Webinar presents the achievements during the current General Council’s term
The event was an initiative of the National Council of England and Wales
At the invitation of the National Council of England & Wales, the 16th President General International, brother Renato Lima de Oliveira, gave the online presentation: “PGI’s mission around the world; six years mandate”. The event took place on September 29th and brought together dozens of brothers and sisters from England & Wales.
The national president, sister Helen O’Shea, who is also president of the Governance Department of the Council General International, highlighted the importance of permanent and updated training for SSVP members: “The more we know about the international action of our Society, the more we will strengthen our action at the local level”.
In his presentation, brother Lima de Oliveira presented the general objectives of the International Strategic Planning (2016/2023), showing the achievements in each segment since the beginning of his mandate. The highlights were: the seven founders, formation, youth, governance, canonization, new headquarters, institutional action, ombudsman, expansion to new territories, global solidarity and communication.
After the talk, several Vincentians asked questions to the President General on various matters. “These webinars are an excellent opportunity to bring the members of the Society together to reflect on current issues and highlighting specific themes. We want to congratulate the National Council of England and Wales for creating this Vincentian formation program. I remember with joy my visit to Newcastle, Leeds and London in June 2018 when I saw firsthand the quality of the work of the SSVP in favor of the most needy”, emphasized Renato Lima.
The idea of offering this kind of training in webinar format emerged in March 2020 when the first COVID-19 lockdown was imposed by the British government, forcing people to stay at home for a long period of time in an attempt to contain the pandemic. Since then, topics such as Vincentian spirituality, loneliness, health, and helping refugees, among others, have been addressed.
The formation lectures always take place on Thursday evenings, and are transmitted over the internet by “Zoom”. The upcoming webinars will be as follows: October 6 – “Visiting Prisons”; October 13 – “Accompanying beneficiaries through a cost-of-living crisis” and October 20 – “Re-integrating ex-offenders: SSVP Approved Premises”. Please Participate! More information: brianr@svp.org.uk (Brian Roxburgh) or www.svp.org.uk
Click here to read the presentation given by President Lima de Oliveira, in English language only.
