Love of Learning

How Can We Build & Maintain Empathy in Our Community?

• Show kindness towards others through actions and/or words.
• Use active listening & showing this with your whole body 
• Think through what you say before you say it
• Be aware and supportive of those less fortunate
• Value the perspective others even though you may not always agree 
• Turn taking when listening and speaking
• Setting expectations for social interactions
• Recognise different opinions and viewpoints are ok
• Speak up when you know or hear something that is not right

A Closer Look at:

The Good Samaritan Vianney House is named after St John Vianney.

John Vianney was born on 8 May 1786, in the French town of Dardilly, France (near Lyon), and was baptized the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and his wife Marie (Belize),  had six children, of whom John was the fourth. The Vianneys were devout Catholics who helped the poor. Vianney's paternal grandparents once gave hospitality to Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of the homeless, who passed through Dardilly on his pilgrimage to Rome in 1770. Saint John Vianney, was a French Catholic priest who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as the patron saint of parish priests. 

Vianney is often referred to as the Curé d'Ars (i.e. the parish priest of Ars), internationally known for his priestly and pastoral work in his parish in Ars, France, because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortification, persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession, and ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His feast day is 4 August  in the Novus Ordo calendar, is 8 August in the Missal of 1962 calendar, and is 9 August in the pre-1955 calendar.

Vianney came to be known internationally, and people from distant places began travelling to consult him as early as 1827.

"By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached 20,000 a year. During the last ten years of his life, he spent 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder".

He spent at least 11 or 12 hours a day in the confessional during winter, and up to 16 in the summer.  In his article "How does the Church Respond to Suicide?" Shaun McAfee references an incident described in the book Cure of Ars:

"...a woman...told....Vianney that she was devastated because her husband had committed suicide. She wanted to approach the great priest but his line often lasted for hours and she could not reach him. She was ready to give up and in a moment of mystical insight that only a great saint can receive,...Vianney exclaimed through the crowd, “He is saved!” The woman was incredulous so the saint repeated, stressing each word, “I tell you he is saved. He is in Purgatory, and you must pray for him. Between the parapet of the bridge and the water he had time to make an act of contrition.”

Vianney had a great devotion to Saint Philomena. Vianney regarded her as his guardian and erected a chapel and shrine in honor of the saint. During May 1843, Vianney fell so ill he thought that his life was coming to its end. Vianney attributed his cure to her intercession.

Vianney yearned for the contemplative life of a monk, and four times ran away from Ars, the last time in 1853. He was a champion of the poor as a Franciscan tertiary and was a recipient of the coveted French Legion of Honour.

At Good Samaritan Vianney House is represented by the colour Red.