Easter 2017

Society of St Vincent Ozanamde Paul, News

ssvpscotland.com COUNCIL OF SCOTLAND

SR AGNES MCGARVIE National Spiritual Adviser JAMES MCKENDRICK National President Trustee VACANT National Treasurer Trustee RICHARD STEINBACH Trustee St Andrews & THE PRIEST WITH A CHRISTINE GRAY Trustee PASSION FOR THE POOR See page 7 DANIEL COLLINS Trustee Paisley GET INVOLVED! We want to bar and your full contact de- JOHN JOYCE know what your conference is tails. Please provide full cap- Trustee Dunkeld up to. If you have a story, share tion details for photos. Please it. The Ozanam News relies note, we do not accept paper ELIZABETH HERLIHY on your contributions. Send submissions. Articles should be Trustee articles and images (jpg or png written by email or attached as Aberdeen format only, no PDFs) to com a Word document. If you need JOE MACEACHAN munication@ssvpscotland. help or have a query please Trustee com. Simply put the name of contact editor Matt Meade on /VIP your conference in the subject 07985 592920. VACANT Galloway www.ssvpscotland.com IAN TIERNEY Twinning Projects Publishing Policy 1. The objective is to publish a new Ozanam News, which will be issued three times per year, May, September and November. To facilitate this, a publications committee has been formed and a member of the National Council has been made responsible for its operation. The publications committee will normally meet two months before going to the printer. As at The Society of St Vincent de Paul present, the actual putting together of the magazine will be the responsibility of the National Office staff, who will select the printer and liaise and coordinate with all preproduction func- National office: tions. 2. In accordance with National Council requirements, the intention will be not to feature 2nd floor, ‘editorial’ pieces. Any material deemed to detract from the Society’s broader aims will be 113 West Regent Street approved by the National Council prior to publication. Hopefully these arrangements will help Glasgow G2 2RU the new Ozanam News develop into a more humorous, educational and spiritual publication Tel: 0141 226 8833 which will concentrate on bringing the Society, its Members and Associates closer together. email: [email protected] With this Togetherness in mind, National Council Agenda business could well become a reg- ular feature in the magazine. In the main, letters for publication will normally be from twinning Ozanam News Editor: Matt Meade parties - regarded as reports. Other letters will be accepted for publication with an added [email protected] footnote or returned for discussion by the respective council and/or president if thought to be more appropriate. PRESIDENT’S COLUMN OZANAM NEWS I 3

UR Society has a rich And you, who pride yourselves on your Catholicity, what are you doing to prove the history and some worth of your faith?” incredible stories. This Though chastened, Frederic and his Oedition of The Ozanam News is companions felt compelled to respond. dedicated to highlighting some A very animated Frederic summed up their mood: “One thing is wanting - that our

of them. apostolate may be blessed by God and works Hopefully, it will inspire your work for the of charity. The blessing of the poor is the Society through your love of Christ. He is blessing of God. Therefore we must do what central to our lives and to the history and our Lord Jesus Christ did when preaching the growth of the SSVP. In this Easter season we Gospel. Let us go to the poor.” can help proclaim the good news of the risen Fifty five years later, Paul Lamache, the last Christ by renewing our work in his service survivor of the founding group, remembered as members of the Society of St Vincent de every detail of the scene. Paul. “I can see the flame burning in Ozanam’s It’s good also to know a bit about our past eyes “ he wrote. “I can hear his voice so we can tell people about how the SSVP trembling a little with emotion as he came to be! In 1831 Frederic Ozanam had explains his project of a charitable Catholic come to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. He association. He spoke in terms so warm and happened to meet Emmanuel Bailly, a former moving.” professor who was now the owner and editor Bailly accepted enthusiastically Ozanam’s of a prominent Paris newspaper, La Tribune suggestion of a little society which would go Catholique. Bailly encouraged and supported to the poor. Frederic in his early writing career and He offered his office as a meeting place, published his first efforts in La Tribune. agreed to preside over the meeting and At Bailly’s house Frederic also met and suggested increasing their numbers. befriended some of the young students who In a letter to his friend Lallier in May 1838, were lodging in two houses owned by Bailly Ozanam looked back on those hectic few which provided a safe environment and a weeks of transition from the Conference Catholic ethos. of History to the Conference of Charity: The following year, Frederic and five “All those humble scenes from our student friends started the Conference of History. At days, when I recall them in the half-light of one of its meeting a remark by Jean Broet the past, have an inexpressible charm: the was overheard by Frederic and his friends: evening meetings with Fr Gerbet, which “You are right when you speak of the past. In seemed to gain an air of mystery and which former times Christianity worked wonders. first brought us together: those battles about But what is it doing for humanity today? Continued... OZANAM NEWS I 4 TWINNING

(cont.) history and philosophy to which we placed under the patronage of St Vincent de brought so much genuine enthusiasm, where Paul and subsequently changed its name. It there was a heartfelt sharing of success; the was also placed under the protection of Our little meetings in the Rue du Petit-Bourbon Blessed Lady. At a Festival meeting on the Saint-sulpice.” Feast of the Immaculate Conception 1835, The first meeting of the Conference of the first Rule of the Society was presented Charity was held at 8pm on 23 April 1833. by Lallier and Bailly, first Secretary General The seven men present at this historic event and first President General respectively. were: Emmanuel Bailly; Frederic Ozanam; The little society grew rapidly, and by the Felix Clave; Jules Devaux; Francois Lallier; end of 1834 it had over 100 members. The Paul Lamache and Auguste Le Taillandier. following year there were 250. Little is known about the actual discussions It became necessary to sub-divide the of the first meeting. However, the format original Conference several times. Original of the meeting has come down unchanged student members founded new conferences through almost two hundred years and today on their return to the provinces. is observed in every conference throughout By 1853, two months before his death, the world. Ozanam was able to report to a new The Conference met weekly on Tuesday conference in Leghorn “We eight ( le evening. An Opening Prayer, the Veni Provost had joined the seven founders a Sancte Spiritus was recited. few months after the inaugural meeting.) A Spiritual Reading from The Imitation now number in Paris alone 2,000 Brothers of Christ was read. Cases were discussed who visit 5,000 families (that is to say about and allocated. Soon, under the guidance of 20,000 people) or one-fourth of the poor Sister Rosalie, each member was assigned whom this immense city holds.” a family to look after. A secret collection By 1860, there were 2,500 conferences was taken up. Closing Prayers were recited. worldwide with and 50,000 members; in the The resources of the Conference were very Centenary Year of 1933 there were 12,000 limited. conferences (200,000 members). Frederic summarised it as: “The collections Today there are over 40,000 conferences which we make amongst ourselves every (800,000 members). Tuesday, the alms of some charitable people Frederic’s words remain pertinent today: anxious to second our goodwill and the “Let us love this little society which has cast-off clothes of our wardrobe.” As well as made us known to one another, which has giving them lists of families to visit, Sister placed us on the path to a more charitable Rosalie also provided bread and money to and more Christian life. augment their meagre resources. “Oh how glad we shall be that we did not On 4 February 1834, the Conference was leave empty the years of our youth.”

lThe Project Fund is Project Fund provided by and lifestyle advice. helping eight projects in all those Scottish twins who India, totalling £6,972. donate to it. lI attended St. Peter in A project in South Chains conference in Africa received £800 lIn March, £2,000 was sent Ardrossan to give a talk on These projects covered for a project requested by twinning.Many thanks for areas such as; self-help, our third twinned country their generous donation. goat banks, housing Hungary. It will be spent Any conference or group repairs, fish-vending and finance music education for who wish me to give a talk a computer project. The disabled children in Miskolc on twinning can contact me funding for these projects as well as general education at twinning@ssvpscotland. comes from the general courses in washing, cleaning com WITNESS OZANAM NEWS I 5

A bike crash left James Robertson in a coma. Doctors believed he would die, but St John Ogilvie had other ideas. His sister Clare shares this remarkable story.

N the morning of James confounded everyone by gradually getting rid of his wheelchair and Corpus Christie subsequently his zimmer, a tripod and even a 1961, my brother walking stick. He could walk independently. OJames Robertson left Sadly, his leg and arm were retracted as they Mass and headed to work had never been splinted when doctors had said that he would never get better. in Grangemouth on his The Jesuits collected all the medical motorbike. evidence and some years later when a Mr The road was used by oil tankers and was Fagan was cured of cancer through the wet and greasy. En route, James skidded and intercession of John Ogilvie, the case for hit a concrete farm entrance. He was taken Canonisation went forward. James went to to Falkirk Infirmary where doctors said his Rome as one of the ‘Favours’ and received brain was seriously contused and he would Holy Communion from Pope Paul VI not survive. He was comatose for five- (above). and-a-half months. His body became like a James died in January at Fraserburgh. He skeleton and he was fed intravenously. was 77. James was a member of the Saint His aunt, Margaret Whelahan, was Vincent de Paul in Bathgate for 30 years. president of the Catholic Nurses Guild May he rest in peace. whose chaplain was Father John McQuade, a Jesuit priest. He asked us our family to “give our guy a chance” and asked us to pray to St John Ogilvie to intercede for “James had been a member of our James. conference for many years. Over those James became continent, was able to years we always thought of him as a living swallow and showed gradual improvement. miracle.” After waking he told my mother that John - Joe Milligan, St Mary’s Bathgate conference. Ogilvie had been to see him and said he did not look anything like the depiction on the “God had sent him St John Ogilvie as an medal as he was dressed as a cattle drover intercessor, who told him: ‘You will get in medieval clothes. The Jesuits were very better.’ James was able to witness to his excited to hear this as they knew that John faith in the midst of his own suffering and would be in disguise and was indeed dressed do so with energy, humility, patience and as described. James said that John Ogilvie integrity.” told him that he would get better. - Fr Mark Impson, Fraserburgh. THE PRIEST WHO LOVED THE POOR FEATURE OZANAM NEWS I 7

Father George ‘Ignatius’ Spencer turned his back on great wealth to become a Catholic priest, stunning polite society. He also played a pivotal role in helping establish the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Victorian England and is now on the path to sainthood. By Matt Meade.

ather George Spencer became a Passionist priest. “The first rule of the Passionists had cared a great deal about been rejected by the pope because it was the poor. A Passionist thought no-one could live that way. It was Fpriest in Victorian England, considered that that type of living was any money he had he gave it too severe. Any money he had he gave it away, so much so that his father put a away. block on his allowance. So he was impressed upon meeting a “He even gave away money that was Monsieur Baudon who told him about a intended for his return journeys. fledgling Catholic lay society in France, “The other interesting thing is that Fr dedicated to serving those in need. Spencer had a form of Spina Bifida. It inspired him to write an article for the “I’ve talked to consultants, and they Catholic Magazine in 1843 about his hope told me that if he had to walk more than of having it established in England. two miles he’d know all about it. I asked “The primary end of the society… “What if he walked 22 miles?”. They appears to be visiting and improving the said he would be in screaming pain. It’s condition of the poor,” he wrote. “They heroic stuff.” He added: “He listened to chose as their patron…the great saint who the gospel mesage - ‘What should I do perhaps stands pre-eminent above all in to become perfect? Go sell all you have - modern times for the spirit of enterprise give the money to the poor.’ and for success in the humble works of In February 1843 Father Spencer wrote charity among the poor.” to M. Baudon to say that he had only That saint was Vincent de Paul. received one letter about the article in the “He was, in reality, the man who brought Catholic magazine. It was from a priest in the society to England,” says Fr Ben Lancashire. Lodge, postulator for the Cause of Fr This priest wrote that he wished to George Ignatius Spencer. “His visionary co-operate in the establishment of “so thing was greater lay involvement in the beautiful a work”. Father Spencer life of the church.We’re used to the idea concluded his letter with a phrase that now of lay involvement, but he was 150 embodies the attitude of the Society of St years ahead of his time in that regard.” Vincent de Paul to all its works: “We must Fr Ben has spent around thirty years depend on the good providence of God.” researching and transcribing the diaries That providence came to pass a year and writings of Fr Spencer. “He wrote later. On a cold January night in London, incredibly small and my predecessor thirteen men gathered together. M couldn’t read his diaries. I could only do Pagliano, a restaurant owner and Catholic an hour at a time, then my eyes would convert, hosted what was the first meeting water.” of the SSVP in England. In 2010, a Vatican investigation declared Today, our society has Fr Spencer lived a life of “heroic virtue”. blossomed to thousands of Fr Ben, currently parish priest at St members across the UK. Sophia’s in Galston, East Ayrshire, In no small part can we said: “His family were the cream of the thank the Passionist nobility - his father was First Lord of the priest who Admiralty. cared a great “Their house was one of the most deal about the beautiful in all of London. Guests at the poor. dinner table were the great and the good - Royal connection: Fr Spencer is the people like Nelson and Scott the novelist. great-great-great uncle of the Prin- So it’s extraordinary that Fr Spencer cess Diana, as well as the great uncle OZANAM NEWS I 8 FEATURE JOSEF MAYR-NUSSER

The Italian SSVP member who became a martyr after refusing to take an oath to Hitler in World War II has recently been beatified.

osef Mayr-Nusser was Italy following the 1943 ousting of Benito Mussolini from power, which led to the anxious. The Italian German occupation of the northern half of Catholic had been the country and his conscription to the SS. Jconscripted by the occupying As a result of Josef’s refusal to swear Nazis in Italy to join the SS, a an oath to Hitler, he was thrown in jail to await trial. Because of this he was jailed feared military group. and later transferred to Danzig in Germany It forced him to leave his wife and where he was prosecuted. While awaiting newborn son for training in Prussia.But trial, Josef took to chopping wood and when it was time for SS members to swear peeling potatoes, and was given the right an oath to Hitler, Mayr-Nusser refused. to pray during his time in captivity. According to a fellow comrade, he was In 1945 he was sentenced to death for “pensive and worried,” but told the general treason, and was ordered to march to the with a “strong voice”: “I cannot take an Dachau concentration camp to be shot by oath to Hitler in the name of God. I cannot firing squad. do it because my faith and conscience do However, he fell ill with dysentery along not allow it.” Although his friends tried to the way and died before reaching the camp convince him to retract his statement and on 24 February 1945. When his body take the oath, he refused. He believed that was discovered on the train, he had both Nazi ideals could in no way be reconciled a Bible and a rosary with him. Josef’s with Christian ethics and values. cause for martyrdom was launched by the Mayr-Nusser had joined the Society of Diocese of Bolzano and was approved St Vincent de Paul at the age of 22 in an in 2005, allowing him to receive the title effort to imitate the charity of the saint. Servant of God. Last year, Pope Francis’ Five years later he became president of recognition of his martyrdom has paved the Bolzano branch of the SSVP, spending the way for his beatification which took a large amount of his time visiting the place last month. This SSVP man’s faith in poor and providing them with both Christ and conviction of belief makes him material and spiritual support. When an ideal example to members worldwide. World War II flared up in 1939, Mayr- Nusser joined the anti-Nazi movement “Andreas Hofer Bund.” However, a few l Adapted from an article that appeared years later, civil war also broke out in on the Catholic News Agency website. Main image: josef-mayr-nusser.it OZANAM NEWS I 10 MEMORY LANE

Send your submissions for Memory Lane to [email protected]

OZANAM NEWS I 12 PROMOTION

Good CONFERENCES OZANAM NEWS I 13

Congratulations to St. Theresa’s Parish, East Calder, on the successful Aggregation of their Conference, last month. Pictured with Archdiocesan President Richard Steinbach, left, are Eddie McGrane President, Theresa Canning, Jim & Sheena Paden, Theresa O’Donnell, Elizabeth Morgan, and Fr. Tony Lappin.

After more than l On the 400th 30 years dedicated anniversary of the service, Bridget Vincentian charism, Kelly retired the Holy Father, from the SSVP through the Apostolic at Our Lady & Penitentiary, has granted St Ninian’s in the whole Vincentian Bannockburn, Family, a Plenary Stirling. President Indulgence (Confession, Danny Duffy Communion, and Prayers said.‘Bridget is for the Pope), those will well known by so receive it who participate many people and in the Eucharist or in her caring visits some public or private over all the years prayer service (Our will be cherished Father, profession of by those to whom faith, invocation of the she gave so much Blessed Virgin Mary and time.” of St Vincent).

l Margaret Ferguson has been elected as the new conference president at St Thomas in Neilston.

St Mary’s Lanark hosted an St Ninian’s Conference, Inverness, SSVP group meeting with donated books to mark the reopening of l SSVP national clerical a Mass led by father Jim the Highland Hospice in Inverness. From officer Jim Gibson Thompson and speaker Margo left, Fr. Allen Andrew Leaver, Peter Kelly, celebrated his 60th Uprichard from the Space Brian McGlennon and Charlie Grant. birthday last month. OZANAM NEWS I 14 YOUTH

Mini Vinnies from St Margaret’s Primary, Dunfermline, who took part in an SSVP video (see page 12).

members from across the Archdiocese of Glasgow will gather at ‘The Space’ in Govanhill. This pilot event at this beautiful venue will give children and teachers, the National Youth Day chance to share their experiences ideas, and Get ready for our 2017 National Youth learn more about the SSVP. Day event! It looks set to be even better Due to the large numbers of children than the brilliant 2016 event at St Bride’s joining Mini Vinnies, we will be unable hall in Motherwell. It combined prayer to accommodate all. So we are asking that and reflection with a mixture of learning each Mini Vinnies group sends up to six experiences and fun activities. That members. Conference members who work allowed Youth SSVP members and young with their Mini Vinnies group are also most adult leaders to bond and get to know welcome to attend for all or part of the day, one another. We also shared experiences which will run from 10am until 2pm. With and learned more about the SSVP and more Mini Vinnies groups starting across contemporary issues. the country (there are now 36 that we are The 2017 event is open to all Youth SSVP aware of, with more starting all the time!), members between the ages of 12 and 17. we hope that events like this will be become Unlike the Voice of the Poor Conference, regular. We are always looking for members it is not an event to encourage more young to assist with Mini Vinnies, so please get in people to join Youth SSVP, but rather touch if you are interested. a gathering for existing Youth SSVP members. At the time of going to press, SSVP Youth Development details are being confirmed but we know For further information on these events, that the event will take place on the week of or to find out more about involving 12th June. young people in the Society, please contact the National Office and speak Mini Vinnies Assemble! to me. Alternatively visit our website at On Thursday 22nd June, Mini Vinnies ssvpscotland.com OBITUARIES OZANAM NEWS I 15

Ferdinando Cardosi Annie Armstrong Former president Active member St Andrew’s Cathedral St Mary’s, Caldercruix Dundee Motherwell Diocese Dunkeld Diocese Charlie Bradley William McLaughlin Former member Former president Our Lady of Good Aid St Teresa’s, Dumfries Motherwell Galloway Diocese James Divers Ronnie Daly Former president Former president St Mary’s, Cleland St Mungo’s, Townhead Motherwell Diocese Glasgow Diocese Anne Hutchison Eddie Gallagher Active member Glasgow South East St Mary’s, Hamilton Group president Motherwell Diocese & conference pres. St Anne’s, Dennistoun Jimmy McCulloch Glasgow Diocese Sec & Former president St Mary’s, Cleland Angus MacLeod Motherwell Diocese Former member St Helen’s, Langside Thomas McIlduff & OL of the Wayside Former president Glasgow Diocese St Margaret’s, Airdrie Motherwell Diocese Charlie McColgan Former president Pat Walsh St Catherine Laboure, Former member Barlanark St Athanasius, Carluke Glasgow Diocese Motherwell Diocese

Edward McGuigan Gerry Beggbie Former member Former president St Paul’s, Shettleston St Peter’s, Glenburn Glasgow Diocese Paisley Diocese

James Meechan John Barrat Treasurer Former president St Catherine Laboure, Fife Furniture Project founder Barlanark St Margaret’s, Dunfermline Glasgow Diocese St A&E

George Wretham President OL & St Mark’s, Alexandria Glasgow Diocese