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Working, Praying, and Living in the Spirit of Vincent DePaul
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Winter 2003
In late January the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers took a little time away from work to reflect on their service and community. The winter retreat was held at the retreat center of the Adorers of the Precious Blood in Ruma, Illinois.
The retreat was planned and led by volunteers Christine Shine and Karen Lyons and included several prayer services and activities—all designed to help the group reflect on their service as individuals and their participation in the community.
All returned from the retreat with a renewed dedication to their work and to their community. Thank you, Christine and Karen!
Dear Friends of the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers Program,
We are more than halfway through the year with our third group of volunteers! Christine, Elizabeth, Karen, Kellie, and Scott continue to work hard at their jobs—each in his or her own way is serving the poor and marginalized. Scott has added another site to his volunteer service. He continues to work with Dr. Fred Rottnek two days a week, but Scott now spends three days a week at Our Lady’s Inn, an emergency shelter for pregnant women.
All of the volunteers are beginning to make plans for next year. Scott has been accepted into the Master’s of Social Work Program at the University of Chicago and at Columbia University. Karen has been accepted into the Master’s of Social Work Program at St. Louis University. Christine has applied to the same program. Kellie and Elizabeth are still considering their options!
We ask you to keep the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers in your prayers. If you know any young adults who are considering a year of service, please put them in touch with us. If you would like to make a donation to help support the program, please use the enclosed self-addressed envelope.
Thank you very much!
The Gateway Vincentian Volunteers Program
Board of Directors
Fr. Ed Murphy, C.M., President
Mr. Rich LaPlume, Vice-President
Fr. Tom Esselman, C.M., Secretary
Ms. Tricia Theil, Treasurer
Honorable Mike Burton
Mr. Ted Fiedler
Sr. Kieran Kneaves, D.C.
Ms. Martha Lane
Mr. Bill McRoberts
Board meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. on the second Monday every other month.
A Reflection on Catholic Health Care
by Fred Rottnek, M.D.
St. Vincent and St. Louise considered health care a ministry of the Church. In fact, they likely would be confused if we were able to ask them this question today. While we may picture health care in terms of hospitals, procedures, and medication, their definition would probably more closely resemble the definition of the World Health Organization: Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Vincent, Louise, and their early communities did not need a mission statement. Their charge was simple—to see Christ in the face of the poor and to provide care, comfort, and dignity to these people. Europe had very little in terms of organized health care and social service agencies. The poor and the sick were at best marginalized and at worst forgotten.
Fortunately, we live in a more caring and compassionate world, one with a greater understanding of the common good. Or do we?
Few would argue that we in the United States are in a crisis in the service of health care delivery. While we are surrounded by the best health care systems in the world and spend more of our GNP on health care services than any other industrialized nation, we continue to marginalize and neglect those who are unable to buy into the system. We are the only top industrial nation that does not legislate and fiscally support the concept of health care as a basic human right.
Bold and vital efforts characterized the immigrant church in this country regarding health care and the provision of health services as a ministry of the Church. In fact, this pattern of care and actions, flowing from the charism of religious communities, is an outstanding model for the action of the Spirit in ecclesiological studies. Today, religious congregations are convening to determine issues of sponsorship and ministry in the rapidly changing demographics of today’s Church. At least one commonality exists in all these discussions—a need to reinvigorate and refresh the concept of health care as a healing ministry of the Church.
Theological and ministerial enthusiasm can be generated by the use of symbols. A sign points to its object, but a symbol represents the object,while in some way being part of or an extension of the object. Over the past two years, I have the opportunity to work with two symbols of the healing ministry of the Church, Gateway Vincentian Volunteers Sarah Lenhart and Scott Kelly. Sarah and Scott have worked with my colleagues and me at a variety of clinical sites, including neighborhood health centers, homeless shelters, and, most frequently, the St. Louis County Justice Center (Jail).
Sarah and Scott spark interest from Department of Health staff, Justice Services staff, and inmates. Many wonder why young, intelligent, and talented adults would volunteer their time and energies for a year. And just as many wonder why they would be interested in spending so much time in correctional facilities with adolescents and adults accused of or convicted of crimes. The three of us have spent hours explaining the GVV program, with its combination of service and formation, to these interested and grateful people. One commonality exists in all the patients that Sarah and Scott have cared for: they are grateful for the time and care given them by these people who “don’t have to be here.” While Sarah and Scott are quite different in their approaches to their ministries and their patients, they share the spirit of Vincent and Louis in caring for the poor and marginalized. And the settings of their ministry are just as stark and dramatic as 17th century Paris.
Sarah and Scott, as well as the other GVV’s involved in health care, can serve as powerful symbols in this time of redefining and reinvigorating Catholic health care. If Catholic health care is to truly be a ministry of the Church, it must spring forth from the Church—from local congregations and communities. Our current system of Catholic health care in the US is more of a parallel system, a system that runs alongside local communities and parishes. Catholic health care systems have their own cultures, missions, and values. Many of these systems are hospital heavy; more are concerned with technology- and pathology-oriented services than the health of the surrounding community. Unfortunately, competition becomes a greater priority than compassion.
If Catholic health systems survive, much less thrive, in the years ahead, they must look inward to reclaim their role as ministries of the Church . The strict business model of health care delivery is failing. If the healing ministry is to continue, we must address what we consider as healing and health in our Church and our society. And one underlying consideration is certain: a ministry without formation loses its moorings. No amount of fiscal creativeness or service collaboration can substitute for reflection, assessment, and planning. Catholic health care must embrace the non-reimbursable activities of formation if it is to continue.
Sarah and Scott have been sacraments in my work and ministry. As sacraments, they have been the intersections of grace and the physical. In taking care of dying patients, counseling emotionally distraught patients, and teaching those who are in need of education regarding chronic disease states, Sarah and Scott have been symbols of God’s grace in a harsh and often violent environment. For these two GVV’s, ministry has flowed from formation and reflection. Catholic health care could learn quite a bit from them.
Dr. Rottnek is a practicing physician with the Institute for Research and Education in Family Medicine. Sarah Lenhart worked with Dr. Rottnek last year, and Scott works with him this year.
“Now if there were ever a good work, it is that of nursing the sick, so much so indeed that it surpasses all others in value.” Vincent DePaul
GVV Alumni News
Sarah Lenhart (GVV 2001-2002) has been accepted into the Daughters of Charity as a pre-postulant. In April, Sarah will move to McKelvey House, where she will live with four Daughters of Charity and continue the process of discerning her vocation. Sarah will continue working at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Rehabilitation Center with children who have serious medical conditions.
Kelly Dodson (GVV 2000-2001) has joined Jesuit Volunteers International. Kelly is teaching at St. Brendan’s School in Bandelierkop, South Africa.
Jeff Maciej (GVV 2001-2002) has just landed a new job in Minneapolis. Jeff will work as a mental health worker at Andrews Residence, a 200+ bed mental health facility. Jeff is also making plans to return to school and pursue a Master’s in Social Work.
GVVs Past: Please keep us informed about what you are up to so that we can share your news with our readers!
Finding More Questions
by Kellie Willis
Why do humans serve each other? What do we give and receive as results? How do we live the Gospel in everyday life? What can Christians do to work for justice? Just how is Christ present in all this? I seek answers to these questions continually. These are the questions that brought me here.
When I decided that I would ‘do’ a year of volunteer service, I did not know what to expect. I only knew that the decision felt right. There were so many values and aspects of the faith that I wanted to continue to learn about and grow in-there was potential for these to explode within me. I stuck with my heart and my gut, which told me that the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers was where I belonged, because it is in these two places that God is strongest in me. So I came home, as I have before, but not to the place that I knew best. I moved to ‘the city’ (gasp, all you county residents-the dreaded city!), to find answers to my questions, or at least a beginning to them. I would be living with people I did not know, in a neighborhood I did not know, working with people I did not know-no big deal! I was nervous. All of the strange looks that I got in response to my explanations of my plans for the next year did not help (You are going to do what? Why?). Yet I came anyway.
I knew that I was in the right place the first night that our community spent together. I enjoy every member of my community (the volunteers, past and present, the Vincentians, and our directors), and my worksite, Guardian Angel Settlement Association. There are ups and downs, and good and tough times. It is not easy, and I have yet to find the answers to my questions. I have found both many answers and no answers, depending on when you ask me, and I am okay with that. I feel myself changing. The world and its people look different now. I feel my faith growing stronger, deeper, and richer in complexity. There is beauty in places that was not there before-and conflicts in those places as well. I find that I can appreciate the journeys of others, and thus gain more appreciation for my own. I am happy.
I am only at the threshold that enters understanding, and I have even more questions.
“Let God act. He brings things to perfection when we least think of it.” Vincent DePaul
Service Now and Always
by Liz Sain
So, what do you do? This is such a simple question, yet ever since I have come to St. Louis it has required quite a complex answer! The most general answer is that I am a full-time volunteer living and working in South St. Louis. While this does cause mild confusion and consternation from some people who have a hard time understanding how I can do this and have enough money to eat, the overwhelming majority of people I meet respond very well and are very supportive. The fun part of the answer starts when I start to explain what I do at my job.
My work so far with St. John’s Mercy Neighborhood Ministry has been extremely rewarding, and extremely varied. I really do a little bit of everything! At the beginning of my volunteer year, I helped deliver a stove to a mother and five children who had been without one for a year. Not only did it feel wonderful to help make this family’s life a little easier, it also felt great to know that this stove, which was a victim of a kitchen remodeling project and could have been thrown out, was instead going to be put to good use!
Later in the year I was in charge of our Christmas Adopt-A-Family program. The Ministry is very closely connected to St. John’s Mercy Neighborhood Health Center, which provides medical care to uninsured and underinsured people in South St. Louis. In October, our program selected 20 patient families from the Health Center and five families from local schools in which we run a conflict resolution program to adopt for Christmas. The next two months became a constant learning experience for me as we made home visits and worked out the many details and difficulties that arise from such a large project. Over half of the families did not speak English, so I got to learn how to work through an interpreter!
I have also done a lot of tutoring this year, both in ESOL and citizenship. One of my favorite tutoring experiences this year was just a few weeks ago when I was tutoring a Somali man for his citizenship interview. He was doing very well with the American history and personal questions he would need to answer, and generally being a delight to tutor, when I asked him why he wanted to become a citizen. He was so excited he nearly jumped out of his chair when he responded, “the right to vote!” That enthusiasm made my day.
These are just a few of the experiences I have had here this year as a volunteer in St. Louis. They are irreplaceable, and have truly enriched my life. I love the fact that I have had the chance to work in so many different situations, and to meet and learn from so many wonderful people. Service, however, is not something I want to dedicate just one year of my life to and then move on from. It is something that I want to integrate into my life wherever I go and in whatever I do, and I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to see and experience so many of the options there are to choose from!
“The Spirit of God gently invites us to do only the good we can reasonably do so that we can persevere doing it a long time. Act thus, according to the Spirit of God.”
Vincent DePaul
Are you interested in supporting one Gateway Vincentian Volunteer during his or her year of service? Would your parish or organization like to help?
Please let us know.
Thank you!
314-771-1474 888-771-7220 gatevol@aol.com
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Gateway Vincentian Volunteers
2912 Arsenal Street
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) - 771-1474
Toll free: (888)-771-7220
Fax: (314) - 771-2410
email: gatevol@aol.com