Vincent De Paul Society Research Articles

Responding to Domestic and Family Violence: The Role of Non-Specialist Services and Implications for Social Work

Abstract Social workers play a critical role in responding to the needs of individuals impacted by domestic and family violence (DFV). Social work literature has long been devoted to understanding the functioning, accessibility and effectiveness of specialist DFV services. In contrast, much less is known about how non-specialist services can, and do, support victims of DFV. This study addresses this important gap by empirically examining the links between DFV and a non-specialist service designed to assist people experiencing financial hardship. To accomplish this, we draw on an expansive administrative database of assistance records (n = 305,176) from the St Vincent de Paul Society, one of the largest non-specialist support providers in Australia. Descriptive analyses of DFV-related records (n = 4,374) yield novel insights into the socio-demographic profile of clients seeking assistance due to DFV, the types of assistance they required and how non-specialist providers respond to DFV-related requests for assistance. Our results demonstrate that non-specialist services play a critical yet under-recognised role in responding to people impacted by DFV. This has significant social work practice implications, highlighting the importance of specialist DFV services working in tandem with non-specialist services to deliver the best outcomes for victims.

Refugees’ Dreams of the Past, Projected into the Future

Refugees’ Dreams of the Past, Projected into the Future

A Ten-Year-Old’s Use of Creative Content to Construct an Alternative Future for Herself

A Ten-Year-Old’s Use of Creative Content to Construct an Alternative Future for Herself

Opieka duszpasterska nad Polakami w Harbinie

Poles began to settle in Harbin in 1897. They arrived there as part of the first technical expedition (about 7,000 Poles) sent by the Tsarist government to mark out the East China Railway line. From the very beginning they made efforts to bring a Polish priest to their community. In 1901 Polish officers and soldiers turned to the authorities asking for permission to build a church. The Catholic chapel for Poles was organised in the building belonging to the Border Guards. On 30 May 1904 the authorities assigned a square for the construction of the church. The priests involved in the ministry were: P.P. Bulwicz, A. Szpiganowicz, S. Ławrynowicz, A. Maczuk. On 1 August 1909 Archbishop Jan Cieplak consecrated the new church and appointed Rev Wladyslaw Ostrowski the parish priest of the Polish parish in Harbin. The following priests engaged in pastoral work: A. Eysymontt, W. Mi[e]rzwinski, R. Wierzejski, W. Zborowski, A. Leszczewicz and P. Chodniewicz. They were joined by the Franciscan friars: Maurus Kluge and Paulin Wilczynski, from 1925 Gerard Piotrowski, and from 1941 Gracjan Kolodziejczyk (until 1957). The priests also served branch churches erected and organised by Poles, mostly along the railway line (2 or 3 times a year, over entire decades). The main centre of the religious and cultural life of the Polish community in Harbin was St. Stanislaus Bishop Parish. The development of the religious and cultural life of the parish was associated with the pastoral work of Rev Ostrowski, who initiated the creation of St Vincent de Paul Society, St Vincent de Paul Basic School, an orphanage for the poorest children, Henryk Sienkiewicz Junior High School for Poles and a parish library. From 1922 he had been publishing the weekly “Tygodnik Polski”. He initiated the construction of the second Polish church at so-called St Josaphat Harbour. Its parish priest was Rev A. Leszczewicz. He organised the first Catholic congress of the Polish parish on the Asian soil. A basic school was also created at this parish. In 1946, the churches and other assets of the parishes were taken over by the Chinese authorities. In 1959 the temple was taken over by the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics, but in 1966 the church fell into ruin. Over time, it was adapted to house a school. In 2004 it was renovated as a temple dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

APhA names 2015 Immunization Champions

The APhA Immunization Champion Awards recognize individuals and organizations in the pharmacy profession, and friends and allies of pharmacy, who have made outstanding efforts to improve vaccination rates within their communities.

A profile of sales audits of a remote Aboriginal community's general store: 1992 and 2011

1. Centre for Chronic Disease, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland2. RWM Consultancy, Northern Territory3. Tiwi Land Council, Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory4. Saint Vincent de Paul Society, Queensland5. Formerly Nguiu Ullintjinni Association, Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory6. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory

De Dupront à Ozanam : la conversion biographique

In this presentation of his itinerary as a historian, Gérard Cholvy, author of the standard biography of Ozanam (Frédéric Ozanam. L’engagement d’un intellectuel catholique au XIXe siècle, Paris, 2003), explains how he came to write a life of the main founder of the Vincent de Paul Society, when his formation and initial research were dominated by quantitative methodologies. He presents the key results of his work, which he places in perspective by locating them in the overall historiographical output devoted to studying the trajectory of Frédéric Ozanam.

Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson (review)

Reviewed by: Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson David J. Endres Matthew Bunson and Margaret Bunson, Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2013). 1004pages. Matthew Bunson, assisted by his mother, the late Margaret Bunson, has compiled several popular reference works, including The Encyclopedia of Catholic History (1995) and The Encyclopedia of Saints (1998). To this list, he has recently added the Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History, intended for the “general Catholic layperson,” yet “researched in a scholarly and exhaustive fashion” (8). The author aims to treat the “whole of the Catholic story in the United States, from the earliest travels of the Spanish and French missionaries to the Church in the new millennium” (8). The work includes an impressive array of entries—most devoted to significant persons, 200+ dioceses and former dioceses, religious communities and orders, and the Church in each of the fifty states. It includes some interesting figures that others might have omitted, including actress Grace Kelly; Confederate Civil War general Pierre Beauregard; Korean War chaplain Emil Kapaun; movie director Alfred Hithcock; and labor activist Leonora Barry. Bunson includes entries on modern popes reigning since the 1780s, Pius VI to Benedict XVI, highlighting their chief contributions and influence on the United States. Essays addressing significant themes and movements appear less frequently. Entries explain anti-Catholicism, trusteeism, slavery, and modernism, for instance, but no identifiable contributions discuss the liturgical movement, racism, the contraception debate, ecumenism, or women religious (aside from histories of particular communities). The volume begins [End Page 105] with a ten-page chronology of key events in U.S. Catholic history (1492–2011) and concludes with names of missionaries to America with brief annotations for each; a record of saints, blesseds, and venerables from the Americas; Catholics in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall; and finally, a list of cathedrals, basilicas, and shrines in the U.S. The encyclopedia achieves a great degree of breadth, representing significant persons, localities, institutions, and organizations, but understandably little depth. The work contains many brief entries, a few surprisingly short. The Catholic Worker Movement’s entry is confined to 180 words, but separate entries describe its founders Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. The St. Vincent de Paul Society’s contributions are addressed in about 450 words, while the influential Jesuit-weekly, America, is described in 200 words. But one may sympathize for the compiler, determining which topics deserve more comprehensive treatment. Multi-page entries address topics including Catholic education, Eastern Catholic Churches, Holy See-U.S. relations, Native American Catholics, separation of Church and state, and Spanish missions, as examples. Compared to reference volumes setting a high standard for usability, the work lacks an index and a detailed table of contents. Consequently, the user must to look up various terms in the body of the text to locate an entry. For instance, no entry for “Hispanic Catholics” is found, but the text directs the reader to one on “Latino Catholics.” “Royal patronage” during the Spanish mission period is found under “Patronato Real.” Some significant topics are addressed within other entries, and the reader is directed to the appropriate listing. For instance, the Polish National Catholic Church is described within the entry on Polish Catholics, but only a few sentences are devoted to its formation. Reference works, regardless of the intended audience, must demonstrate credibility and authority. Works of such breadth as Bunson’s normally engage a large cohort of credentialed scholars to contribute entries and larger essays on subjects related to their expertise. Contributors are named, and a short bibliography appears with each entry assuring the user that content is drawn from the best and up-to-date scholarship. However, the Bunsons alone apparently compiled all the encyclopedia’s entries, omitting bibliographic information. The volume’s credibility, then, rests solely on the reputation of the compilers and publisher. For scholarly use, Michael Glazier and Thomas J. Shelley’s The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History (1997) still holds pride of place. With contributions from hundreds of scholars, its entries conclude with a brief [End Page 106] bibliography. Now fifteen years since the work was published, Bunson’s encyclopedia has the...

A Caridade criando hospitais em Minas Gerais (Brasil) - séculos XVIII-XX

This article is the fruit of research into the cultural heritage of healthcare in Minas Gerais (Brazil) and explores the construction of hospitals supported by Catholic charities from the 18th to 20th century. Catholicism has always been strong in Minas Gerais, partly because the Portuguese Crown prohibited the free travel of priests, who were suspected of illegally trading in gold from the mines. A brotherhood was responsible for creating the first Santa Casa, in Vila Rica. Another very important religious group in Brazil, the Vincentians, was also devoted to charitable works and propagated the ideas on charity of Frederico Ozanan, based on the work of St. Vincent de Paul. This group comprised both a lay movement, supported by conferences organized by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and a religious order, the Vincentian priests and nuns. Catholic physicians make up the third group studied here, organized in a professional association promoted by the Catholic Church. The brotherhoods, Vincentians, and associations, with their Santa Casas, represent a movement that is recognized worldwide. The enormous Catholic participation in these charitable works brought in the physicians, who would often make no charge and exerted efforts to create hospitals that served the population. Although the capital of Minas Gerais was the creation of republicans and positivists in the 20th century, with their ideas of modernity, it remained dependent on Christian charity for the treatment of the poor.

Sociedade de São Vicente de Paulo: caridade católica aos problemas sociais?

O estudo da instituição Igreja Católica é uma investigação que trata de uma das organizações mais antigas e tradicionais do Ocidente, a qual se adaptou às exigências econômicas, sociais, políticas, culturais e ideológicas que se constituem na sociedade. Muitas vezes as autoridades eclesiásticas conseguiram, não sem lutas e disputas internas e externas, superar as crises pelas quais a organização religiosa passou, mantendo-a unida com um consenso auto-imposto, expulsando os opositores, dominando reis, subjugando povos e difundindo sua percepção de mundo. Com a intensificação do processo de secularização no século XX, perdeu parte de seu poder e prestígio; porém exerce uma intervenção, de forma conciliadora, em diversos conflitos adota a função de estabelecer alianças com diferentes grupos sociais. Neste sentido, o artigo tem por objetivo apresentar e interpretar uma das práticas religiosas católica, a Sociedade de São Vicente de Paulo, que com sua ação capilar, penetra nas mais longínquas regiões, arregimentando membros de diferentes segmentos sociais na busca de resolver os problemas sociais sem alterar o status quo.

Alimentation populaire et secours charitables. L’exemple parisien (1840-1870)

Although people were no longer dying of starvation in Paris in the early 19th century, food was still a matter of concern for the working classes. As a consequence, many organizations were engaged in food charity of several sorts. The aim of this study is to take into account two points of view : the history of food on the one hand and the history of philanthropy on the other hand. The Saint Vincent de Paul Society, which was responsible for 10 % of the aid to the poor during the July Monarchy, is particularly useful for this purpose. The way it helped the poor was quite different before and after 1848 – indeed, a profound social change can be seen through the shift from bread tickets to cheap meals called “fourneaux économiques” (the equivalent of soup kitchens) which were sold at a loss. For economic as well as for moral reasons, institutional catering appeared as another way of relieveing people, and although the poor and the working classes were helped in different ways, food remained terribly expensive for the whole of the toiling masses.

The Relief Scandal In Montreal's Italian Community and Its Political Background: Fascio, Consulate and the Roman Catholic Parish of the Church of the <i>Madonna della Difesa</i>, October 1932-July 1933

The following essay is divided into three inter-woven parts. The first deals with the ravage of the Great Depression in Canada; the second explores the Canadian clerical and secular establishment's view of fascism and its local Italian proponents; the last part unravels the cozy collaboration in Montreal among local Italian fascists, the Italian Consulate, the priests of the Italian Catholic Parish Madonna della Difesa and the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, which was in charge of assisting needy people across the city. In 1932, with the approval of the Parish priest, Zanobri Manfriani, the Society gave the task of dispensing relief to Catholic Italians of the Mile End district to the local Italian fascio Luporini and its leader Ottorino Incoronato. After a few months. Incoronato, to avoid being charged with fraud, left Canada in a hurry, for good.

Catholic social services in Australia: A short history

This paper provides a brief history of Catholic social services in Australia. The underlying theological base has been Catholic Social Teachings. The paper outlines Catholic Social Teachings and its impact on the development of distinctive Catholic social services. Catholic social services is an umbrella term, which includes the diocesan based services - Centacares, religious orders and lay associations such as St Vincent de Paul Society. A condensed history is presented, which highlights the various stages of the development of Catholic social services. These stages have been identified as the early years of the colony - charity for those in need, Industrialisation and ‘Rerum Novarum’- the right of all people to live in dignity, Catholic Welfare Bureau - improving coordination, training and expertise, Conservatism/Innovation and Advocacy - 1949-1986 and Restructuring of human services - the recent period.

Transformation of Hearts and Minds: Chan Zen--Catholic Approaches to Precepts

Transformation of Hearts and Minds:Chan Zen-Catholic Approaches to Precepts Harry L. Wells Catholic and Buddhist priests, monastics, teachers, and community leaders participated in the second of an anticipated four annual dialogues. The series is sponsored by the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the San Francisco Zen Center, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The conference took place 4–7 March 2004 at Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA, whose own East-West meditation program, led by Fr. Thomas Hand, celebrated its twentieth anniversary that year. A popular retreat center and home to the Sisters of Mercy of Burlingame, the Center offered participants tree-dotted, spacious grounds and strolling paths, as well as a labyrinth for contemplative walking. Each day began with both Catholics and Buddhists in Mercy Center's Rose Room, a Zen-style meditation space, for an hour of silent meditation in the morning. Catholic liturgy was celebrated in the afternoon in the main chapel, with all participants invited to attend and share prayer and blessings. On the two full days, Friday and Saturday, two sessions of presentations were held each morning, with one session following in the afternoon. Each of the six sessions focused on a position paper, with three papers given from a Buddhist and three from a Christian perspective. Each paper was presented by its authors, followed by two formal responses, one by a Buddhist and one by a Catholic participant. This was in turn followed by an open discussion within the whole group. A minute of silent meditation began and ended each session. The presentations focused on various meanings embraced by the term "precepts" in each tradition. One paper introduced perspectives on Buddhist precepts in three different Buddhist lineages. Another presented six guidelines as "Precepts on the [End Page 155] Mind-Ground" that connect ethical commitments with social engagement. A third paper focused on Bodhisattva practice, which embraces and unifies all sentient beings. On the Christian side, presentations discussed the precepts as signposts on the path that leads away from suffering, as motivations that move us, and as the practice of the presence of God, exemplified by the writings of Brother Lawrence. A glossary prepared by Fr. Francis Tiso helped define Catholic Christian terms for the Buddhist participants in the dialogue. Similarly, a book distributed to all participants by the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association provided background on "Buddhism A–Z." Formal discussion sessions in the evenings, as well as informal talks by the participants while walking outside or in the form of impromptu hallway meetings added to the depth and richness of the dialogue. Some recurring themes were the importance and meaning of a personal teacher in both traditions; another was the "embodiment" of the teachings, the value of teaching through presence. Personal stories and practical experiences offered by individual participants were much appreciated and added poetry and emotion to the headiness of theological discussion. Members of both the Buddhist and the Catholic traditions reported that the encounter with the spiritual practices and beliefs of the other faith provides both affirmation of the familiar and welcome discovery of unexpected riches of the spirit. The next meeting will be held 20–23 January 2005 at the San Francisco Zen Center. The theme will be "Practice: Method and Experience Toward Transformation." Participating in the 2004 dialogue were Rev. Heng Sure (Berkeley Buddhist Monastery), Bishop John C. Wester (Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of San Francisco), Rev. Taigen Dan Leighton (Mountain Source Sangha), Fr. Arthur Kennedy (Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, USCCB), Bhikshuni Heng Liang (Dharma Realm Buddhist Association), Dr. Martin Verhoeven (Institute for World Religions), Dr. Ron Epstein (Institute for World Religions), Dr. Snjezana Akpinar (Dharma Realm Buddhist University), Rev. Shosan Victoria Austin (San Francisco Zen Center), Rev. Alan Senauke (Berkeley Zen Center), Jan Chozen Bays (Zen Community of Oregon), Sr. Phyllis D'Anna, SND (Center for the Practice of Applied Spirituality), Fr. Thomas W. Devereaux (Diocese of Santa Rosa), Robert Hale, OSB Cam. (Incarnation Monastery, Berkeley, CA), Thomas Hand, S.J. (Mercy Center, Burlingame, CA), Fr. Rafael Luévano (Diocese of Orange), Deacon Thomas McGowan (Diocese of Oakland), Lorraine Moriarity (St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo County), Fr. Gerry O'Rourke (Archdiocese...

American Catholic Lay Groups and Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era (review)

American Catholic Lay Groups and Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era. By Deirdre M. Moloney. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2002. Pp. xvii, 267. $49.95 clothbound; $19.95 paperback.) Though hardly catchy, the title exemplifies truth in advertising. After an introductory look at the Columbian Catholic Congress of 1893, Deirdre Moloney surveys the transnationally inflected activities of Catholic lay people in the temperance movement, in rural colonization and immigrant-aid projects, in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, in the Catholic settlement house movement, and in the more general involvement of Catholic women's groups in efforts to promote social betterment (concentrating, in the latter case, on the [German] Catholic Women's Union and Boston's League of Catholic Women). Moloney links these activities to the emergence in the late nineteenth century of a Catholic middle class. She portrays the new middle-class reformers as acting from a variety of motives-emulation of Protestants; a drive for respectability; a desire to improve the image of the Church; a genuine concern for their needy co-religionists; and the aim of legitimating their own higher status. Moloney also detects underlying tensions between their upward mobility and desire for Protestant acceptance, on the one hand, and their determination to maintain a distinctive religious identity and resist Protestant efforts at proselytization, on the other. This is all quite plausible, but since class plays so central a role, one wishes that the author had systematically established the existence, extent, and occupational make-up of the new Catholic middle class, rather than simply extrapolating from the activities of selected individuals and groups. Gender also figures prominently as an interpretive theme. Besides devoting a chapter to women's organizations, Moloney shows that while men dominated temperance work, colonization, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, women played a significant auxiliary role in these areas, and she highlights Charlotte Grace O'Brien's importance in the field of immigrant aid. In keeping with the maternalist dimension of the Catholic gender ideology, women move front and center in the discussion of day care and settlement houses. Race comes into the picture only in connection with African American participation in the Columbian Catholic Congress. Ethnicity figures more prominently, though Moloney notes that its presence was uneven and diminished over time. …

Catholic Religious Identity and Social Integration in Interwar New Zealand

Comparing the history of the Catholic Church in Australia and the United States, John Tracy Ellis noted, both communities an environment unfriendly to their religious faith nurtured a separatist spirit which varied according to time and place but which in general bred a so-called mentality.1 The Catholic ghetto was sustained to a considerable extent by the establishment of denominationally-based organizations and institutions which reinforced the Catholic worldview and reduced the need for Catholics to associate with non-Catholics in their daily lives. Moreover, as Martin Marty has pointed out, it was not only Catholics who developed intellectual ghettos and denominational institutions which distinguished them from the dominant culture of the United States= Similar patterns developed in central and north-western Europe, finding their most extreme expression in the pillarization (verzuiling) of Belgium and the Netherlands. From the later nineteenth century until the 1960's, Catholics, Protestants, and Socialists developed more or less self sufficient parallel societies orpillars. Each pillar maintained its own cultural associations, sports clubs, educational institutions, social security organizations, trade unions, political parties, newspapers, and broadcasting networks. Collectively, the pillars were thought of as supporting the nation, and governments encouraged their development (for example, by subsidizing denominational schools) because it was assumed that minimizing the contact between antagonistic communities like Catholics and Calvinists was necessary to avoid social conflict.3 New Zealand Catholics, as a minority group, needed to maintain their religious integrity without unduly antagonizing the Protestant majority At 164,133 in 1921 and 195,261 in 1936, Catholics made up just over thirteen percent of the non-Maori population of interwar New Zealand. In 1921 seventy-six per cent of the population were either Anglicans, Presbyterians, or Methodists.4 Catholics' religious beliefs and practices, based on the evolving patterns of contemporary European (and North American) Catholic spirituality, marked them out as quite different from Protestants, including Anglicans whose church was overwhelmingly evangelical in tone. Moreover, the Catholic population as a whole was neither wealthy nor well-educated although some Catholics achieved prominence in business or politics, including Sir Joseph Ward (Prime Minister, 1906-1912, 1928-1930) and Michael Joseph Savage (Prime Minister, 1935-1940), who died in office, having recently returned to the faith of his childhood. As in other countries, the maintenance of Catholic identity by means of numerous lay organizations and religious institutions, especially during the interwar years, constitutes a prima-facie case for supposing that there was at least a Catholic in New Zealand. Catholics in Timaru, for example, had a particularly well-organized parish of 2,350 souls in 1926.5 Lay organizations listed in 1928 included the Children of Mary, the Sacred Heart Sodality (for women), St. Anne's Guild (a women's charitable society), an Altar Society, the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society, a Girls' Club for former pupils of the school, a choir, and the Catholic Club. Affiliated to the latter were St. John's Tennis Club, the Celtic Cricket and Football Club, St. Patrick's Rifle Club, the Catholic Choral Society the Literary and Debating Club, the Dramatic Club, and the Swimming Club.6 A review by B. J. Barnao of Catholic organizations in Wellington in 1936-when the Catholic population was 22,679'-discussed a number of pious and charitable associations: the Holy Name Society, the Children of Mary Sodality, the Sacred Heart Sodality for women at St. Joseph's parish, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Seamen's Institute, the Third Order of St. Francis, and the Third Order of Mary. Barnao also referred to Catholic Scouting, the Hibernian Benefit Society, the Catholic Readers' Club, the Catholic Sociology classes, and the Catholic Students' Guild. …

Piety and Nationalism: Lay Voluntary Associations and the Creation of an Irish-Catholic Community in Toronto, 1850-1895 by Brian P. Clarke

BOOK REVIEWS1 29 I used "foundational" earlier on because I suggest that Isetti's work needs to be complemented by equally probing studies ofreligious women, ofclerical congregations, and perhaps even of diocesan curias in order that Charles's and the Brothers' experiences can take on a deeper meaning in such a context. One hopes such work either exists but has escaped adequate notice, or that it will be forthcoming. We may have more in common than we think, and biography may be the best way to share it all. Brother Patrick Ellis, F.S.C. The Catholic University ofAmerica Canadian Piety and Nationalism: Lay Voluntary Associations and the Creation ofan Irish-Catholic Community in Toronto, 1850-1895. By Brian P. Clarke. [McGill-Queen's Studies in the History ofReligion, 12.] (Montreal: McGiIlQueen 's University Press. 1993. Pp. xii, 340. «39.95.) Brian Clarke's study of Irish Catholics in Toronto is well written and researched , focusing on two of the most important issues in the history of nineteenth-century Irish: religion and nationalism. The author contends the consensus among most historians is that religious renewal emanated from the church hierarchy and orders, thereby casting the laity into an acquiescent mould. Clarke sets out to demonstrate the vitality ofToronto's Irish immigrants who, while adopting a subculture of religious identity, exhibited a strong initiative that supported the group's social interaction, independent of clerical influence. Clarke provides insight into the conditions the Irish immigrants encountered , their reaction to the devotional renewal that followed, the subsequent emergence of devotional organizations and the outgrowth of nationalist associations . His chapters on Irish nationalism are erudite. Of particular note is the concept that the clergy's reluctance to participate fully in advancing the causes of national organizations promoted lay leadership in associations that became disassociated from, if not confrontational with the Catholic Church. One must examine, however, the central theme of this work, that is, the role of the laity in founding many of the Catholic voluntary associations which fostered the development of lay initiative. It seems that Clarke attempts to eclipse the position of the Church and its clergy in the formation of Irish Catholic societies. The major portion of the social work done in Toronto on behalf of the Irish Catholic community occurred under the auspices of the Church and its religious orders of men and women. The Saint Vincent de Paul Society was lay-run, but existed under the guidance of the Church. Prior to the twentieth century the Church led and the laity followed; the Church condoned and condemned. The piety of the people was an outgrowth of what the Church dictated. 1 30BOOK REVIEWS Clarke uses a wide range of primary and secondary sources to support his work. However, while discounting the work of some other writers who have explored the Irish Catholics in Toronto, he fails to provide sufficient evidence to disprove their analyses. For example, while admitting that in contemporary accounts and manuscript material Irish Catholics were stereotypical as drunken brawlers, Clarke takes Kenneth Duncan and Murray Nicolson to task for basing "their respective interpretations on this stereotype rather than exploding it as a myth" (p. 28). Through this in-depth study, Clarke has nonetheless opened a door on an ethno-religious community that contributed to the development of Toronto. It invites new approaches that will lead to a standard work in this field. Murray W. Nicolson Wilfrid Laurier University Latin American South andMeso-AmericanNative Spirituality: From the CultoftheFeathered Serpent to the Theology of Liberation. Edited by Gary H. Gossen, in collaboration with Miguel León-Portilla. [World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, Volume 4.] (New York: Crossroad . 1993. Pp. xii, 563. «4950 clothbound.) South and Meso-American Native Spirituality offers a sampler of the religious life in a region marked by multiple spiritual traditions, in the preContact period; and by the formation of new traditions from the cultural gifts of Amerindians, Europeans, Africans, and Asians, in die post-Contact era. Coverage includes not only South America and Mesoamerica, but also the Caribbean and other parts ofMexico and ofCentral America. The editor excludes "mainstream Judeo-Christian belief and practice" from consideration; they are "fundamentally linked...

The Welfare State within the State: The Saint Vincent de Paul Society in Glasgow, 1848–1920

At a great protest meeting in Glasgow against Ultramontanism in 1874, the Jesuits, those wily chameleons, were acccused of masquerading as members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. That body was ostensibly to benefit the poor but it is in fact a religio-political organisation. It has local, central and general councils; quarterly meetings, conferences, fetes, pilgrimages; it has passports and circular letters to its members. It adapts itself to all classes and conditions - addresses itself to the scholar, the soldier, the mechanic, the apprentice, the labourer - to the mother and the daughter, for all of whom it issues a suitable publication.’

Rest House "Oznam", Batroun, Lebanon

On the occasion of the International Year of the Elderly and the 150th Anniversary of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Lebanon, the Batroun Section of this society has finished the elaboration of the project of a rest house for the elderly, named "Oznam",