Val Senegal

09/13/2026

Our Professional Development Day was a meaningful opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. We explored the importance of diversity in the workplace, learned strategies for effective communication techniques, and discussed how these lessons will help us better serve our neighbors in need. We wrapped up the day with a hands-on cooking class that strengthened teamwork and connection, enabling us to practice what we learned and share a meal together at the end of the day. Every opportunity to learn together helps us build a stronger team and a greater impact in our community.

08/27/2026

💙💙💙

In 1720, French colonists set up a trading post on the prairies of south Louisiana and named it Opelousas, after the Indigenous people who already lived there. 🌾 Three centuries later it remains one of the oldest towns in the state, and for generations of Black Creole families it has been home ground.

At the heart of that community stands Holy Ghost Catholic Church. By the mid twentieth century it had grown into one of the largest African American Catholic congregations in the entire country, a place where Creole families were baptized, married, and buried across generations. On Sunday mornings the sidewalks outside filled with families in their best clothes, greeting one another in French and English both.

Opelousas holds a lot of history that rarely makes the textbooks. It became known as a cradle of zydeco music, a center of Creole cooking, and a gathering place where French speaking Black families kept their culture alive through decades that tried to erase it. The church, the language, and the food all carried that memory forward.

If your people came up through St. Landry Parish, what did Sunday look like in your family, and who was the one who always made sure everybody got to Mass?

07/30/2026

She was born to be a rich man's mistress, and she chose to become a servant of the poor instead. 🕊️

Henriette DeLille was born in New Orleans around 1812, a free woman of color from a prominent Creole family. In the world she was raised in, a young woman like her was expected to enter plaçage, a formal arrangement in which free women of color became the lifelong mistresses of wealthy white men. Her own family groomed her for exactly that future. Henriette looked at it and said no.

Instead, she gave her life to God and to the people her society threw away. In 1842, with a small group of other free women of color, she founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, a Catholic order of Black nuns in a city and a church that did not want them. They were refused, insulted, and told such a thing was impossible. They did it anyway. 🙏🏾

The sisters nursed the sick, sheltered the elderly with nowhere to go, and, in quiet defiance of the law, taught enslaved people to read and to know their faith. Henriette poured out her own inheritance and her health to keep the work alive. She left a single surviving line in a prayer book that still breaks the heart. I believe in God. I hope in God. I love. I want to live and die for God.

She died in 1862, worn out and poor, at only about fifty years old. Her funeral notice, remarkably for the time, praised a Black woman for her holiness. The order she founded not only survived, it grew, and the Sisters of the Holy Family serve to this day.

In 2010 the Catholic Church declared her Venerable, a formal step on the road to sainthood. New Orleans may one day be home to an American born Black saint, a Creole woman who turned her back on comfort to care for the forgotten. 🌙

She could have had silk and security. She chose the sick, the old, and the enslaved instead.

That is not weakness. In her time and place, that was one of the bravest choices a woman could make.

07/26/2026

Bishop Robert Boxie Ill Becomes America’s Youngest Bishop and First Divine Nine Catholic Prelate

At just 45 years old, the Louisiana native is officially the youngest Catholic bishop in the United States and the entire Western Hemisphere.

Bishop Boxie is also the first member of the Divine Nine to ascend to the episcopate in the Catholic Church.

03/12/2026

🤠🎉 Yeehaw! We’re saddlin’ up to rope in another great year—celebrating our team's birthdays rodeo‑style, with games, food, and our best rodeo attire! 🎂🐎

02/06/2026

By including SVdP Galveston-Houston in your estate plans, you create a lasting impact that will continue the mission and provide a brighter future for countless neighbors in need.

Learn more about Legacy Society membership and benefits here:

http://bit.ly/3I31w3H

09/28/2025

✨ A Day of Faith, Service, and Legacy: St. Vincent de Paul Feast Day Recap ✨

This year’s SVdP Feast Day was a powerful testament to the spirit of servant leadership and enduring commitment. Society of St. Vincent de Paul Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston began the day at St. Anne in Houston, where over 25 Vincentians gathered for leadership training—equipping themselves to serve the Galveston-Houston communities with excellence, compassion, and purpose.

Later at St. Monica, more than 100 Houston area Vincentians came together in worship, celebration, and reflection. We commissioned new members, welcoming fresh hearts into our mission. We honored those who have walked this path faithfully—celebrating 10, 15, 20, 25, and even 50 years of service. With reverence, we remembered those who have gone to glory, whose legacy continues to inspire them us.💫

From new beginnings to lifelong dedication, this Feast Day reminded us that service is an act of love that echoes far beyond the moment. 💙

08/14/2025

🌟 Professional Development Day 🌟

Today, our incredible team came together for a day filled with growth, connection, and inspiration. Through a powerful blend of edification and entertainment, our staff dove deep into sharpening essential skills that drive both personal and professional excellence.

🎯 From mastering performance and time management,
🤝 to embracing accountability and expanding leadership influence,
every moment was designed to equip, empower, and elevate.

This day reminded us that professional development is more than training—
👉 it’s about unlocking potential,
👉 building each other up, and
👉 creating a culture where learning never stops.

Thank you to everyone who showed up with purpose, passion, and positivity.
We grow stronger—together. 💪🌱