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St. Vincent de Paul’s new director strives to connect
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By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald
The poor will always be with us, the Gospels say, and St. Vincent de Paul’s Archdiocesan Council of New Orleans is there to help.
St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) recently hired Michael Bourg as its new executive director. He brings to the position more than three decades of experience in nonprofit management, fund-raising, institutional strategic and long-term planning.
Bourg worked for the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province, Covington Community Center and Boys Hope Girls Hope and was a member of the development committee for Café Reconcile, the Ascension de Paul Foundation Board and the board of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. He is a lifelong parishioner of St. Rita Church in Harahan, where his parents and grandparents were founding members.
Bourg, a lay Vincentian who is married with four children, intends “to accompany and walk with those at the margins of society,” guided by the 25th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and spread the news about SVDP’s ministry to those in need.
“I believe St. Vincent de Paul is the best kept secret around,” Bourg said. “Blessed Frederic Ozanam wants us to focus on the poor for God and God’s glory, and we do it as humble servants. While we want to be humble servants, at the same time, we need to talk about what we are doing for the needy as a church and for each other and get the message out. It all flows back to service to those in need.”
An open house will be scheduled soon to introduce Bourg to the community.
Service to community
St. Vincent de Paul first was established in New Orleans in 1852 by William Blair Lancaster, who had met SVDP founder Antoine Frédéric Ozanam in Paris at The Sorbonne when Lancaster was a student and Ozanam was a professor. So impressed by the Catholic ministry of charity and social justice Ozanam established in 1833, Lancaster converted from Protestant to Catholic, and joined the society.
Upon settling in New Orleans, Lancaster worked with Father Cyril De La Croix, an assistant priest at St. Patrick’s Church on Camp Street, to found the first SVDP conference at the downtown church. Father De La Croix was the first president.
Nationwide today, there are nearly 100,000 Vincentians in 5,000 conferences and councils. The society is named for St. Vincent de Paul, who is considered the “Apostle of Charity” and “Father of the Poor.”
About a third of local Catholic parishes have a St. Vincent de Paul ministry run by volunteers. Bourg explained how lay Vincentians in parishes make “home visits” to establish relationships with those needing help and assess the material needs, both immediate and long-term. Volunteers also run parish food banks.
“The pastors who like St. Vincent de Paul understand how we can help them,” Bourg said. “Our ministry fits clearly with a mandate of the last synod that every parish have a social justice ministry. We assist parishes in fulfilling that.”
Bourg said parish ministries belong to one of four archdiocesan St. Vincent de Paul’s districts – Crescent City, East Jefferson, Washington/St. Tammany and the West Bank. Each district president sits on the central SVDP board.
New local headquarters
Approximately two years ago, SVDP’s central office moved to 3500 Canal St. in New Orleans. It houses the St. Vincent de Paul Sr. Lory Schaff Adult Learning Center, which provides employment skills, basic language and math classes and practice for the high-school equivalency test to those 19 and older with above a third-grade reading ability. It is run by center director Notre Dame Sister Bonita Sniegowski.
The hours of operation are Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Daughter of Charity Sister Marsha Tierney, Sister of Notre Dame Mary Sartor and volunteers assist Sister Bonita with one-on-one tutoring. For an appointment, call (504) 827-2999.
Additionally, the larger space houses a Nourishing Louisiana/Americorps Vista Program that assists local food pantries. It also allows private intake interviews with those in need and provides a conference room for members and community partners such as Ascension DePaul, which offers health navigation led by Daughter of Charity Sister Irma Vargas on Tuesdays from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
The Blood Center holds community blood drives on Wednesdays from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and New Orleans Workers’ for Racial Justice has community meetings on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m.
“We’re just trying to go with (what) Frederic Ozanam said, ‘You go with whoever is helping, and you help them,’” Bourg said. “We’re trying to create an environment where we can help one another.”
Immeasurable help
This past year, St. Vincent de Paul locally contributed $2.5 to $3 million and 50,000 volunteer hours to the community, Bourg said. The assistance went to rent, electricity, medicines, food, clothing and other necessities.
“When you think about how much money is going back into the community because of this (nonprofit), I am so impressed with all of the work,” he said.
Bourg hopes to move SVDP forward with new initiatives such as developing a brochure detailing all its services, writing a quarterly e-newsletter and revamping the website to offer a new member tab detailing information on non-SVDP organizations and resources helping the poor.
Another priority is to better engage youth and young adults, just as he was encouraged to actively participate in Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) retreats as a teenager at St. Rita and help organize St. Rita CYO volunteers to serve Saturday lunches at Ozanam Inn for the homeless, another ministry inspired by Ozanam.
SVDP’s lone thrift store, 4034 4th St., Marrero, offers employment and sells moderately priced household items and clothing. A long-time goal is to reopen an East Bank thrift store to generate funds to help more people. Call (504) 340-3119.
St. Vincent de Paul provides emergency services, accepts vehicles and other donations and welcomes volunteers.
“We as Vincentians are being evangelized by meeting the poor … as the hands and feet of Christ, and we see the face of Christ by working with those more marginalized than us,” Bourg said.
Visit https://www.svdpneworleans.org, 3500 Canal St., New Orleans, call (504) 827-5842 or email [email protected].
To learn more about St. Patrick's Church, visit: https://www.loc8nearme.com/louisiana/new-orleans/st-patricks-church/6806313/
[email protected]