A PRIEST in the Killarney Pastoral Area has said the decision to rebrand St Vincent de Paul charity shops as Vincent’s has left him most disappointed.
Fr Kevin McNamara, who is parish priest in Glenflesk, said he is in favour of retaining the full name and he queried why those involved felt the need for change and why the organisation allowed it to happen.
Speaking just days after the Bishop of Kerry, Ray Browne, blessed and cut the tape of officially open a new Vincent’s outlet in Kenmare, Fr McNamara said he considered the rebranding to be “so sad”.
“Vincent’s or St Vincent de Paul? I’m on the side of the full title,” he wrote in the parish newsletter before asking parishioners in Glenflesk what side they were on?
His comments were printed under the headline: ‘New name – Awful shame’.
Fr McNamara said the situation was such that some of the St Vincent de Paul shops around the country are now being called Vinnie’s.
St Vincent de Paul has over 230 charity shops in Ireland and they are considered a very important aspect of the service the charity provides.
The shops provide people with new and lightly worn items at affordable prices but they also provide an income source for the organisation which is recycled directly back into the community.
