National President's address for Congress - 27 Oct 2023

I feel honoured to be standing here before my fellow Vincentians and other friends at the start of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s historic Congress 2023+ 

I bid you all a warm welcome to Sydney, especially to those who have come from far afield, including from overseas. In advance, I thank you for sharing your time and wisdom with us. 

We are meeting close to the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and I would like to award multiple gold to the organisers of this three-day event, which is truly an Olympian effort. Thank you for doing a great job.  

As you well know, the Society is a Member-led, Member-based organisation, but our strength draws on the collective efforts of our Members, Volunteers and Employees, working together. By supporting Members to address the challenges facing the Society, the service of our Employees is vital.  

A number of the Society’s employees, including State and Territory CEOs and membership leadership staff members, are joining us here at Congress 2023+  

Their attendance completes the circle of our broad Vincentian family. It will enable all of us to hear directly from each other, and to be well prepared to support new pathways that we will identify. This is in the spirit of One Society, united in one voice. 

However, we were not always one... let me explain...  

Only in 1967 did the Council General resolve to amalgamate the Men’s and Women’s Societies at the international level. This was ratified the following year at the Men’s National Council meeting in Sydney, in words proclaiming that, “There is now one St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia, and all Conferences both men’s and women’s are the responsibility of the Superior Council of Australia”. 

As a living example of how much things have changed, consider that we have had the recent honour of our first national female leader... I am referring, of course, to my predecessor Claire Victory whose dedicated service as National Council President I would like to acknowledge, and whose presence with us tonight I would like to recognise.  

Fifty years ago, in the year of our Lord 1973, the first National Congress of the new “One Society” was held at the Carmelite Monastery in Minto, not far from here. Important matters for discussion included a draft of The Rule for Australia, which was adopted the following year. Today, National Council is reviewing Part III of The Rule to ensure the Society’s governance stays contemporary.  

The 1973 Congress also considered what would become our wonderful “cupped-hands” logo, designed by sculptor Tom Bass who was a Member of the Minto Conference.  

The Society has travelled a great distance since then, and Congress 2023+ is marked by incredible diversity. One of our delegates has been with the Society for more than 56 years – what wonderful experience! Just as importantly, some Member delegates have joined us quite recently. Between all of us here tonight, we share over 2,326 years of experience!  

Over my own years of involvement with the Society there have been many memorable and humbling moments. Not the least of these – and I know you have often shared such experiences – is my interaction with our Companions, especially when visiting their homes. 

It is not easy to witness at close hand the heartbreaking impacts of suffering and misfortune. Although today’s world may seem very different to the slums of Paris in the 19th century, the reasons for poverty and injustice are remarkably similar.  

The act of providing a hand-up to struggling families and individuals goes to the very heart of our work. It links us with the Society’s foundations as they were laid by Blessed Frederic Ozanam and his friends in those times of hardship and social turmoil. 

In some of the many inspiring words attributed to him, Blessed Frederic said, “The poor person is a unique person of God’s fashioning, with an inalienable right to respect.”  

As we go about our Conference work and undertake other acts of service to those in need, this sentiment is a key motivation.  

We are there to help, not to judge. We do not expect thanks, but when we get them, as we often do, or just receive a smile, we know that we have helped make a difference, and this is what counts. 

Here, in the company of so many dedicated Vincentians from around Australia and overseas, I am able to fully comprehend the power and the spiritual depth of our wonderful, volunteer-led organisation. 

In Australia, the Society’s Members and Volunteers total 38,127, certainly a significant number but some 17,000 fewer than in 2017. Considering how we might address and arrest this slide will be one of the key challenges facing this Congress.  

On the other side of the ledger, the number of people whom we are asked to assist is growing rapidly, in line with the country’s economic circumstances. How best to serve our Companions is the other major challenge we are needing to face.   

As we noted in our public statements during the recent Anti-Poverty Week, some 3.3 million Australians still live in poverty, and 761,000 of these are children. Charities have an important role to play, but the major responsibility lies with Government, hence National Council’s focus on advocacy work. 

Our “One Society” is a large, diverse family with a distinguished history. We have been helping Australians in need since 1854 - this was just two decades after the founding of the Society in Paris by Frederic Ozanam and his confrères. 

Each of our jurisdictions has its own State or Territory Council, and these are supported by a range of other bodies, which may include Diocesan and Central Councils, Regional Councils, and Special Works, and ultimately by the 1,035 Conferences that operate in communities both large and small.  

Our professionally staffed offices in each state and territory support this grass-roots work as well as coordinating our many Good Works, such as food vans, drop-in services for people experiencing homelessness, emergency and supported accommodation, and much more.  

Then there is the retail side of the Society, the side best known to the public because of the presence of Vinnies shops in high streets in towns and cities throughout the land.  

Some 650 stores offer quality clothing and other items at bargain prices, diverting thousands of tonnes of unwanted goods from landfill, and generating valuable funds that help keep the Society ticking over.  

Retail operations also have a proud history. Late last year, here in Sydney, we celebrated the centenary of the opening of the Society’s first retail outlet in the country. 

The State and Territory offices also coordinate important fundraising events, from small activities such as the school fundraisers run by Mini Vinnies groups – God bless them – to major nationally coordinated events such as the Christmas and Winter Appeals, and the national Vinnies CEO Sleepout. This year, the Sleepouts raised more than $8 million and they have raised over $85 million since they started in 2006. 

The National Council, which I chair, is supported by our National Council Secretariate in Canberra that continues to advocate very effectively with the nation’s parliamentarians and policy advisers.  

This work is encapsulated under the banner of “Building a Fairer Australia” and focuses on the key areas of Poverty and Inequity - Housing and Homelessness - People Seeking Asylum - Secure Work – and First Nations people. 

Along with our direct support for people in need, this high-level engagement also draws its inspiration from the Society’s founders.  

Those earlier words from Blessed Frederic go on to say - and I quote -  

You must not be content with tiding the poor over the poverty crisis. You must study their condition and the injustices which brought about   such poverty, with the aim of a long-term improvement. 

This is clear support for changing a system where too many people are unable to feel secure on a daily basis, or to achieve their life potential.  

You need to be confident that our National Secretariate takes the information our Members provide about the challenges our Companions face and advocates directly to the Parliament. 

The need for positive change is central to the discussions that will unfold in Congress 2023+ 

Every journey entails change as we move forward and encounter new circumstances, new ideas, new challenges... Central to our revitalisation challenge is having the confidence, the agility and the resilience to accept that some change is essential.  

As we journey together and explore ways that might help us revitalise our mission, let us work constructively with fellow delegates to better enable the Society to serve Christ in the poor. 

I thank you for embracing me as your National President and I seek your support for the next phase of our journey together.  

I am excited to wonder where we might take the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Australia, and I know that by coming together here in Sydney, you are too.  

On behalf of your National Council, I bid you a warm welcome to Congress 2023+  

May we achieve great success with our deliberations, 

And may God Bless You All...  

Let the Congress Begin! 

St Vincent de Paul Society National President, Mark Gaetani, opening address to Congress 2023+  

Friday 27 October 2023 – Sydney, NSW, Australia.