About St. Vincent de Paul
A lay Catholic organization with nearly 200 years of service to the poor, and our local conference in Falls Church, Virginia.
The Vincentian Mission
“Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization, leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering.”
— Mission Statement of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA
Learn More
Our Local Conference
Mother of Hope Conference is a newly established conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, serving the Falls Church, Virginia area under the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.
Our conference is unique in that it unites the faithful of three Falls Church-area parishes in a shared work of charity:
- St. James Catholic Church
- St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church
- St. Philip Catholic Church
By linking these three parishes together, we are able to pool our resources and extend our reach to serve more neighbors in need throughout the Falls Church area.
History of the Society
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853) was a young student in Paris who, challenged by a classmate to prove that the Church still cared for the poor, gathered a small group of university students in 1833 to begin visiting and serving the destitute of Paris. They named their fledgling Society after St. Vincent de Paul, whose spirit of humble, direct service inspired them.
From those humble beginnings, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has grown into one of the largest lay Catholic charitable organizations in the world, operating in more than 150 countries and serving millions of people each year through direct, person-to-person service — always neighbor to neighbor.
In the United States, the Society was established in 1845 in St. Louis, Missouri. Today the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA encompasses thousands of local conferences and councils, operating food pantries, thrift stores, homeless shelters, and emergency assistance programs across the country.