Double Duty Not Permitted
By Mike Syslo
One of the main principles that has been promoted within the Society is that this is a "we"organization - not a "you" or "me" one. All of the works of the Conference, all of the responsibilities, all of the decisions are to be made by all of the members - not just one or a minority few of themembers.
On page 58 of "The Manual of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the United States" (2002 version) will be found the following statements: “The President is, as it were, the soul of a Conference; but should not, however, absorb, through excess of zeal or dedication, the activity of the Conference to oneself. The President should see to it that every member of the Conference is given a sufficient amount ofcharitable work to perform, ensuring also that the various tasks are distributed evenly among themembers and carried out in the spirit of the major objectives of the Society.”
One of the areas that is ignored in this respect is that of Conference Officer. We come across this issue often. A Conference is supposed to have a minimum of four officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. But many times we find a President/Treasurer or a Vice-President/Secretary or a Secretary/Treasurer. Double duty is not permitted. This is contrary to the RULE and Spirit of the Society.
It is easy to blame the President for not appointing officers. It is easy to blame the Rule because brand new people cannot be officers. It is easy to blame the RULE because non-Catholics and employees of the Society cannot be officers. Yes, that is in the RULE in Part III Statutes 3 and 14. The real blame, however, falls on the existing Active (Full) Members of the Conference for not coming forward. Theresponsibility for officer-ship falls to the existing members and we should not be dependent on finding someone new in the parish to take the job.
The President has a lot of responsibilities and a lot of things to just keep track of. It gets very frustrating when members are unwilling to come forward to help with those responsibilities. There is an old escapist adage that says something to the effect that if you leave it long enough someone else will come forward and take care of it. Look in the mirror, folks. Someone else is you.
Yes, the President has the responsibility to appoint the other officers. But she/he can onlyappoint people who show an interest in helping. Do not expect the President to do everything. Do not let the President do everything. The full responsibility for the actions of the Conference falls to themembers regardless of who actually caused the action or made the decision. Non-participation gives you a heavier responsibility since you could have made things better and didn't bother.
Do not allow one or a few to do what everybody should be doing together.