Bishop Dolan in Rome for St Vincent de Paul Assembly

Owen Dolan, emeritus coadjutor bishop of Palmerston North, is pictured above with Pope Francis.

He is pointing out to him the presence of the St Vincent de Paul group at the General Audience, just 50 metres away.

The photo shows the Pope acknowledging the group with a wave.

Bishop Dolan was at the International Assembly of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, held in Rome 3- 5 June 2016. There were National Presidents from well over 100 countries present at the Assembly.

New Zealand was represented by Terry Comber, National President of the Society of St Vincent de Paul in New Zealand.

At the meeting Mr Renato Lima de Oliverira from Brazil was elected as the new International President of the Society.

The Gospel reflection of the day from Pope Francis:  “I exhort you to pray with special intensity to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that they will teach you how to love God and neighbour with full dedication”.

Refugees, migrations, geopolitical situation in Lebanon, spiritual reflexion about hope and service were topics discussed during the General Assembly.

There were 4 keynote speakers:

Gushwell Brooks from South Africa is Communication leader at the Jesuite Refugee Service . He spoke about “International migrations and international refugee law”  Listen to his presentation

Ella Bitar National President of the SSVP in Lebanon, spoke about 1.5 millions of refugees on 4 millions of habitants: Lebanon is dying”. Read the text of the presentation

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me” was the title of Father Gregory Gay‘s presentation. He  from the United States of America and is General spiritual advisor of the congregation of the mission. Read the text of the presentation

Sister Marie Rawform England is the General Spiritual advisor of the charity’s daughters. Her topic was: “Turning hope into service”.  Read the text of the presentation

 

Source

Additional reading

News category: New Zealand, Top Story.

Tags: , ,