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15. An Economy of Communion Print E-mail
Written by Consolata.org   
Tuesday, 07 February 2006
95. Enucleation of the orientation

At the global level a new awareness is emerging of an “economy of communion”. This requires sobriety of life, and promotion of sharing of goods and solidarity with those who are poor.

An “economy of communion” can be developed in the Institute provided that its members are clear on the option of holiness, fraternity, unity of intent, sensitivity for the poor and the challenges of justice.

96. Aspects which motivate the orientation

1. Since the delegates to the X General Chapter noticed situations of abuse, they invited the Institute to deepen this issue. The XGC proposed “an appropriate reflection on ... sharing, equity rights to goods, detachment, and the use of goods intended for the missions and the poor” (XGC 40-41). The General Government responded to this request by issuing the letter: “Poverty, Economy and Mission”.

2. The praxis of the “common fund” has for the most part become an accepted practice in the Institute. Nevertheless the General Government felt it necessary to stress its importance and to offer the following clarification in its letter:

In each community “every piece of income will be given to the superior, and the administrator will place it in the common purse. The ordinary expenses for the running of the life of the community will usually be made by the administrator. Every missionary will receive from the purse the amount needed for the ordinary expenses of his life and of his work. For other non-ordinary expenses, he needs the consent of the superior of the community” (BU 101 28).

3. In the spirit of communion of goods, the praxis of the General Government of distributing subsidies each year is an example for all the regions to open up to solidarity and sharing.

4. Anxiety still lingers around the use and, at times, abuse of money, which is not only a violation of the vow of poverty, but also an injustice towards the poor.

97 Practical Proposals

1. The General Government should promote a reflection on the relation of poverty, communion of goods and interculturality.

2. The General Administrator, together with the regions, should study a plan of investments in the regions which will promote in them greater responsibility and help them to arrive at self-sufficiency.

3. Each missionary is invited to place all his goods in the common fund, following the example of the Founder who used his goods in favour of the Institute.

4. The missionaries should become involved as much as possible in understanding the criteria of the IMC economy as described in the “Directory for the Administration of Temporal Goods” and in the study “Poor to Enrich Others”. A new edition of the latter document is to be published and translated into other languages, as an aid for deepening our spirituality on poverty.

5. All confreres should be consulted in defining the priorities of the local community’s expenses. The presentation to the community of the annual budget and analysis of the extraordinary expenses help create a climate of trust and co-responsibility for the family life of the community and for the pastoral project.

6. It is imperative to adopt a sober style of life, to develop a clear consciousness that the money we have is not ours, to educate ourselves to the value and use of money, to the sense of thrift economy and to the value of manual work as a school of solidarity with the poor. To this effect it is worth underlining the following as areas that need our attention:

a) travel and vacation,
b) furnishing of our houses,
c) use of automobiles,
d) use of mass media, cellular phones, satellite telephones, personal computers….
e) clothing

7. Given the need for professionalism in the area of administration, there is the need to prepare in the next six years some missionaries as specialists in this area.

8. In their basic formation, the future missionaries should be informed about the principles of an economy of communion: industriousness, sobriety of life, knowledge of the value of money, sense of responsibility in its use…. In collaboration with the General Administrator, the General Office of Formation should put together a guide on the practice and spirituality of poverty. The spirit of poverty should be considered as one of the basic criteria for admission to religious profession.

9. Initiatives should be proposed, supported and put into practice that will help to create an economy of solidarity (ethic bank, micro credit, justice budgets…).

10 Each missionary should promote the self-sufficiency of the local community by means of his personal contributions.