New and younger generations of volunteers with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul must be welcomed and empowered to continue the organization’s Christ-centered direct service to the poor, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky told more than 200 leaders of the Society from the Midwest meeting in Peoria June 2-4.

At the conference’s closing Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral last Saturday, Bishop Jenky lauded members for honoring “the glorified humanity of Christ by the way you so generously serve the humanity of the poor living here on earth.”

But he encouraged the Society to “always be ready for continuing change and radical renewal.”

The Peoria Diocesan Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul hosted the 2011 joint meeting of the Society’s North Central and Midwest regions. Concelebrating the closing Mass with Bishop Jenky was Bishop John Quinn of Winona, Minn., episcopal adviser to the Society.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul offers tangible assistance to those in need on a person-by-person basis. In the Diocese of Peoria, the Society is active in 17 parishes, and Peoria Diocesan Council President Emiel
Michelet hopes the regional conference spurs further interest and participation.

“People who were there will actively spread the word” about inspirational ideas expressed at the three-day gathering at the Four Points Sheraton in downtown Peoria.

“The Vincentian spirit is always about evangelization, prophecy, and mission,” said Father Patrick McDevitt, CM, of DePaul University in Chicago, a keynote speaker on Thursday. When the love of Christ touches us, “we gotta give it away,” he told the group.

Urging them to find Christ in the poor, Father McDevitt said he is also “a poor guy.” “I just happen to be a lucky guy,” he said. “I’ve received gifts, and have to give them generously away.”

Michelet said conference attendees spoke highly of a keynote presentation titled “Understanding the Culture of Poverty” by Judy Huff of the Human Services Program at Illinois Central College.

The conference opened with a fundraising golf outing at Coyote Creek in Bartonville and featured an optional Friday dinner hosted by St. Ann’s Parish, Peoria.