The weekly programs via Zoom offer food for thought to go along with your lunchtime

CINCINNATI, JUNE 16, 2020 – St. Vincent de Paul is offering everyone the chance to add some food for thought to their Wednesday lunch menu during the next seven weeks. The organization is opening a virtual “Ozanam Cafe” on Wednesday, June 17 in which it is teaching a series on how others live out the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching. The series takes place every Wednesday from noon to 1:15 p.m. through July. People are invited to attend one or all luncheons.

The weekly topics include:
* Life and dignity of the human person
* Call to family, community and participation
* Solidarity
* Dignity of work and rights of workers
* Option for the poor and vulnerable
* Care for God’s creation
* Rights and responsibilities

The Cafe is being operated by St. Vincent de Paul’s Ozanam Center for Service Learning, which provides a wide variety of service opportunities, from two-hour poverty simulations to weeklong overnight retreats and immersion experiences.

Under normal circumstances, the Ozanam Center would currently be holding weeklong retreats to high school and college groups during the summer, offering students firsthand lessons on a wide range of social issues. The Center is located on the third floor of the Liz Carter Center in the West End and and had nine straight weeks of retreats planned before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

In 2009, the Ozanam Center for Service Learning was developed in response to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s call to address the needs of our community through both charity and justice, as well as to address the desire in our local community for greater understanding of the realities facing neighbors in need.

The Center seeks to add depth and context to the encounters people have with our neighbors in need through workshops and immersion experiences that go beyond charity or volunteerism to encourage participants to ask the hard questions, search for real solutions and reflect on the larger social issues behind the human needs to which they are responding.

To RSVP for one or more Cafe sessions, contact Program Coordinator Mo Kelly at [email protected].

About St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been providing innovative, practical emergency assistance to Greater Cincinnati residents in need for more than 150 years. The organization works personally with those in need, regardless of race or creed, to bridge the spiritual, emotional and material gaps in their lives through home visits provided by neighborhood-based volunteer groups, and groundbreaking initiatives like the Charitable Pharmacy as well as a network of 11 food pantries and seven thrift stores and donation centers across Cincinnati. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati is a network of neighbors, inspired by Gospel values, growing in holiness and building a more just world through personal relationships with and service to people in need. For more information, visit SVDPcincinnati.org.