Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, has taken on a new ministry and a new challenge in the Diocese of Little Rock.
A former diocesan lobbyist and director of Catholic Charities’ Social Action Office and later the Hurricane Recovery Office, she is now the spiritual adviser for the South Central Region for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. In her new role, she will be training the society’s spiritual advisers working on the parish and diocesan level as well as trying to create more parish groups, called conferences, around the diocese.
“My main focus is to do formation in Vincentian spirituality,” she said from her office at St. John Center in Little Rock where she is renting an office from the Diocese of Little Rock. “Vincent de Paul, who is the patron (of the society), really didn’t have an organized spirituality. His main thing was to center on Jesus, particularly Jesus, the evangelizer to the poor. The main idea is to see Christ in the poor, Matthew 25. And the people who are poor will see Christ in us through our love for them.”
Sister Joan, who is a part-time volunteer for the society as well as a part-time spiritual director for others in the community, plans to travel about once month to conferences and larger regions, called districts, in the four-state region, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
She said she hopes her formation training will help the ordained and lay spiritual directors in the state to stay true to the Catholic organization that was founded in 1833 in Paris by Blessed Frederic Ozanam and brought to the United States in 1945.
“I want to strengthen the idea that the St. Vincent de Paul Society is not just service,” she said. “But their actions come out of their spirituality. Hopefully, that will keep it (service) more compassionate, loving, respectful. You just don’t hand out groceries. You continue to do it in a loving way.”
The St. Vincent de Paul Society is an international lay Catholic charity with more than 700,000 members. It is based on person-to-person service to the poor. Many people come to know about the society through their thrift stores and food pantries. They also work with the homeless, elderly and prisoners. Members, known as Vincentians, don’t have to be Catholic.
Members of each conference meet twice a month for one hour. At least 15 to 20 minutes is supposed to be spent on spiritual reflection and discussion.
Currently, the Diocese of Little Rock has nine conferences based in parishes. They are St. Anne, Berryville; St. Michael, Cherokee Village; St. Vincent de Paul, Rogers; St. Albert, Heber Springs; St. John, Hot Springs; Blessed Sacrament, Jonesboro; St. Peter the Fisherman, Mountain Home; St. Stephen, Bentonville; and St. Thomas Aquinas, Fayetteville.
One of the first steps for the Diocese of Little Rock was to finally form a diocesan council to bring each of the conferences together on a regular basis. For the first time, representatives from six of the conferences met in Mountain Home Aug. 23 to discuss the council formation and share their problems and concerns.
“(The St. Anne conference in) Berryville is celebrating its 25th anniversary,” Sister Joan said. “All of those years and we have never gotten together.”
Even though the society is celebrating its 175th anniversary, more work needs to be done to let Catholics know about the organization, Sister Joan said.
“We have been all over the world and the United States, but people in Arkansas haven’t heard about us.”
Ralph Hassel, one of eight vice presidents for the United States based in Fort Worth, visited Little Rock Aug. 22-23 to meet with Bishop Anthony B. Taylor and help form the diocesan council. He said with the current system the Arkansas parishes with conferences are isolated from each other.
“You really don’t have representation on the national level,” he said.
Hassel said Sister Joan’s role in Arkansas is critical to the society’s expansion in the state.
“We knew that Arkansas is fertile ground,” he said. “From her Hurricane Recovery Program, Sister Joan knows every one in the diocese. If you want to get started in a parish, she is a major asset. It is a wonderful marriage for us.”
Sister Joan’s role is also critical to the members. Each region needs a spiritual adviser to ensure all members receive formation on St. Vincent de Paul.
“We’ve gotten back to our (spiritual) roots,” Hassel said.
