Scottish Catholic Observer

THE statistics revealed by the SCO about the vast extent of the work done by the SSVP are extraordinary but they are not surprising. If you’ve had any contact with them at all, you’ll know that their conferences are full of men and women who go above and beyond, day after day.

That should not diminish the tremendous acts of charity the statistics contain or the real and profound help that tens of thousands of people have received from the Vincentians.

In towns and villages all over this country the local Church is a hub that saves peoples with kindness; people forgotten, abandoned and neglected—except by the Church.

Years of deep and vicious cuts to council services mean that over-stretched social workers cannot do a fraction of the work required to help a society that is ageing.

While this is a rich country, poverty bites harder than ever at the bottom. The networks of family, friendship and community that used to help people through the hard times are fragmented in a society were individual desires are seen as the highest priority.

Yet the Church is still there, holding the line. Helping those who need it. Being with the lonely. Tending the sick. This is God’s work and they are doing it.

The Church should be proud—Scotland should be grateful.