“The principal purpose of this web page is the service to the poor.  Keeping his in mind, I hope that it can be an accessible instrument of communication for interchange of information on our life and the works realized in the various continents, to provide materials for formation for our members, to lead our energies towards common projects and to facilitate that the voice of the poor be heard clearly and speedily.”

            With these words uttered almost two years ago at the inauguration of www.famvin.org, our Superior General traced the way to follow for the development of this site of the International Vincentian Family on the Internet.

            Later on, Father Maloney himself insisted repeatedly   on some challenges which this and other web pages of the International Vincentian Family have to face:

            *to know the people who visit our sites on the Internet;

            *to be simple in the presentation of their contents;

            *to make the web sites attractive, specially for the youth;

            *to organize them in an interesting way so that they be visited daily;

            *to use them as means to look for unity in diversity of the Vincentian Family;

            *and, above all, to make use of them for the two principal objectives:

                        -the service of the poor;

                        -the formation of the members of the Vincentian Family

            Presently www.famvin.org is available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. The last two languages are developing, specially after the first workshop on the web page, last August 6 to 8, in New York. The objective sought by  this expansion in the number of languages is to reach, better every time, a more numerous audience, in as much as the International Vincentian Family is spread in the four cardinal points. In  the development of our web site, the impulse of the last General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission (1998) was important; it was held right here at via Ezio, together with the continuous encouragement of the Superior General, who with deep conviction, offered ideas to make our web site interesting and has assigned Father John Freund, a Vincentian priest, as “Webmaster” on a full time basis. We have to also recognize the collaboration of other Vincentians and some lay people   in the maintenance of this web site in different languages.

            Let me now show you briefly the principal parts of www.famvin.org:

            *The front page with a “link” to the languages used in the site;

*In the central portion, the recent news of the web site appear by language.  These news in different languages are generally different in each language because their publication depend on the person responsible for each language;

            *On the left, the different sections of the web site appear.    Among them, we can point out:

            -“First time Visitors,” which contains an explanation of the purpose of the web site and

            outline of the same;

            -“Branches of the Vincentian Family” with the links to each other;

            -“Archive by themes” with the materials which were previously published.

            -“World Press” with a link to all the newspapers in the world by continent;

            -“Frequently asked Question and Observations,” with the required answers.  The two

            most useful questions: “How can I send information to this site?” and “How can I send a

            link?”

            The English version of www.famvin.org was visited more than 132,000 times during this year up to the month of August.  The other versions,   in the measure that they are updating the materials, are being visited more and more frequently.  You can find news in www.famvin.org about the Vincentian Family, and poor, articles on formation, news about the Church, the initiatives that the members of the Vincentian family do in favor of the poor in many places, etc.

            In this short presentation, I invite you to four concrete things:

            1. To send information concerning your   Association www.famvin.org , according to the four languages of the web site, which could be interesting to all: news, apostolic experiences, Marian or other reflections, etc.

            2. To set up links to www.famvin.org on your local web pages so that everybody can access abundant and interesting information;

            3. To contact those in charged of each web site in order to let them know your opinions an suggestions about the web site (generally, at the bottom of the page are found a link which one has only to click to send an e-mail).  You can also the advantage of the links which invite you to send your commentaries on various information.

            4. To directly   put the information properly diagramed , in such a way that those responsible of the page can save time and place the information more rapidly on the Web.

            In our Web page, among the many information, you can find:

            *the project of the Vincentian Family :”Globalization of Charity: Fight against hunger;

            http://www.famvin.org/hunger/fightagainsthunger-files/frame.asp (English);

            http:www.secretariadojmv.org/inter/proyecto-hambre/espanol/introduccion.asp(espanol)

            *Some of the training projects of the International Association of Charities (AIC):

            http://nuntia.cs.depaul.edu/2144FRAout.asp (French);

            *links with some works and provinces of the Daughters of Charity in the world:

            http:www.famvin.org/es/hcddoc.php (Spanish);

            *short biographies and images of the saints of the Vincentian Family:

            http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/8081(Italian).

            *The rich materials for formation of the Vincentian Marian Youth on its First General Assembly:

            http://www.secretariadojmv.org/inter/roma/assamblea/ideoma-portug-as.asp(port.)

            *The innovative page of the Internet of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

            http://www.ozanet.org/english/index.asp (English);

            *a short history of the Associationof the Miraculous Medal:

            http://www.famvin.org/mirmed.php/(English)

            *details   of the mission of Nacala (Mozambique) of Misevi (Lay Vincentian Missionaries):

            http://www.famvin.org/en/exp-mis/expmis.asp(Spanish);

            *The identity of the Religious of St.Vincent de Paul:

            http://www.famvin.org/en/rsvp.php (French).

            *articles on formation for the Vincentian family:

            http://www.famvin.org/es/sections.php?op=listarticles&secid=(Spanish)

            *an interesting material on “Vincentian images”:

            http://www.famvin.org/con99/html/gallerys.aspl (English)

            All the above can be found in www.famvin.org.

            In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the efforts which in the last months were placed in order to fulfill the objections which were indicated, by making better the external presentation of the web site, involving a greater number of persons who can send or publish materials of interest for the Vincentian Family, organizing gatherings and meetings to improve the cooperation and participation of the various branches in the development of the web page and  dedicating persons who have the taste for this work in order to give us all a material for formation and for information which may increase our spirit of Family and help us to be more sensitive to the cries of the poor, following the example of St. Vincent de Paul.

Return to the top.