SVP Heart-to-Heart

Lent Campaign 2026

Lift People Out of Loneliness

This year our SVP Heart to Heart Lent campaign focuses on loneliness, something that touches people of all ages in our communities.

As SVP members, we see this often. People can be surrounded by others and still feel alone. These resources are here to help us raise awareness in our parish, support our conferences, and encourage new people to get involved. The invitation is simple: reach out and have a conversation.

We are inspired by St Pier Giorgio Frassati, an SVP member who believed in friendship and lifting others up. His motto, verso l’alto, “to the heights”, reminds us that when we lift someone else, we often find ourselves lifted too.

The Heart to Heart resources are pick and mix. We can use what works and leave what doesn’t. They also tie in with materials for primary and secondary schools, so they can help build links with local schools if your conference wants to.

Included are

• Short weekly reflections and videos

• Conversation starters

• Practical ideas to turn reflection into action

• Stations of the Cross for parish worship

Whether it’s a quick check-in after Mass or something bigger like visiting a care home or sharing soup and sandwiches, every action matters.

This Lent, let’s take the Heart to Heart challenge in our parish community: reach out and have a conversation.

Weekly Reflection Scripts

These weekly reflections offer simple, prayerful moments to pause and listen, focusing on biblical encounters where conversation opens hearts, changes lives, and reveals God’s presence. Linked to our Lenten appeal, Heart to Heart, they remind us that in a world where loneliness is a hidden poverty, reaching out and starting a conversation can be powerful and deeply healing, inspiring us this Lent to go heart to heart with others as Jesus does in the Gospels.

Weekly Video Reflections (Coming Soon - taster here)

Pause, listen, and reflect with these short weekly videos.

Week 1: Elijah and the Widow 

Week 2: Woman at the Well 

Week 3: Zacchaeus 

Week 4: Jesus and Peter on the Beach 

Week 5: The Last Supper 

Stations of the Cross script

This simple Stations of the Cross script is designed for Lent and shaped by Vincentian values and our shared mission. Prayed as part of the Heart to Heart Lenten Appeal, it invites participants to reflect on Christ’s journey through a Vincentian lens; being attentive to suffering, compassion, and the call to act.

Suitable for parishes or school communities, it can be used in one setting or shared over several weeks. This devotion gently encourages those taking part to move from prayer to action, becoming agents of change, heart to heart.

Talking Table

This Lent, pull up a seat at the Talking Table. It’s a simple table set up somewhere for anyone to sit when they like no schedule, no pressure just a space to notice others, and pray.

Think of the Last Supper: ordinary food, ordinary people, messy, human but full of love. Jesus left room for everyone at the table. There’s always room for you.

The resources include:

A short script that explores the movements of Holy Thursday and introduces the SVP Campaign and talking table. - created for schools but could be adapted for parish

PPT Presentation to accompany the assembly

How to set up a talking table

Table Placemats

Table Namecards

Table Bunting

Table Conversations

Table Plates with Statistics and stories

Herman: The cake that builds connection

Lent gently encourages us to slow down, notice one another, and see God at work in the small things a warm slice of cake, a doorstep chat, a gesture that says, ‘You matter.’ That’s the heart of Herman the Friendship Cake. Over ten days he grows, and on Day 10 he’s shared. It’s more than passing on cake; it’s offering a moment of connection, a smile, a check-in, a real ‘How are you?’ 

Whether you share Herman once or run a whole cycle as a community, the aim is simple: create easy, human moments where people feel seen and heard.

Making plans to visit a care home

As part of the SVP Heart to Heart Lenten Appeal, we’ve shared this outreach idea with our young members as a simple, flexible way to slow down, notice others, and make space for real human connection.

Many of us are already doing something like this through our visiting, but if it’s an area our Conference would like to explore more or strengthen, these suggested steps may help.

Soup and a Sarnie

Many of our members are running events like this, but we know some Conferences would like to try a project like this and might be looking for a simple place to start. This is the same idea we’ve shared with our young members, and it could be a good way to connect across the parish or between generations if that’s something your conference would like to explore.

Soup and Sarnie is a simple invitation to pause and gather during Lent. In a season that encourages reflection, it offers something very ordinary and very meaningful: sitting down together, sharing a meal, and taking time to talk.

It can be a one-off gathering, or it can become a weekly Lent habit. Either way, it creates a warm, welcoming space where conversations happen naturally and people feel included. There’s no big agenda and no pressure, just the chance to be together.

In this resource, we’ll find everything we need to plan and prepare for a Soup and Sarnie gathering.

Conversation Calendar: A Question a Day to Listen, Share, and Connect

Many of our members may find this something useful to share with the parish or with groups like the children’s liturgy, as a simple way to encourage connection.

The Conversation Calendar offers one simple question for each day of Lent. It’s an invitation to pause and talk with someone, heart to heart. This could be a friend, a family member, or even someone we don’t usually get the chance to speak with. There’s no right answer and no pressure to say something clever. What matters most is the space created when we choose to listen and be heard.