincentian from St. Patrick Church in Amboy, had worked in the social services industry and joined the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as a way to stay involved. “This is more than volunteer work, it’s a vocation,” she said. “We are doing what Jesus did, by helping the poor, we are being the face of Christ and seeing the face of Christ.”
Society of St. Vincent de Paul History
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded in Paris in 1833 by a few young men and a Catholic newspaper editor. The principal founder was 20-year-old Frederic Ozanam, a law student at the Sorbonne, University of Paris.
Ozanam and a group of his Catholic friends observed the needs of the poor and formed a group called the “Conference of Charity” to address these physical, financial and spiritual needs. The Conference of Charity later took the name, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, in honor of their patron.
In 1845, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was established in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, popularly known as “The Old Cathedral.”
The first meeting of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the United States was held on November 20, 1845, only twelve years after its foundation in Paris. Nineteen of the most prominent Catholic laymen of St. Louis attended. The Conference was aggregated (formally recognized) by the Society’s International Council in Paris on February 2, 1846.
Known as Vincentians, there are approximately 850,000 members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul worldwide, spanning 153 countries.
According to Laura Ortiz, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Rockford Diocesan Council, there are 46 parish-based conferences in the Rockford Diocese serving Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Kane, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, and Winnebago counties in Illinois.
“The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a network of friends inspired by Gospel values, called to grow in holiness and build a more just world through personal relationships with and service to people in need,” she said.
“For more than 100 years, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Rockford Diocesan Council has provided financial assistance, resources, hope and friendship to families and individuals experiencing financial hardships,” Ortiz said.
“Vincentians volunteer their time, talents and resources to provide a compassionate and supportive presence to the forgotten, suffering and deprived,” she said. “They are drawn from every ethnic and cultural background, age group, and economic level, united in a spirit of charity, humility, and sharing.”
In 2024, the 46 parish-based St. Vincent de Paul conferences provided $2,624,641 of financial assistance and $591,290 of in-kind assistance to individuals within the Rockford Diocese. They served 50,511 people and logged 18,577 person-to-person visits. St. Vincent de Paul conferences extend their outreach to anyone in need, regardless of ethnic or spiritual background.
“What we have to remember about these statistics is that they represent real people and real families, many of whom are one crisis away from losing everything,” Ortiz said. “When we meet with our neighbors in need, our priority is to convey God’s love and hope; and, secondly, to offer some tangible assistance.”
—Compiled by Lynne Conner.
