QUEENSLAND’S growing problem of homelessness was on John Campbell’s mind when he started his four-year term as St Vincent de Paul’s state president in 2006.
John was still working at full steam to solve the problem as his term came to an end recently.
The down-to-earth outgoing president was pleased to be able to report definite progress.
“When I started, the society had 42 individual units of accommodation operating across the state,” he said.
“Now it has 168.”
This push on John’s watch has seen housing programs spread across the state to the Gold Coast and to regions such as Mackay, Toowoomba, Dalby and Roma.
As he spoke to The Catholic Leader, the society was about to take the keys to the landmark $7.2 million Families Back on Track (FBOT) project.
Up to 108 single parents and their children will be housed in this Gold Coast project due to open later this month.
Listening to all this busyness, it would have been easy to miss the faith dimension underpinning John’s term.
But colleague Wal Ogle popped in during the interview to say what the society’s outgoing president was probably too humble to say.
“John has consistently placed emphasis on returning to roots of Vincentian spirituality,” Wal said.
“This has focused especially on the importance of the incarnation – Christ becoming human.
“John has encouraged the use of crucifix icon in our centres around Queensland.
“He has emphasised the importance of going from Holy Communion to serving the whole community.”
“His belief is that you can’t divorce reality of what happens in Mass with what happens in the community.
“I believe this has been one of John’s greatest strengths.”
During his term, this strength was needed to tackle a range of significant challenges.
These included a rapidly shrinking membership base and an urgent need to reform society’s organisational structure.
“A big challenge was to bring a basically 19th century organisation into the 21st century in terms of administration, policies and procedures,” John said.
“The whole operation needed to be treated as a major business which in many ways it is, given the society has got about $51 million in equity when infrastructure and other resources are considered.”
With typical vigour, John tackled the membership crisis head on by visiting regional communities throughout Queensland.
A rampaging snake at Cunnamulla Police Station, a hostile camel at Toompine Hotel near Quilpie and many a friendly country face were among memories that John carried back to Brisbane from a 3500 km fact-finding mission to the Southern Downs towards the end of 2008.
This was followed not long after by a visit to all 67 St Vincent de Paul conferences in the Brisbane City Council area.
Then in the six months leading up to his retirement, John spoke at Masses in 30 different parishes in the Brisbane archdiocese about the society’s need for new members.
“By then I had come to understand that people did want to join,” he said.
“People are interested in working to bring about social justice.
“They just need to be asked in the right way.”
In all, more than 300 people stepped forward to say they were interested in moving to next step of learning more about the society’s work and how they could become involved.
John said, based on recent experiences in Mackay, this was a hopeful indicator for new membership.
“There 60 people expressed interest in the society, and of these about 50 per cent joined,” he said.
“This was an excellent result and a hopeful sign for the overall success of our membership drive.”
Motives for joining the society vary, John said.
“One blokes said: ‘It’s so I can get to heaven’.
“I had to explain that there was certainly no guarantee in this regard, but that he would have a fair chance if he was to be involved in charitable work.”
John’s pace at the end of his presidency was showing no signs of slacking as he spoke of a forthcoming membership drive and needs evaluation tour of North Burnett regional areas including Maryborough, Kingaroy and Childers.
He was also overseeing innovative programs “on the horizon” such as “the Night Riders who’ll visit lonely people in homes and act as companions”.
He said strategies to involve more young people in the society’s work were also being considered.
John said his hope for the Queensland society’s future was that “whoever takes my place will continue the pace of expansion that has been underway for past four years…because the need is great and getting more so”.
