Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • April 20, 2018 15 Local St. Vincent de Paul Society provided over $2.6M in aid to needy last year The local Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that covers the area of the Diocese of Biloxi reports that Vincentians throughout the diocese pro- vided over $2.6 million dollars worth of aid to the poor and needy in southern Mississippi last year. The Society provided just under $1.3 million in direct finan- cial aid to needy families which includes help with utilities, rent, food, etc. In addition to that, the Society also gave out over $1.3 million in donated items such as food from its pantries, pharmaceuticals, clothing, and furniture. This aid touched 120,788 people in our area by way of home visits, hospital visits, visits to the homebound, and meetings with those seeking assis- tance. All of this help for the poor comes directly from the generous donations that parishioners give to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Whatever comes in as dona- tions, the Vincentians give right back out in aid to the needy. All potential recipients of aid are checked out as best as possible to assure that money and household items donated to the Society go to help only the truly n e e d y . Nearly all donations are used locally. SVDP is the largest lay Catholic c h a r i t a b l e organization in the world with Vincentians now serving the poor in 151 countries. The Society has been around over 180 years, and over 100 years on the Gulf Coast. Members of the Society are the average Catholics in the pews who wish to respond to God’s command to all of us to personally help the least of our brethren in our neighborhoods. There are currently 503 Vincentians in the Biloxi dio- cese, with 291 fully active parishioners, and another 217 volunteers who work occasionally to help the active members on their projects. The Society has 17 SVDP Conferences operating within the diocese, with exactly half of the diocese’s parishes (28) affiliated with those 17 conferences. The Society also operates the highly regarded SVDP Free Pharmacy in Biloxi that serves the entire diocesan area. The Society is embarking on a growth campaign asking those parishes who are not yet affiliated with SVDP to begin helping the poor in their area through the works of the Society. SVDP would like to have all Catholics within the diocese hear about how Vincentianism can help them to follow Our Lord’s commandment to not just help the poor by donations, but to do so by personal contact to those in need. To learn more about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, or to refer someone to SVDP who needs help, visit their local website at www.svdpbiloxi.org . EWTN is currently airing a 10-part weekly series about the Society hat shows the various activities that Vincentians do to help those in need in their local com- munities. Facebook CEO apologizes for ʽmistake’ of blocking Catholic content WASHINGTON D.C. ( CNA/EWTN News ) -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questions from lawmakers about his company’s censorship of Catholic content during his two-day congressional hearing fol- lowing the revelation that millions of Facebook users’ personal data had been compromised. Zuckerberg apologized and said that the company “made a mistake” in blocking an advertisement for a Catholic theology degree advertisement by Franciscan University of Steubenville, when asked about it by Washington state Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers on the second day of questioning. The ad, which featured a crucifix, was rejected by Facebook over Easter on the grounds that its content was “excessively violent” and “sensational.” Facebook later apologized, saying that the ad had been blocked erroneously and did not violate terms of service. Zuckerberg on Wednesday emphasized the large num- ber of ads that are reviewed daily by the Facebook team, saying, “I wouldn’t extrapolate from a few examples to assume that the overall system is biased.” The tech CEO also expressed regret that he did not “take a broad enough view of our responsibility” to prevent tools from being used for harm, particularly with regards to “fake news, for foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy.” Senator Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) confronted Zuckerberg about alleged bias and censorship of political and reli- gious content on the technology platform, saying Facebook “has blocked over two dozen Catholic pages” as well as conservative content “after determin- ing their content and brand were, quote, ‘unsafe to the community.’” In July 2017, CNA reported that Facebook blocked 25 Catholic pages in English and Portuguese. Facebook later apologized, saying the error was due to a malfunc- tion rather than malicious intent. Earlier this year, another Catholic group said it was experiencing critical delays in approval of its fundraising content in support of vocations during the Christmas season. Cruz continued to grill Zuckerberg over whether any Planned Parenthood or MoveOn.org ads had been removed. The Facebook CEO said that he was not aware of this ever occurring. Zuckerberg responded to Cruz’s questioning, stat- ing that “ Facebook in the tech industry are located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place,” but that he is committed to “making sure that we do not have any bias.” Many lawmakers questioned Zuckerberg about his company’s policies for monitoring the ads and debates on its platform. When asked to “define hate speech” by Senator Ben Sasse, Zuckerberg responded, “I think that this is a really hard question,” but reiterated his resolve to block efforts that spread hatred or violence. Sasse continued, “There are some really passion- ately held views about the abortion issue on this panel today. Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion views on your content -- on your platform? “I certainly would not want that to be the case,” responded Zuckerberg, who went on to say that a technological shift toward using artificial intelligence to “proactively look at content,” will lead create “mas- sive questions for society about what obligations we want to require companies to fulfill.” The Facebook CEO was called to testify before Congress in the wake of scandals involving privacy violations and foreign interference in the 2016 elec- tions. Zuckerberg apologized repeatedly for the scandal involving the data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica, in which personal information from 87 million accounts was “improperly shared.” Addressing these privacy concerns, Senator Dick Durbin asked Zuckerberg if he would be comfortable sharing the name of the hotel where he was staying. When the CEO responded that he would not, Durbin replied, “I think that may be what this is all about: your right to privacy, the limits of your right to privacy and how much you give away in modern America in the name of, quote, ‘connecting people around the world.’”