Membership

"We do not choose to be Vincentians, we are chosen. Vincentian work is a lifelong vocation. Our way of life is defined by carrying out our four main missions: spirituality, fellowship, helping the poor, and giving others a chance to help the poor."

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has three types of membership: the active member, the associate member and the contributing member. Each type has its own qualifications. Each involves your time, talent and treasure.

You can help by becoming a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The local Council or Conference of the Society would be happy to explain to you what is involved in each type of membership. Click on the link below to see the list of parishes with Conferences, or call the Council Office at 714-991-9255.

Information about Conferences and a List of Local Conferences

General Information

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) is an international organization of lay persons. Catholic in character, who seek, in a spirit of justice and charity and by person-to-person involvement, to help those who are suffering. To provide this personal and neighborly help, Vincentians organize themselves into small working groups, known as "conferences," which are the first line of action.

Vincentians regard the conference as the paramount unit of SVdP life. It is at this grassroots level that the great majority of Vincentians find themselves engaged in the person-to-person service to those in need. Members may and usually do recognize the importance of higher councils in organizing countywide person-to-person services and in developing other special works. But for most, the fundamental Vincentian action is their own and their conference's involvement with troubled persons and families in their immediate neighborhood.

For Vincentians, moreover, this person-to-person work is associated with not just any kind of grouping, but almost always with the parish conference. A strong case can be made for the traditional parish as a logical and desired base for serving people. The trend today is toward decentralization in the providing of social services. This is a move propelled by the anguish of troubled people who so often feel that nobody really cares. Today, many individuals experience a sense of powerlessness in relation to the forces that shape their lives. Bureaucracies often seem just too big and distant. So community welfare planners are increasingly accepting the necessity for getting closer to people, individualizing them and their needs, and offering "nearness" to those wanting help.