By Dubravka Kolumbic-Cortese | Correspondent             

Renato Lima de Oliveira, international president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, kicked off a whirlwind tour of SVDP conferences in the Northeast corridor with a daylong visit Jan. 4 to the Diocese of Trenton, starting with St. Mary Parish, Bordentown.

Conference members from throughout Burlington County gathered in the late morning in St. Mary Church to welcome Lima de Oliveira, who was sworn in as president general in September after 30 years of service to the St. Vincent de Paul Society in his native Brazil.

Photo Gallery: SVDP Global President Visits Diocese

He addressed the conference members in attendance, urging them to continue to “work hard for the poor,” to pray for him in his new role and to pray for the canonization of SVDP founder Blessed Frederic Ozanam, who started the organization in the 1800s in order to help the less fortunate.

“In Brazil, the poor have nothing,” Lima de Oliveira said. “Here is a different kind of poor. But worldwide, the charity is the same.”

In an interview with The Monitor following his speech, he talked about his enjoyment of visiting St. Vincent de Paul conferences.

“Every trip I do, I like to visit the members, I like to visit the special works and I like to visit the poor families, to go to their homes. This is the Vincentian way to serve,” Lima de Oliveira said. “The people really need support, not only financially, but psychologically.

“Today in the world, people are very selfish and individual,” he added. “So we need this approach to others to make the world better.”

Lima de Oliveira fielded some questions from attendees before heading off to his next stops, which included traveling the Diocese to meet conference members in Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean Counties in addition to visiting SVDP parish conference outreach establishments such as food banks and furniture ministries.

“It’s a great honor, an unexpected honor,” Sharon Callahan, St. Mary Parish conference president, said of Lima de Oliveira’s visit. “I hope he will appreciate the depth of the spiritual life in this parish.”

Nancy Sanson, the SVDP conference spiritual advisor in St. Mary of the Lakes Parish, Medford, joined fellow members in welcoming Lima de Oliveira to the Trenton Diocese.

“We feel privileged and humbled that he is able to visit us,” she said. “I hope that he sees we are spiritually based and that we interact with one another in a loving and giving way.”

Richard Zanoni, member and past president of the conference in Jesus, the Good Shepherd Parish, Riverside, said he was impressed that Lima de Oliveira visited the Diocese.

“I think we can show that we are a vibrant county in terms of the number of SVDP conferences we have and that we can reach a large number of people,” Zanoni said.

There are 51 St. Vincent de Paul conferences in the Diocese of Trenton. According to 2015 statistics – the most recent year for which they are available – the Diocese’s conferences conducted 12,884 home visits, assisted 66,709 individuals and distributed $6,720,822 in aid to the needy.

Callahan said her conference alone provided financial aid to 36 families last year who were struggling to make ends meet.

“We support the working poor,” Callahan said, explaining that sometimes it can be an unexpected bill or the end of unemployment benefits that spurs a family to seek help from SVDP conferences.

“There are so many people with so much need,” she said. “Sometimes we run out of money, but God provides.”

Check back to TrentonMonitor.com for more news on this story.