A word from the Superior General

Religious earn their living by their work or by their pastoral and professional competence. Whatever a religious earns with this belongs to the community, including pensions and other sources of income or insurances (R of L 50). By his vow of poverty the religious undertakes to keep nothing for himself but to share with the community whatever he earns depending on the community for his needs, and rendering account thoroughly and with transparency. To be poor means having nothing. Whoever commits himself to a vow of poverty and owns property is deceiving the Church and humiliating his brothers who share everything.

Religious therefore share everything that they can receive with the community, who can only own something in the limits fixed by the Regional Superior and his Council (R of L 287: statute 37). Once a year or every six months the community pays back the 2/3 of what they have, keeping only 1/3 for their daily needs. Like the religious the communities must be poor if our witness is to be worth anything.

It is good that there should be no differences between the communities; this is why we must strive at a genuine sharing of our goods. It is unbearable to think that there are communities living in abundance while others are in need. “Attention to the poorest begins by sharing between brothers of the same Congregation” (statute 32). In certain Vicariates, with the 2/3 received from the communities that can, it is possible to have enough money to come to the aid of communities not having enough resources because they are engaged in missions which bring in no money (for example Houses of Formation) or they are engaged in the service of the poor. They will each have to draw up their budget and render accounts so that sharing is done with truth and trust.

The Congregation needs to have property so as to provide materially for the religious, cover the cost of formation and carry out the mission which the different communities receive. With this in view the Vicariates, Regions and General Council can own goods and property, inherited from previous generations or which have been bought for needs both material and missionary: houses, land, cars; they can also have a ready supply of money to provide for new projects or for other needs. All these goods are Church property and the Congregation manages them according to the criteria of the Gospels as explained in the Rule of Life (art 290) and in Canon Law.

The criteria for administration are not only financial so as to get the best results possible. They must also be evangelical: they must provide for a decent standard of living, austere, without luxury, a bit like the type of life of the simple folk in the midst of whom we are living. By avoiding an accumulation of goods, by trusting in Providence, we can be responsible for the mission and the work we receive whether salaried or not, in a spirit of service, of community sharing, relying on the community for the use of these goods, helping the poor and securing the best results for the mission.

It is the Superior who assures the ordinary administration. In this he is helped by the Treasurer. “[They] spend and carry out legal acts of ordinary administration within the limits fixed by the Rule of Life, and by ecclesiastical and civil law” (art 292). Together they keep up to date the inventory of the property and the accounts as well as the budget so as to be able to inform the community as well as the superiors of what use it is being put to. For example they can pay to the Vicariate the sum fixed by the Regional Superior with the consent of his Council. “This management is ordered in such a way that goods of the community contribute to the life and mission of the Vicariate and the Region, and the goods of the vicariate and region support the life and the mission of the whole Congregation.” (art 288).

Sometimes so as to shoulder some particular mission it would be good to have our own works. The responsibility for these can be given to a religious or to a lay person. Whoever it is, he must render account of his management to the trustees amongst whom there must be other religious nominated by the major superior as far as possible (statutes 31 and 16). They can all render their accounts to their Regional Vicar who is the legal representative in the Vicariate.

A religious cannot keep his inheritance. He can have the ownership without the usufruct, by naming someone before first profession to whom he yields the administration, use and usufruct. Before final profession he must make a valid will in the eyes of the law in which he clearly states who is to inherit his property. He cannot leave an inheritance to persons outside the Congregation – pensions or loans (art 54) since he is obliged to share them with the community. Family inheritance don’t belong to the Congregation. If the religious should sell, the product of the sales is to be shared with the community for his vow of poverty obliges him to keep nothing for himself.

If a religious carries out financial deals without his superior’s permission, or if he causes material hurt to another person, he is then acting in his own name and is personally responsible for the consequences of his actions. (art 298,St 38)

The superiors are to take all necessary means to safeguard the property of the Congregation whenever a religious or person unknown to the Congregation is recognised as owner of the property in the eyes of the law. (art 299).

Gaspar Fernández Pérez, scj