The Society of St Vincent de Paul was founded in Christchurch in July 1867 by Father Jean Baptiste Chataigner, a priest of the Society of Mary and parish priest of Christchurch at that time.  It continued until April 1880 under the guidance of Father Chataigner and other early Marist priests including Fathers Boibeaux, Chervier, Ecuyer and Ginaty.  Father Chataigner moved to Timaru in 1869 to become the first Parish Priest of that town, and founded a second conference there.  While the Society in its early years was an organisation for men only, many of the situations faced required the work of women, so following a ruling from Pope Pius IX in 1859 women working in association with the Society could form groups of a Ladies Society of St Vincent de Paul. One such group was formed in Christchurch.  While the Christchurch conference was never formally affiliated to the international organisation it operated in accord with the philosophy of the Society and can be regarded as the first in the country, with the Timaru one very likely being the second, although also not affiliated.  In Wellington in May 1875 Father Jean-Baptiste Petitjean established a conference in Thorndon. This was the first conference to achieve affiliation. The following year engineer and Member of Parliament Charles Gordon O'Neill moved to Wellington from the South Island and became president of St Mary's Conference. It is possible he had been associated with the Christchurch conference as there is a C. O'Neill on the roll there, although at the time he lived in Otago.  He was responsible for extending the Society elsewhere in New Zealand as he travelled about in connection with his engineering work. He eventually moved to Australia where he was responsible for re-establishing the Society there.  Locally we have a small group of volunteers lead by Fred Dyer who help those in need in our community.  Fred and his team give out/pick up furniture, give to local  people in need, liaise with social services to name but a few of their  tasks.  Our parish school has a very active group of young Vinnies who raise money to help others.  This group is lead by Paola Minehan and supported by Ngatel Tiuka.   We are grateful that we have both groups active in our parish and thank them for the work we they do!

National website: www.svdp.org.nz

How to join? 

Contact the parish office and we will direct you to the right person to contact.

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  • St Joseph's, Waipukurau

    Mass Times

    Sunday 9:30am
    Friday 9:15am (during Term time)
    Saturday 9am
    Tuesday 9am

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    Tuesday 7.30-2pm
    Thursday 12pm - 2pm
    Fridays 7:30am - 2pm

    St. Patrick's, Waipawa

    Mass Times

    Saturday (Vigil) 5:30pm
    Thursday 9am
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