Over the centuries, we as Vicentians have sought to realise the vision of our Founder, making the evangelical spirit of charity felt in the world. Saint Vincent was inspired by Christ, who preached and lived love for all, particularly the young, the weak and the poor.

Today, this underlying precept is alive and well in the Vicentian Family. However, times have changed, society has altered beyond recognition and the causes of poverty, as well as poverty itself, are changing constantly. It is for this reason that we in the various branches of the Vicentian Family have asked ourselves questions (or are in the process of doing so) how we can adapt our methods of involvement in order to best respond to the evangelical spirit of charity.

This spirit of charity, as the Vicentians understand it, is unchanging, encompassing overarching and universal core values. It goes hand in hand with love, solidarity, close attention to the needs of the poor, the fight against injustice and the defence of their rights.

What is needed is to update the way in which we practice the apostolate of charity by seeking new ways forward that tally with the realities and challenges with which we are confronted in today's world. It is an arduous, never-ending path, and one requiring permanent reflection, analysis, dialogue and action, whilst taking care to remain loyal to the teachings of Saint Vincent and showing that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the poor, as Mary did, through real, tangible acts . (As stated in the final document of the 2001 Assembly, a document to which I will make reference at various points during this talk)

Our changing apostolate is directly related to the process being pursued both by those who are committed to charitable work and the recipients of that charity, in other words, the most abandoned, our lords and masters. Today's poor are not the same as the poor of yesteryear. We must be open and attentive as we listen to their needs and their demands and seek to respond to the complex problem of poverty, which despite the efforts of many, is spreading on a daily basis.

In the above mentioned document, members of the AMM committed themselves to an important mission: to always listen to the Lord and to the poor.

The poverty of today's world serves as a clarion call to us all. The International Statutes of the AMM offer you a way forward as you seek responses, through veneration of Mary, sanctification of members, complete formation in the Christian way of life and the apostolate of charity, particularly when it comes to those who have suffered the worst abandonment .

We frequently highlight within our organisations the importance of remaining true to the spirit of Saint Vincent: for this reason and out of this sense of loyalty, we in the Vincentian associations must continue to move forward, blazing new trails, becoming prophets as Saint Vincent showed us: he was a prophet and he entrusted us with the task of becoming prophets of our time.

Over the course of today's working session, you will be asking yourselves questions concerning your own responses to the cries of the poorest and the way forward for AMM in the future, which, if it is to be effective and make a real difference, must be closely connected with the changing face of poverty and the situation of the poorest people, and based on a searching analysis of reality. This is an essential foundation for any future plans.

With this in mind, I wish to share with you a quotation which particularly affected me: “If the Lord saw to it that we were born at this precise moment in history, it is because he is asking something of us”. So we have a calling from God. A challenge that He is entrusting to us and to which we must respond, committing ourselves utterly to transforming today's society and the poverty within it.

As your document states, we are greatly aided by our knowledge of the mission of Mary in the history of salvation, which serves as a guiding light for Christian life and sheds light on our apostolic commitment.

In discussing possible responses to contemporary poverty, I will make brief reference to the experience of my association, the AIC - International Association of Charities founded by Saint Vincent de Paul, in the hope that you will be able to draw from it some useful pointers to help you as you seek new ways of practicing the apostolate.

Since the 1980s, the AIC has continued to monitor the changing face of poverty extremely closely and I would like to remind you of the path that we followed as we sought to react to these changes. Our path took us from assistance to promotion, self-promotion, participation by recipients, project-based work, exerting pressure on the establishment and a commitment to transforming society and poverty. The current situation demands that we take a further step forward, committing ourselves to a process of shared social responsibility, which we consider one of the best ways of contributing to the building of a peaceful world; true peace cannot exist whilst men and women continue to die of starvation, are denied opportunities and are living mired in desperation.

Shared responsibility is all about consciously participating in a community, in its life, and feeling a calling to play our part and fulfill our mission. The community in which we live is the evangelical vineyard, where the Lord calls on us to work together with others so that all can reap the benefits of our talents.

A sense of responsibility is therefore a dynamic concept, a value that requires each of us to be actively committed and which encourages us to become an evangelising presence to those around us, like Mary.

The Second Vatican Council frequently calls for a sense of shared responsibility to be fostered across different human communities, from the family, neighbourhood and city to entire nations and the human family as a whole.

This is a very real challenge for us as Vincentians: we feel a strong calling to assume our role and our responsibility, both at a personal and social level.

Exercising shared responsibility at a personal level entails each of us being ready and willing to personally commit ourselves to playing an active role in iniciatives and strategies seeking to foster solidarity, rebuild social ties and build peace. It also means each of us taking the decision to leave behind indifference, apathy, disinterest and that feeling of not being up to the demands of a given situation, the feeling that prompts us to say “but I can't” when faced with some new suggestion.

Only by starting with ourselves, and with the awareness that a personal contribution is vital, can volunteers learn and prepare themselves to understand and practice in their associations the shared responsibility that is their calling as Christians and Vincentians, convinced that their service to the poor cannot be effective if it does not go hand in hand with a commitment by all to the common good, justice and peace. It is therefore highly important to learn to think outside our comfort zone, to open up to the world, make contacts, face our challenges; if we fail to do so, we will be working with the poor, for sure, but we will not be doing anything to tackle poverty and its causes. The international nature of our associations is therefore a great help in broadening our horizons.

All associations now have within their grasp a new and effective means of exercising shared responsibility at a social level: cooperation in achieving the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) with involvement in the National Plans for achieving these goals. The aim of the Millenium Development Goals is to speed up the process of development in order to achieve peace and security, respect for human rights and sustainable development.

As as reminder, these are the eight United Nations Millenium Goals that must be met by 2015:

• I. Erradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
• II. Achieve universal primary education
• III. Promote gender equality and empower women.
• IV. Reduce child mortality.
• V. Improve maternal health.
• VI. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
• VII. Ensure environmental sustainability.
• VIII. Develop a global partnership for development.

In September of last year, the AIC participated in a meeting held in New York during which the role of NGOs in assessing the progress of the Millenium Goals in different countries was analysed. The survey showed that on the one hand, people are not sufficiently well-informed about the Millenium Declaration and that on the other, governments are still a long way from meeting the targets set out in the Millenium Goals by the 2015 deadline.

What can we do, faced with such a situation? In the words of an AIC volunteer: “It is we, citizens, and particularly volunteers, who must exert pressure on the authorities in our countries and ensure that States meet the Millenium Goals, if official state programmes of action have not been respected. All of these goals are extremely important for every type of community.”

This is an ambitious challenge, but it is achievable. Non-governmental organisations must be aware of the influence they can exert on their governments, drawing additional support from the fact that the eight Millenium Goals are based on activities already being carried out by many associations. This awareness will bolster our strength and allow us to capitalise on the work of our public sector and institutions.

During the last AIC Assembly, it was proposed that shared responsibility be a “pathway towards peace” , true peace based on justice, love and truth. We all have a calling to become peace-builders, a calling to construct a culture of peace within ourselves and within society.

As Vincentian volunteers, we work to achieve peace by contributing towards the elimination of injustice, inequality and marginalisation, all of which lead to conflict and make peace that much more difficult to achieve. Our specific peace-building work involves working together to fight the poverty of today , in other words, practicing our charitable services as best we can with the most abandoned people and working with families so that each home can become a “domestic church”, as set out in the final document.

This is a crucial point: when we say that we want to assume shared responsibility for paving the way towards peace and justice, we are making a promise to the poorest people, a promise that makes demands of us: effort, change, courage, prophetic denunciation. It demands that we live in solidarity with poor, as Mary did, and that we show this through real tangible acts.

Hence, something that I believe is vital is to assess the way we work as volunteers and the effectiveness of our services.

The need to assess our actions stems directly from our sense of shared responsibility with regard to the poor: they have the right to receive an effective service and we have the duty to provide the best possible service we can, continually ensuring that it corresponds ever more closely to current needs.

Evaluation, and particularly qualitative evaluation , i.e. an assessment of the quality of our service, is essential in order to ensure that any project or act of charity can make real inroads.

It looks at the meaning of what we are doing, our own conduct and how this follows on from our abilities. It requires us to assess the outcome of our actions based on a system of values.

Knowledge of Mary's mission in the history of salvation provides a guiding light for us as we assess our apostolic commitment.

Qualitative evaluation involves questions such as: how is my service developing? Does it tally with what I had intended to achieve? Does it tally with the spirituality of my association? Do my actions correspond to the needs I am faced with? Do they bring about any change in the lives of the recipients? Do they change anything in my life?

Another important aspect is an objective evaluation , seeking to look towards the future on the basis of a clear, honest analysis of the present.

This makes it possible to assess whether the goals we had established are still valid or whether they need to be altered to better respond to the current situation. It encourages us to ask ourselves questions about the consequences of our actions, whether they have been effective and to what extent we should continue as we are or make changes.

It also encourages us to try to think ahead about the most appropriate ways of achieving our goals and hence to set out strategies.

In the course of an objective evaluation, we are called upon to reflect on questions such as: where do I want to get to? What are my objectives and goals? How do I want my actions to progress? What will our service be like in three / five years, and what do we want to achieve?

This evaluation process would need to be participatory in nature, i.e. conducted and discussed with all stakeholders: volunteers, recipients and possible future partners in activities.

However, there is also another important aspect of the evalutation process, relating to our feeling of shared responsibility towards the poor, the evaluation of our personal relationship with recipients, those who have suffered the worst abandonment, the families who are privileged in their apostolate of charity.

This sort of service does not require us to work for somebody, rather that we be with them, travelling along the same road together. Such an attitude requires constant work on our own personal level and frequent assessment of our personal relationship with others, whether individuals or families. In so doing, we will be acting as companions in the journey towards liberation, along people to grow, enjoy the freedom to express their ideas and use their own resources to take decisions on their own lives, by formulating their own solutions. This is what we in the AIC call “empowerment”.

Volunteers must be aware of the “power” they hold in relationships with the poor. Holding power means, for example, seeking solutions on our own, thinking that we know “what's best for them” and the best solution to their problems. It is not always easy to recognise and respect the decisions of others and to listen to them, give them time, show continued belief in their potential, keep their confidence up even when we see no change or progress…

In our changing world, family responsibilites are weighty, and the family can have an extraordinary energy, flowing from the love that burns within it. It is important to value the role it can play, helping families to understand that they are a significant resource when it comes to transforming and evangelising the world. They must be supported and accompanied so that they can overcome the crises with which they are threatened in today's world.

The final document includes significant points concerning this issue :
Adopt a lifestyle that enables “the poor to feel at home when they are among us”  ;

Encourage a respectful, friendly, meaningful presence among the poor, that will increase their sense of dignity and promote their human and Christian condition.

Saint Vincent himself teaches us that Vincentian service is characterised by the human and spiritual quality of the relationship established between volunteers and the individuals and families we are working with. That is why it is so vital to pay close attention to our attitudes with regard to our relationship with the poor and to engage in training and preparation in order to ensure that this relationship can be liberating. Such a relationship must be learnt through training, listening, evaluation and a deep understanding of the attitudes of our role-models: Jesus, Saint Vincent and Mary, who inspires us in our commitment to the poor.

The final document highlights, at a number of points, the need for training and suggests necessary steps in order to provide a quality and effective service.

To achieve all this, we need determination and enthusiasm aplenty, as well as an enduring sense of hope. Most importantly of all however, we must not be afraid to fight for the poor, to commit ourselves to campaigning and denouncing if need be, remembering at all times that Jesus also came to help us overcome our fears. If we are fearful, we cannot truly love.

Saint Vincent was a braving, daring man who through his love for the poor was capable of shouldering great responsibility. He recommended to his disciples that they “always act with a sense of initiative, as if they had only their own abilities at their disposal” but at the same time, “trust in divine providence and do not worry”.

To conclude, I want to underline the fact that the challenges arising out of poverty in today's world require us to adopt an open and dynamic interpretation of our apostolate, continually developing and searching out our commitment to others, because being Vincentian volunteers and charity workers in today's world means:

•  Be pro-active: rather than limiting ourselves to providing a service, we must pluck up the courage to innovate and go that little bit further.
•  Fulfilling a prophetic mission: reading the present in the light of the future and working to make the prophecy part of history.
•  In these selfish times, developing an active policy of bringing hope.
•  Working towards a utopia that is not a dream but a project. We all know that our goal is a long way off, but we are also aware that each day, we can make inroads which, however small, will bring it that much closer.

ary was a poor woman, sympathetic and attentive to the needs of the poor of her time, because she was a woman filled with God. I hope that She may always serve as inspiration to you all in your commitment to the poor and that by following her example, the AMM may always be the bringer of good news and hope to our world.

Cf. Final document 2001
AMM International Statutes, 1997, art. 2
TMI no. 50

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