Life of the Congregation

From 26 to 30 September, Fr. Graziano Sala scj, General Bursar, accompanied by Luigi Pirovano (co-worker in the Congregation administration), visited Thailand to meet the bursars and the newly-appointed community superiors and to take stock with them of the Congregation’s online accounting system.

Mr. Luigi Pirovano, our dear colleague from the Congregation administration, and I spent four days at the Vicariate House in Chiang Mai to guide our brothers from Thailand in charge of the communities in the community and Vicariate accounting system and in the use of the Congregation’s online software. It was an opportunity to answer their questions, to listen to difficulties encountered, in other words, to share the problems of everyday life. Several weeks later, I would like to share some thoughts.

How many times in our communities have we ever said, “Why do you go to so much trouble doing the accounts?” “Basically, that’s not what’s important; what counts is to live with discernment and sobriety!“ That is true. This is essential if you want to live the vow of poverty as religious Betharramites.

Nevertheless, I have always been taught that principles, if not accompanied by concrete applications, are only beautiful theories which do not stand up and end by disappearing without a trace.

Strong words about poverty are like beautiful scaffolds without anchor points that can collapse and have negative consequences.

Let us see what this phrase of the Rule of Life means: “By the vow of poverty, as religious we commit ourselves to owning nothing...” (RdV 49) This is undeniably a fine sentence... Certainly, in the present day of Pope Francis, it produces a certain effect. We may even be tempted to draw some pride from it, but ... what does it mean? That is to say, how does each one of us put it into practice? What is the lifestyle of a Betharramite living in poverty?

The Rule of Life goes on to say: “we hold in common our material wealth as well as our human and spiritual riches”. This clarifies one principle: for us Betharramites, living the life of poverty means sharing what we are and what we have. Is that all? No.

The Rule of Life continues: “The holding of all things in common obliges us to depend on the superior for their use. We give account to him for the money and goods at our disposal.” (RdV 49) This is a second principle of practice: giving account. Have we finished? Not yet.

Also in article 49, it says: “We use in good conscience the goods of the community in the measure that they are necessary for our mission”. The supreme criterion of our poverty, that is, what determines and clarifies the affirmation “to possess nothing,” is the mission.

Let us make the point: living poverty means three things for us: 1. the pooling of assets,
2. transparency in their use,
3. interdependence.
All this comes from the point of view of the mission.

Let us now return to our original question: why do the accounts? Why waste time on these boring things?

The answer is simple: this action of keeping accounts is a concrete way to live the vow of poverty. It allows us to live the three principles indicated above: sharing assets, transparency, dependence.

If we do not do this, each of us will look only to himself and we will all repeat tirelessly principles that we no longer believe ourselves.

In a climate of intense and joyful work, I have been able to note that all the religious present, not only the treasurers (directly concerned) and the superiors, but also other religious, wanted to lend themselves to the exercise to discover and to learn. In a nutshell, I rejoiced at their willingness to participate.

Equipped with a computer, with an unstable wi-fi connection, not always up to the needs of an online job, Luigi Pirovano’s explanations were used by each person to draw up a budget for his own community. The necessity of such an operation was never more evident.

We then proceeded to insert the accounts of the communities in the software of the Congregation. And while everyone’s eyes went through pages of precise accounts, annotated simply in notebooks, the boxes of the software gradually filled up.

At 16:30, the day ended well with the traditional football game! In fact, this moment of relaxation also set the tone to the encounter: effort, but also entertainment.

Isn’t that what the RdV calls for in article no. 103, when it says that there should be moments of “sharing and relaxation” in each community?

Graziano Sala scj
General Bursar