The United Nations on September 20 th had a very different feeling. Or vibe, as
the younger generation would say. Appropriately so because it was their day, totally
organized by youth, with videos and music, statements and pledges in the language
and style of young people.

Quite a difference—a welcome change—from the usual UN look of mostly older
men and women filling the corridors.

The two “Action Days” (9/20-21) were the lead-in to the much-anticipated Summit
of the Future, an event intending—hoping? —to re-energize efforts to push forward the
UN’s 2030 Agenda. All 193 Member States approved the agenda and pledged to fulfill
its promise of a sustainable, healthy and more equitable life for People and the Planet
while leaving no one behind. The sad truth, however, is that in 2024, with only 6 years
to go, the best estimates show only 17% of the 17 Goals are on track for completion.

So, the first Action Day was all about youth, their hopes and dreams, and their
pledges to bring energy and vision to shape the future world they will inherit. Half the
world’s population is under 30 years of age, yet young people are not always taken
seriously in spaces of high-level decision-making. And they said so, loud and clear.
Applauding the Secretary-General’s initiative to establish a UN Office for Youth,
speakers insisted that this must be only a first step. No more youth on the margins;
they need to be in the center of things. They must be heard, and they deserve a seat at
the table. They may lack the experience and wisdom of the more mature, but they bring
a fresh look and new insight, as well as obvious comfort with the use of new and
emerging technologies. But they demand authenticity from leaders, more action than
talk, if we are to have responsible institutions.

It struck me as a significant step forward and reminded me of the comments
made by a former ambassador who was deeply involved in the formulation of the 2030
Agenda (the SDGs): a key weakness at the UN is old thinking yet new problems, old
structures and process incapable of meeting new challenges. We will need to employ
Artificial Intelligence to help resolve the issues of the day. but what are we doing to
understand its potential yet safeguard its positive use, and to keep pace with its rapid
development?

New wineskins anyone?
The Summit of the Future itself, two days later, did not measure up to the hyped-
up promise of a singularly important major event, and certainly not what the NGO
community hoped for. There were no major breakthroughs, no binding resolutions.

Some States still resist any talk of Human Rights. And many prefer to speak of housing
but not mention homelessness.

But it was not entirely business as usual either. There are always signs of hope.
Issues are discussed, Member States continue to talk with each other. Dialogue is
mostly cordial and respectful. Although adding other missing content to the 2030
Agenda is not possible currently, no one calls for the elimination of any aspect of the 17
Goals.

But for me the brightest sign of hope is the significant step forward young people
have made in stating their case for meaningful involvement in shaping the future they
will live in. They embrace the Sustainable Development Goals, and they are already
deeply involved in so many places globally with climate action. It seems they will have
a stable presence within UN deliberations going forward. They herald change and we
should welcome it.
​
Welcome young folks. The future really is yours.
Jim Claffey
UN NGO Representative of the Congregation of the Mission

Quickly.…name an advocacy/service project in 2024 whose roots go way back to the
17 th century….

If you guessed homelessness you’re probably a Vincentian, i.e. a member or associate
of one of the 225 groups in 150 countries that claim St. Vincent DePaul as patron,
founder or inspiration.

Homelessness ranked high on Vincent’s agenda. The following is the story of a
contemporary effort to end homelessness by followers of Vincent DePaul, the
remarkable story of a strikingly successful project. Consider this: in only 6 years, from
2018 to 2023, the FAMVIN Homeless Alliance (FHA) has provided over 10,000 formerly
homeless people with secure housing and access to other support services.

Current Statistics (June 2024):
68 Countries; 108 projects; 2,523 Houses; 10,256 People Helped

The Historical Inspiration: One of St. Vincent’s many creative responses to the plight
of poor people in his time involved the use of money bequeathed to him in a royal will to
acquire 13 houses for abandoned children. Using sharp business skills, Vincent rented
the houses to the Ladies of Charity (AIC), then used the rent proceeds for the missions.
The Daughters of Charity cared for and educated the children. St. Vincent also
arranged housing for refugees pouring into Paris, victims of war, famine and the plague,
as well as others living on the streets, which also involved feeding at times thousands of
people.

Vincent’s “13 houses” became the metaphor for today’s project to transform the lives of
at least 10,000 people experiencing homelessness in as many countries as possible to
works towards eliminating homelessness.
​
FHA’s focus on the homeless has three dimensions:
 People without accommodations--street sleepers
 People living in temporary accommodations—refugee camps, the internally
displaced
 People living in inadequate/insecure housing—slums, hostels.

The 400 th Anniversary: in 2017, with the theme “Welcoming the Stranger,” the
Vincentian Family celebrated the 400 years of Vincentian charism to serve the poor by
launching a global initiative to address homelessness. Inspired by the Gospel text
“When I was a stranger you welcomed me” (Matthew 25), and by Vincent’s words “We
should assist the poor in every way and do it both by ourselves and by enlisting the help
of others,” the FHA was entrusted with the megaproject, the unique common project of
the entire Family from 1 July 2017 until 2025.

Collaboration is the key to the success of any major project and the FHA has been
particularly focused on increasing the collaboration needed to eliminate the deeply
entrenched social problem that is homelessness. Twenty-five branches of the Family
have been especially involved and the success achieved so far exemplifies the power of
collaboration.

The United Nations Connection: As a global project, 2025 was chosen to coincide
with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for People and the Planet, 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) to put the world on a path towards greater prosperity and peace for
everyone.

This Agenda, approved by 193 Member States of the UN, is ambitious and frankly off
track at this time. The Vincentian Family remains especially focused on the
advancement of three of the SDGs: No Poverty (Goal 1), Sustainable Cities and
Communities (#11) and Reduced Inequality (#10).

FHA Initiatives: Besides hosting international conferences on street homelessness,
refugees and persons trapped in slums, FHA is planning to offer a global scholarship
fund for 50 young slum dwellers from different communities worldwide up to the
graduate level. As it continues to expand, FHA has been incorporating discussions of
climate change and resultant displacement, the great moral and existential challenge of
our time, as well as gender and women-focused themes, because women and girls
regularly suffer the most with any social ill.

FHA attempts to bring to bear a holistic approach to the project, ensuring that all
dimensions of poverty and marginalization are addressed. And it does so with a
systemic change mentality, seeking the root causes of homelessness, and involving
persons experiencing homelessness in every phase of the project. More than victims,
they are potential protagonists, and their voice and participation are critical to create
lasting sustainable change.

The Jubilee Year 2025: “Hope Does Not Disappoint” is the inspiring theme of the
upcoming special year in the Church. FHA is deep into planning to associate its efforts
with Pope Francis’s call for tangible signs of hope, positioning itself as an active pilgrim
of hope by continuing the expansion beyond 13 houses and 13 countries and by proving
that homelessness is not a necessary evil but a difficult issue that humanity can solve.
Closing: To have a home is a human right. To have a decent home is to have dignity
and a sense of worth. Having a home is key to the circle of life and its demands of job
and income, health and education. To have a home is to have opportunity. Having a
home is fundamental to achieve Pope Francis’s imperative of the three L’s: land, labor
and lodging.
​
FHA is trying to make that happen for as many as possible. Let’s end homelessness. It
can be done. We can all join the effort in different ways by searching for local FHA
projects, or by donating, collaborating, spreading the word, following FamVin Homeless
Alliance on Twitter/X, FaceBook and Instagram, or emailing: [email protected].

Jim Claffey, NGO Representative of the Congregation of the Mission to United Nations

​A three-year-old screams “It’s not fair” when she thinks her brother gets something she doesn’t.  Another child cries out the same when told it’s time for bed while an older sibling stays up.

They are calling for justice.  Because there’s an instinct in us that things should be fair…not equal perhaps but at least fair.  As Ms. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, says about social justice, “we know what that is, we learned it from our kids, it’s called fairness.”

Most people don’t think it’s fair that very wealthy people pay lower taxes than they do.  Or that corporations can simply raise prices or fire workers without good cause.  Again, an innate sense of justice tells us when something is just wrong.

Even in the more undeveloped areas of the world, where futures seem pre-determined and fixed, with some exposure to the wider world everyone would want greater fairness, with opportunity for everyone, with material help when needed, with everyone’s dignity respected.  

The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda of Peace and Prosperity for People and the Planet aims at getting humanity closer to that world.  And the underlying promise is to leave no one behind.

Leave no one behind--progress for all-- is only attainable if material progress is combined with spiritual or ethical values.  Recent economic growth has clearly brought prosperity for many, but since much of that growth has come without a link to justice or equity, a few have disproportionately benefitted while many are left in precarious conditions.  This is a spiritual issue.  A spiritual failure.

Society will only be healthy and whole if values like community, the Common Good, and shared prosperity are intentionally pursued.  It’s about fairness.

The UN agenda is inspired by Human Rights, a universal declaration, affirming that all people have these rights, that rights belong to people not to governments, and that they must be respected.

The Social Teaching of the Church inspires others to seek justice and the Common Good, and to challenge the status quo where everything is set up to favor the wealthy and well connected.  Although not well known, the Social Doctrine builds on its roots in Scripture and is authentically pro-life because it defends and promotes life from womb to tomb—“I came that you might have life, and life in abundance.”

The Social Teaching fosters a mindset to seek and understand the root causes of injustice and to promote changes in the systems and structures that cause and keep people in poverty and misery.  Professor Cornell West says it well: “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.”

In the Vincentian tradition we find Blessed Frederic Ozanam, principal founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a forerunner of Social Teaching with his calls for pensions and worker rights well before the earliest formulations of the doctrine.  He tells us “Go to the poor”, listen and learn, and complement charity with work for justice.  

Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Catholic Social Teaching and most of by all our shared charism to serve the poor, The Vincentian Family NGOs work to bring systemic change for people in poverty through our collaborative work at the UN doing political advocacy, a new level of charity.    

It involves navigating complicated concepts and constructs like Social Protection Floors, the Multi-Dimensional Polycrisis of Inequality, and Global Financial Architecture…but in the end it’s simply all about Fairness.

​Jim Claffey, NGO representative of the CM to the UN
 

​If this were a sporting event, the coach would be screaming.   
                                                                                   
The 193 Member States of the United Nations pledged to create a world of peace and prosperity for People and the Planet by 2030.  A promise, almost a dream.  A pledge to eliminate poverty and hunger, provide a clean environment, and a life harmonious with nature for everyone. 
​
The current assessment:

• ​SDG 13 Climate: July the hottest month in recorded history
• SDG 2 No Hunger: 783 Billion hungry (worse than 2019 pre-COVID)
• Poverty increased for 1st time in a decade as gap between rich and poor expands.  Inequality, the root of all social ills (Pope Francis)
• SDG 16 “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”: no target on track
• Global financial system for development morally bankrupt

The 193 nations, “Member States” of the UN, have so far failed to deliver.

Let’s be real.  We will never totally eliminate poverty in spite of SDG 1: End Poverty.  It is a social ill, the product of growing inequality and the policy decision made by too many leaders using economic systems favoring only those at the top.  Greed abounds; the Common Good in short supply.  

But it is possible to eliminate extreme poverty, providing vast improvements in the quality of life for everyone.  Were we to realize the SDGs the world would be vastly improved for every person.  Not a paradise but a world with less poverty, no hunger, a climate under control, and life with dignity.  

The SDGs are not on track.  The pandemic was a huge setback but not entirely responsible for the disappointing results.  At this point tweaks are useless.  Governments must stop talking and start running, in the words of one youth delegate to the UN, towards implementation of the goals.  This was the conversation at the UN during its annual High Level Political Forum in July.

The president of the General Assembly says we’re stuck on Old Fashioned thinking and approaches, business as usual, narrow national self-interests trumping global solidarity, and spending development funds with an eye on profit instead of the Common Good.  We need non-conventional thinking based on science and an absolute commitment to inclusion and mutual solidarity. “To save the world we must transform the world.”  Quite a tall order.

WHAT MIGHT SPIRITUALITY PROVIDE HERE

The process of shared sustainable development needs an injection of spirituality, a “Unitive” approach.  A sense of shared belonging-- to one another, to nature, to one human family in the increasingly interconnected nature of everything.  We could understand “That all might be one” not only as an ecumenical call but an existential necessity.  The pandemic should have taught us that we’re not safe until everyone is safe.  We must stop “othering” those outside our “tribes.”  If we all “belong” we will build the Common Good.  

Vincentian Spirituality can make a valuable contribution by helping to address one of the key SDG mantras: “leave no one behind.” People in poverty are the ones always left behind!  The last to be considered, the last to be favored.  They are at the heart of our Spirituality and without people in poverty our charism makes little sense.  The marginalized and homeless, migrants and refugees, the disadvantaged…to them we go, with them we share the Good News and together we build the Kingdom.  Our focus is critical for the UN’s 2030 Agenda.
​
So we might:
+ Pray for the UN’s efforts to create a better future for everyone;
+ Sharpen our analysis of issues and events through the lens of our charism;
+ Continue to advocate for the homeless (common project of the Vincentian Family)
 
Jim Claffey
NGO representative of Vincentian priests/brothers to the UN
 
 

At the recent Multi-Stakeholder Hearing on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Congregation of the Mission offered a written statement in support of UHC and good health and wellbeing globally. Below is the statement offered to the hearing: 

“The Congregation of the Mission would like to emphasize our unwavering support for Universal Health Coverage and the need for it to be implemented for all people, regardless of their nationality or background. Health is a human right, and everyone deserves the opportunity to live as healthy and comfortable of a life as possible. To achieve this, the United Nations needs to continue supporting medical and public health efforts aimed at both disease prevention and treatment. Effective UHC systems must promote healthy lifestyles and work to prevent disease where possible to lessen the burden of preventable diseases on health systems, but also support and equitably provide treatments for diseases that do develop. 

We would also like to highlight the importance of ensuring universal health coverage is able to reach the most marginalized, such as, but not limited to, refugees, people experiencing homelessness, and disabled people, and meet their long-term or complex health needs. It is pivotal that in the UHC systems we envision, no person’s health needs are considered too complicated or too urgent. 
​
Improving health is integral to improving livelihoods, and the benefits of implementing UHC go far and beyond health and span across financial-wellbeing, economic opportunity improvement, and gender equity. It is essential that the UHC systems we envision for the future of our global society meet the needs of all, not some, and in order to achieve this, we must listen to communities and individuals and involve them as equal and valuable stakeholders to ensure the needs expressed by communities are being met and accounted for in such UHC systems.” 

​Gracie Bagdon 
Intern

One evening in the early 1970s, Michael Pachovas and a few friends wheeled themselves to a curb in Berkeley, Calif., poured cement into the form of a crude ramp, and rolled off into the night. For Pachovas and his fellow disability advocates, it was a political act, a gesture of defiance….It was also pragmatic. Despite their unevenness, the makeshift sloping curbs provided the disabled community with something invaluable: mobility….  
 
So begins a powerful story told in the 2017 Stanford Social Innovation Review by Angela Glover Blackwell.  That simple “curb cut” helped end the nightmare of moving along city streets in a wheelchair, like running a dangerous obstacle course.  Unlike accessibility measures for buildings required by government regulation, street mobility was not yet a priority.  
 
Now that’s creativity!  Identifying a problem and responding effectively with simple resources. Curb cuts were not entirely new.  The first appeared in 1945 in Kalamazoo MI.  But the Berkeley cut began to change the way the country thought about access, mobility and the needs of more vulnerable communities.
 
And then something entirely unexpected thing happened. With this small change, everybody benefited—not only people in wheelchairs but parents pushing strollers headed straight for curb cuts. So did workers pushing heavy carts, business travelers wheeling luggage, even runners and skateboarders. 
 
There’s an ingrained societal suspicion that intentionally supporting one group hurts another. That equity is a zero sum game.  But in fact, it’s not a pizza—my slice doesn’t diminish the pie for others!  Everyone wins.
 
St Vincent de Paul would be proud.  After all one of hallmarks of the great Patron of Charity was his genius for networking and collaboration, as well as creative responses to the problems and needs of the impoverished of his time.
One of his most often repeated quotes reminds us LOVE IS INVENTIVE EVEN TO INFINITY.
 
A powerful statement…but also a challenge to his followers: how creative are we Vincentians today in following Christ the Evangelizer and Servant of People in Poverty.  How inventive of pastoral methods and tools in bringing the Good News? Because if we always do what we’ve always done, not much will change.
It’s interesting to imagine what St. Vincent would do with the social tools of today that he did not enjoy in the 17th century: social analysis, democracy, economic systems, systemic change thinking and most of all social media!  His creativity would flourish and there would be no stopping him in accomplishing serious and lasting structural change.
 
Now not all of us are creative visionaries.  That’s a special gift.  Many of us are more managerial, we can administer a project, keep it on track and get good results.   But we can go beyond that by critically analyzing our methods and seeking to incorporate new—and better—ways to carry out our ministry.   As Vincent’s followers, seeking to reflect his charism in this century with its current needs and challenges, those we serve deserve our efforts in this regard. 
 
How can we be more creative?  

• One thing we might do is take a vigorous critical look at how we do our ministry; self-evaluation is never easy but probably necessary;
• We might find ways to incorporate more prayer and meditation on how we do things and why, opening ourselves to new impulses and insights;
• We might find ways to keep the ultimate goal of our ministerial activities the utterly clear focus and priority, not secondary considerations; 
• We might study what colleagues—and even competitors—do in efforts similar to our own.  What might we learn and better yet, include, in our own efforts;
• Better minds than mine will surely have other—better?—suggestions.

 
Love is inventive even to infinity.  A wonderful conviction, and a challenge!
 
Jim Claffey
NGO Representative of the Vincentian priests and brothers to the UN

How are you doing with yours?  New Years’ resolutions, a common practice, and a good one if it focuses our energy and determination towards valuable goals.  But also a practice that can make us laugh—or cry—6 months later upon review of how well we’ve done with it!

There are lots of resolutions at the United Nations.  Documents upon documents.  About justice and peace, human rights, equitable development and protection of those less fortunate.  How much of it is real, how many resolutions actually matter?  

Only if they make it into national policies, i.e. from UN pronouncement to Member State policy and practice.

One historic resolution, achieved by the Vincentian Family NGOs and allies through persistent effort over four years, establishes homelessness as a stand-alone issue.  Previously lumped in as one aspect of poverty, homelessness is now seen by the UN as its own issue, to be addressed as such.  

General Assembly Resolution 76/133 (16 December 2021) reiterates that the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, in particular as they affect people experiencing and at risk of homelessness and other people in vulnerable situations, is crucial for the advancement of global sustainable development.

This means something, this matters.  The Secretary General must report this year on what the UN has done to reduce homelessness, and countries submitting Volunteer National Reviews in 2023 are to include this issue in their reports. 

We will soon see at least glimpses of the impact of the Resolution in these reports.

We know how to end homelessness.  Although complex, it is not an unsolvable problem.  Studies consistently show that the majority of people stay out of homelessness when they have access to permanent housing they can afford.  So Housing First, with appropriate support services.

Since the Vincentian Question always is “What Must Be Done,” what can we do to address homelessness:

• Feel some of the Pope’s indignation that “we can find no social or moral justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing” (2015 visit to DC);
• Educate ourselves on the real causes, structural and circumstantial, of homelessness, the actualdrivers of it, not the hype built around the exceptions (“they like sleeping on the street, they don’t want housing; they’re all drug addicts, they’re too unstable”).  Perhaps a minimum to require of ourselves as Christians and Vincentians is to be informed and willing to challenge our own biases about people experiencing homelessness;
• Follow Fr. Mike Carroll’s reflections on the topic in the pages of famvin.org/news;
• Learn to think systemically: see the connections between social policy issues and government funding/priorities etc.  Understand that homelessness is mostly a policy decision;
• Advocate locally for affordable housing.  Solutions are local, mayors must be the real leaders on the issue.  Reject NIMBYism.  Do not vote for a candidate who will not pledge to work on the issue, then later not vote for those who so pledge but do nothing;
• Support the FAMVIN Homeless Alliance, the unique common project of the Vincentian Family, and its remarkable success to date: 93 projects in 30 countries, 2329 houses acquired, 8697 people helped.  We can do this!

 
Jim Claffey
NGO Representative of the CM to the UN

I wonder if it’s even possible to say something new on climate change.  There’s so much material available about it already, dissecting the issue from every angle.  By now everyone should have heard something of the disaster that awaits humankind if drastic action isn’t taken soon.  And so many others, especially island-dwellers, know about it from lived experience.

The recent COP27 (Conference of the Parties on climate, 27th annual session) on climate action is widely considered another lost opportunity, in large part because of the active presence of 600 fossil fuel representatives, amazingly—and tellingly—some even as part of several nations’ official delegation.  So for many climate activists, another hope dashed, although some progress was made on establishing a Loss & Damage Fund (more on that below).

Maybe we should just meditate often on Laudato Si to find hope. 

My generation dropped the ball on climate change, no doubt.  But I’m somewhat optimistic about significant Climate Action BECAUSE OF YOUNG PEOPLE, who are responding in increasing numbers and with creativity, at COP and beyond.

Let me tell you about one example from the Vincentian Family.  On December 2nd, @ Niagara University, I was privileged to co-sponsor (the NGO Office of the Congregation of the Mission to the United Nations) with Justice House*/Niagara U, and participate in a student-led simulation of a UN event on climate action.  The brain child of a Fulbright scholar Niagara student, the all-day event was orderly, sober and as realistic as a simulation could be.  Apart from a tweak here or there, the professors present did not have to intervene to direct the event.

I would not have believed that you could keep 40 college students in one room, in totally disciplined demeanor, from 9 to 5.  Yet there we were in a visually impactful room with flags of all nations, conference tables, 8 pages of event instructions, comments and proposals researched and written by the students themselves, who then played the role of ambassadors of the different nations. 

Debate and parliamentary procedure followed, ending with well-articulated final proposals on creating a Loss and Damage Fund whereby wealthier nations—AKA the more guilty on climate damage—provide resources to poorer nations—AKA those who pollute less but suffer more-- with reasonable suggestions on funding to make it happen.

The event included a brief presentation, and a Q & A, on COP27 with Lisa Kurbiel (Niagara and St. Johns grad), Director of the UN Development Fund and the Joint Fund for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the 2030 UN Agenda for Peace and Prosperity, for People and the Planet.

Takeaways?  For me, a slice of optimism on climate action.  Young people “get it” and are trying to do something about it.  This event was limited in scope to a university (and to those following online) but emblematic of what students and young people in general are doing globally to advance the Rights of Nature and to foster meaningful and critical Climate Action.

Personally the event also gave me yet another reason to be proud of our Vincentian Universities.
​
Conclusions?  Let’s increase our support for young people.  In our ministries let’s listen to them and trust them.  Let’s facilitate their involvement on the social issues of our time, and welcome their natural enthusiasm.
​
They do things differently, they communicate in their own ways.  But they can provide that burst of energy and insight that many organizations and institutions, including the UN itself, can clearly benefit from.
 
Jim Claffey
NGO representative of the Congregation of the Mission to the United Nations
 
*Justice House @ Niagara is an exciting new project to create a learning community centered on the pursuit of justice, offering innovative programming and initiatives to help students examine the meaning of justice and inspire them to pursue their own vocations as advocates for justice.

Overheard in the parking lot as folks left the Monday Miraculous Medal Devotions….I heard something about Vincentians at the United Nations…do you know who they are…or what they do there? 
Yes it’s true.  And it’s good news indeed.  The Vincentian Family, a huge umbrella of 165 different groups—congregations, institutes, associations—has two million members working in different ways across the glove, on behalf of people in poverty. 

Though imperfect and in need of serious reform, the United Nations remains the unique global space for international dialogue and collaborative efforts.  If the UN did not exist, something like it would have to be invented.  It provides the only space where all 193 Member States can meet on mostly equal footing to discuss the great issues of the day: war and peace, poverty and hunger, social development and human rights.   

And as a global community, the Vincentian Family should be present and active at the world’s unique global organization because the Family has a story to tell, a compelling one, about people trapped in poverty.  This is an important story and one the Family is well positioned to tell, first because of our great legacy of charity dating back to the 17th century, the creative and effective work of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac for poor people, efforts that continue in so many ways today. 

Vincentians know the stories of poverty first-hand, not from books or committees but from personal contact with people struggling in poverty.  Their voices must be raised, they must be helped to find their voice, and that voice needs to be heard at the highest levels of governments.   

Five branches of the Family have active participation at the UN: 

• The Daughters of Charity 
• The Sisters of Charity Federation 
• The Society of St. Vincent de Paul 

• The International Association of Charity (Ladies of Charity) 
• The Congregation of the Mission (Vincentian priests and brothers) 

The representatives of these branches work on several UN commissions and come together especially in the Working Group to End Homelessness which they founded.  This Group achieved an historic accomplishment in the UN’s General Assembly embrace of a resolution to treat homelessness as a stand-alone issue, not merely as one aspect of overall poverty.  From now on periodic reviews of efforts to end homelessness are required at different levels of the UN system. 

The representatives also work to assist migrants and refugees, to end human trafficking, to foster economic and social development, and to promote the status of women.  All of these efforts are addressed through the lens of “systemic change,” the pastoral method that seeks to change the root causes—not the symptoms-- of social ills to make real and lasting change possible for those trapped in poverty. 

It is a mission St. Vincent himself would be proud of.  And for those of us charged to carry it out, it is an honor indeed. 
​
Jim Claffey 
NGO Representative of the Congregation of the Mission