The St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP), an international Catholic charity, has been formally launched in Nepal with the setting up of committees in two parishes.

Anna Maria Church in Pokhara and Assumption Church in Kathmandu now have SVDP “conferences” after the SVDP coordinator for South Asia, Joseph Pandian, held meetings in these parishes.

Lay leaders and parish priests attended the July 12 and 13 meetings led by Pandian, who is from India.

Each conference, or basic SVDP unit, comprises eight lay Catholics who meet twice a month.

Parish priests, who are also expected to attend the meetings, guide the groups.

Nepal now joins 147 other countries where SVDP movements are based and where members not only raise money for the poor but also visit the lonely, sick and needy, said Pandian.

“SVDP is not just about helping the poor in terms of money and material things but also in terms of companionship,” he said.

Lay Catholics say the society will boost Church social services.

The movement will “help families where there are teen problems, broken marriages and financial problems regarding children’s school fees or housing rent,” said Sujata Rai, a laywoman from the Kathmandu SVDP conference.

SVDP was founded by Blessed Frederic Ozanam in Paris in 1833.

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