I had planned to post something about writing this month but I have been diverted. Hope you don’t mind.
I have been a member of the St. Vincent dePaul Society for a long time. In case you did not know this, this organization (now worldwide) was started by a 20 year old student at the University of Paris back in 1833. The young man’s name was Frederick Ozanam and he had been challenged by the modern day “secularists” to “practice what he preached.” So he went out to the street, gave away his coat (it was winter), and he and four friends began the society which they named after St. Vincent dePaul who was known for his work with the poor. Frederick was beatified in 1997 and his is a story for another day.
For today though, I just thought I would link to an article from Aleteia Magazine which spotlighted a story I wrote about one morning a number of years ago working at the St. Vincent dePaul outreach office in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. The story is true and it will give you a look behind the scenes at some of the work Vincentians do. Hope you like it.
Hope you all had a great 4th of July. God bless you all.
Copyright 2016 Larry Peterson
LarryPeterson
Larry is a Catholic/Christian author and blogger and posts weekly commentary. His work has appeared in such publications as Zenit from Rome, Aleteia, New Evangelists, Top Catholic Blogs, Big Pulpit, Catholic365.com and others. His first children's picture book, "Slippery Willie's Stupid, Ugly Shoes" was published in 2011. In 2012, his full-length novel, "The Priest and the Peaches" was released. His second novel, "The Demons of Abadon", was released in the spring of 2016. Larry’s latest novel, “Horizon Homeless” was released in ebook format in May of 2017 and the paperback followed on July 27, 2017. Larry belongs to the Catholic Writer’s Guild, The Catholic Writer’s Society, The Knights of Columbus, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He has been an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for over twenty years bringing communion to the homebound and hospitalized. He lives in Pinellas Park, Florida and his kids and six grandchildren all live within three miles of each other. His first wife died of cancer in 2003. He remarried four years later and became the primary caregiver for his wife, Martha who came down with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma in 2011. The cancer was in remission when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in October of 2014. Sadly and unexpectedly, Martha passed away on March 27, 2017. The writer says, "God has me where he needs me and I try my best to make Him proud. Larry’s blog site is http://www.slipperywillie.blogspot.com You can find more at www.larrypeterson-author.com