SSVP in St Jude’s:
‘Serving in Hope’
The Society of St Vincent De Paul is an international Catholic organisation of lay men and women who seek, in a spirit of justice and charity and by person to person involvement, to help those who are suffering. “No work of charity is foreign to the Society.”
The society was founded by Frederic Ozanam, who, along with some friends, sought to put the teachings of the church into practice, by relieving the sufferings of the poor.
The patron of the society is St Vincent De Paul. who was born in France in 1581. He initially became a priest to escape from poverty but soon realised that his mission in life would be to bring the gospel to the poor of rural France. He founded and order of priests called “The Congregation of the Mission” , but commonly known as the Vincentians, to fulfil this purpose.
The work of Frederic Ozanam continues all over the world today and here in Barlanark we operate a small conference who meet weekly to pray and carry out the functions of the society, below is a small summary of our work
- Visiting those in need, this can be
- Material Need. in such cases we will try and provide help by providing food for the table, using our new food bank initiative ( See below for details) or purchase grocery’s. We will also try to help with any problems they may have, this could be benefit advice or pointing someone in the direction of someone who can provide help to alleviate their situation, this may mean getting help from another organisation, like the Emmaus Solidarity shop in the case of furniture requests.
- Spiritual Need in the case of the sick or bereaved or those who just need support and a friendly face, we can visit, provide comfort and pray with them and for them.
- We support our twinned conferences in Africa & India financially and spiritually.
- We visit Lightburn hospital on a weekly basis to take the peaceful healing spirit of the Lord to the sick. Special appeal see below.
- We arrange a holiday to Girvan once a year to Trochrague House.
- We arrange holidays to the SSVP caravan for those who would not otherwise get a holiday.
- We arrange distribution of the Jesse Tree gifts at Christmas time to the sick and housebound of the parish.
- At Christmas we distribute Christmas cards and a small gift to those living in a local men’s hostel.
- We assist at the Frederic Ozanam Centre at Sunday lunchtime on a rota basis, providing a warm meal to those living on the streets.
- We co-ordinate the parish ministry of welcome & passkeeping.
- We participate fully in the spiritual life of the parish and society, arranging masses throuought the year for the sick and the society’s intentions. We also arrange an advent retreat for the parish community to prayerfully prepare for Christmas.
The St Jude’s conference meets every second Tuesday evening at 8pm in the parish hall.
We thank God for your prayers and your generosity, that enable us to continue in the work we do, your physical help to enable us to continue our work effectively is also urgently needed, and new members are always warmly welcomed. This appeal goes out to all of our parishioners, male, female, young and not so young. If the Lord is calling you to serve the community of Barlanark in this way please contact the parish priest.
If you require someone form the SSVP to visit you for whatever reason please contact the parish priest in the first instance, he will direct your request to the member of the conference who will contact you.
- The Parish Priest
- 159 Pendeen Road, Barlanark, G33 4QP.
- 0141 771 5004
- www.stjudeandstjohnogilvie@rcag.org.uk
- For full details of the SSVP in Scotland
Contact St Jude’s Conference at
Additional Information/Projects/Initiatives
- Lightburn Hospital. There is an ongoing appeal to all parishioners to enable us to keep doing the valuable work we do with the patients of Lightburn hospital. Either Mass or a service of word and Holy Communion is said in the hospital each Monday morning. We require help for no more than 3 hours, patients are escorted to and from mass or the service, hospital staff do not have the time to do this. We also build up friendships with the patients. This is a valuable service as it allows the patients to hear the word of the Lord and receive him in the Holy Eucharist. Unfortunately due to declining numbers this valuable work is threatened. You do not need to be in the SSVP to help and any time you can give would be appreciated by the patients, if you are only free one Monday in the month that is fine. If the Lord is calling you to serve your community in this way please contact us now.
- Frederic Ozanam Centre – New & Used Clothing, the Ozanam Centre is located in Parnie Street just off Argyle Street beside T J Hughes store in the city centre. It provides direct support to homeless people in the city, they are open on Wednesday evening for women and Thursday for men, to provide a change of clothes, it is also open on a Sunday lunchtime to provide a warm meal. If you have any clothes that you no longer require please consider donating them to the Ozanam Centre, you can take them direct any time they are open.
- SSVP Thrift Shop on Saltmarket just down from Glasgow Cross, is open most days and has a good variety of items for sale at reasonable prices, you can take items to them for sale during opening hours. They also require volunteers to staff the shop, if you can spare a few hours per week, speak to the SSVP president.
- Furniture Project, the society does not at the present time have a furniture project, St Jude’s conference use the Emmaus Solidarity shop for donations or requests for furniture, you can contact them direct if have any items of furniture to donate.
- The Emmaus Solidarity shop is at 576 Dumbarton Road in Glasgow, telephone 0141 342 4089. www.emmausglasgow.org.uk.
If you require someone form the SSVP to visit you for whatever reason please contact the parish priest in the first instance. He will direct your request to the member of the conference who will contact you.
For full details of the SSVP in Scotland see www.ssvpscotland.com, or e-mail gl03031@ssvpscotland.com