St. Vincent de Paul conference members take a picture with newly elected Eastern St. Vincent de Paul Council President Tony Guagliardo (second from the right) and Baton Rouge Council President Kim Boudreaux.
Our entire St. Vincent de Paul family continues to work on our strategic future by growing to meet the needs of our entire service area. We serve a 12-civil parish area which includes: Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Point Coupee, St. James, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana parishes.
A service area as large as ours requires a great governance structure that is focused on helping us to be efficient and effective in our mission. Our ongoing strategic planning process calls us to review our governance and management structure to position us to best serve our neighbors in need.
Our Society of St. Vincent de Paul has a rich history of service to our community. The first day Father Delacroix stepped onto St. Joseph’s soil in Baton Rouge was December 27, 1865, and that’s the birth date of our local Society. Now, 158 years later, Father Delacroix’s legacy continues. He inspired many of the laity to get involved with the Society, and his guidance and leadership of our Society for its first 28 years in Baton Rouge was critical to the survival of our organization.
In the 1890’s, with the help of the Society, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart founded St. Vincent’s Academy, which was named in honor of St. Vincent de Paul and is known today as Catholic High School.
The St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Joseph’s served our community well, and other area churches began to establish Conferences: St. Agnes in 1918, St. Anthony in 1929, Sacred Heart in 1931, and St. Gerard in 1945. Today, there are 25 Conferences in our area serving neighbors in need.
In 1930, the Conferences came together to form our area Council. This was a big step in helping to coordinate service to the poor, and enabled the Society to respond to the needs of our neighbors experiencing hardships during the Great Depression. Our Council structure has served our area well, but has had its limitations in recent years.
Our strategic plan called for us to closely examine our structure. The first thing our Council leadership did was to contact our National Society of St. Vincent de Paul about our current structure. We asked them about best practices and what our next strategic steps should be.
Our National organization strongly urged us to expand from one Council to several. This would strengthen the work of the Conferences that make home visits to those in need. It would also strengthen our special works – that feed, shelter and provide services to the most vulnerable. Most of all, having several Councils is a proven method of governance at a national and international level.
In the fall of 2022, John Berry, National Society of St. Vincent de Paul President-Elect, visited our local Council to answer the questions about forming multiple Councils. After his visit, our Council voted to adopt a new structure of three District Councils and one Diocesan Council. The District Councils will be in the Northern, Southern and Eastern part of our service area. The western area will be covered by the North and South Districts.
Tony Guaglirado has been elected president of the Eastern District Council. Kevin Patterson has been elected president of the Southern District. Greg Accardo has been elected president of the Northern District. The Diocesan Council will work with the District Councils to ensure that we are fulfilling our mission of spiritual growth by serving our neighbors in need.
Now, with the challenges that the current economic climate has caused those in need, this new structure will enable us to better serve the vulnerable populations that need our help. Please keep those we serve in your thoughts and prayers during these difficult times.