POVERTY, ECONOMY AND MISSION

October 4, 2002

Dear Missionaries,

The date of this letter is October 4, the day of St. Francis, the saint that is a famous witness to the evangelical ideals in the use of the goods of this earth. May the "Poverello of Assisi" arouse in each one of us, and in our Religious Family as a whole wherever it missions, a deep sense of fidelity to the vow of poverty, and the courage to handle the material goods we have at our disposal with the wisdom that Blessed Joseph Allamano lived and preached to us.

Why This Document
Why a new letter on the use of goods in our mission, and which are the reasons behind the invitation made to us by the X General Chapter (XGC) to deal again with this matter? I shall mention some of them.
Our most recent General Chapters have insisted on the need for our Institute to review the criteria that regulate the use of our material goods because they are gifts from God and the expression of the charity of our Benefactors, and are at the service of the mission (See the General Chapter of 1987,p. 50). They also warned us against any disregard of the vow of poverty in the administration of goods (See GC 1993, 19 ). At the same time, they urged us to aim at a more radical way of practicing poverty. They invited us to come closer to the life of the poor and to a better sharing of goods with the others (GC 1993, 54-55). Finally, the XCG acknowledged that there still exist forms of individualism in the use of the goods of the community, and that there also is a pursuit of material goods: these things divert from a more evangelical way of living the mission (XCG 37). And so the Chapters invite the Regions to remedy these possible abuses. They also invite the General Direction to send to the whole Institute a document in which be made a "Strong call to order on the way we live poverty and on the diverse abuses found everywhere in our Institute, abuses which were summarily mentioned in the examination of the reality. In the preparation of this document, what was said in the capitular assemblies on the subject must also be kept in mind." It further reminds us that "The times of our jubilees are a good occasion to appropriately reflect on this topic as well as other topics that are connected with sharing, equality, detachment; using the goods intended for the missions and the poor in all respect for the donors' intentions and without any excessive or unjustified delay" (XGC 40-41).
Among consecrated people, a need for clear courses of action is felt at present: Clear directions are needed in a world that is rushing towards globalization; a world in which often the search for profit and ownership becomes an imperative style of life while, at the same time, sensitivity towards the poor shrinks way down; a world in which the ambition to become rich fast and quick penalizes the human value of both individuals and society. Missionaries who work with the poor and the marginalized in the suburbs of the big cities continuously wish to refine their engagements as witnesses to the evangelical value of poverty. In order to do that, they want to use scrupulously the goods that Divine Providence puts in their hands in favor of the poor and as a means of missionary conscientization of the Church. There's an always increasing number of missionaries who wonder whether it wouldn't be better to pay more attention to the challenges the vow of poverty throws at us. Also, what answer are we to give to the Church that continually incites us to requalify the way we are and operate in the missions? The Letter prepared by the Union of the General Superiors in their meeting of May 2002 delt precisely with the topic, "Economy and Mission". It did so because many Institutes feel today the urgency of reflecting on the correct use of goods in a world that at present evolves and revolves ever so rapidly. They felt the need to evaluate whether their economic praxis is a true answer to the vow of poverty and a real choice for the poor .

The Need for a Renewed Praxis
If our Institute wants to embark into a journey of authentic personal renewal, and make a decisive turn-around to requalify our community, it needs to come seriously face to face with the demands of the Gospel and with the religious consecration in the area of material goods and how we use them in our behavior and activities as missionaries. Poverty and mission can never be severed from one another: When that happens, our credibility and the outcome of our work are seriously compromised.
Nearly sixteen years have gone by since the coming out of the circular letter "The Use of Material Goods for the Mission" (May 1, 1985). In it, Fr. G. Inverardi developed this topic, offering precious suggestions relative to the correct use of material goods. What was written then still has the same value today. But some situations need different answers nowadays. The new challenges of today need appropriate solutions, and the principles and the ideals proper to the vow of poverty must be carefully revisited.
The title of this letter itself explains its purpose and objective. It will not deal with religious poverty only, although it takes its inspiration abundantly from it, and it isn't a Directory for the Administration of Goods either. It stands somewhere between a reflection on the principles that regulate the use of goods and their concretization in the multiple situations our Institute finds itself in.

Difficulties and Limitations
We must also acknowledge that to write on this topic for the whole Institute is a rather engaging task. It's not easy to offer directives that give precise answers to all the realities that all our confreres live across this world of ours. Consider some of the following questions: How can we apply the same rules on poverty and economy to our confreres living in Europe and North America, and our confreres who live in Congo? To our missionaries living in developed countries and those who live in countries where the people have to fight every day in order to have what they need to barely survive? How can we give directives concerning the formation in our seminaries on how live our poverty when, in some instances, coming into our Institute is for some youngsters a promotion in the rich world? How can we teach sobriety and austerity to candidates whose families and environment never denied them any material goods, or place any encumbrance to their use?
We are aware of the limitations of a document like this one. But we do think that it can inspire all members to reflect and focus on the meaning of the vow of poverty within the context of our missionary vocation, that it can help us review the usages we make of material goods. Since we are aware of the complexity of this matter and of its many facets, we shall try to write in rather schematic fashion, dealing only with essentials. Not every problem will have a definite answer. Maybe, some of our questions will keep on being just that. The style of incompleteness of this document will allow the individual missionary, the local communities and the provinces to continue the reflection: While doing this, each one will keep in mind the context and the real situations he lives in. To favor this system, we have often included questions that might stimulate a reflection by the whole local community, questions that might stir it to come up with appropriate answers to local problems and situations.
May the intercession of our Blessed Founder encourage our reflection and, through his own witnessing, enlighten the paths we have to travel on.

I. SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES

"Seek The First the Kingdom of God…"

All through the Old Testament, "poverty", as a value that must be lived, does not mean renunciation to, or lack of, material goods, but rather an attitude of submission and surrender to God, and a search for His will during the trials of life. The teachings and the life of Jesus show to perfection what poverty is. In Jesus, the old idea that riches are a blessing from God and the lack of goods a punishment for the evils done, is surpassed. For Jesus, the important thing is the Kingdom, and everything else must relate to it. Poverty is not material "misery", but rather the overcoming of the pretext of not needing God, and the pretext of managing one's life without interference from anyone else, and of building , alone, one's own "kingdom". Before asking people to detach themselves from material things, Jesus asks them to detach themselves from themselves, from their own ways of . wishing and desiring, from their emotions. He is the one who steadfastly underlines the need for gentleness of heart, for humility, for availability and forgiveness, for submission to God, for freedom from the goods of this world. This value lies not as much in the absence of possessions, but rather in freedom from them, so that we can be interdependent and become gift to others: something attainable if we look at God as a Provident Father who takes good care of us.
The poor of the Gospel is the person who seeks God's Kingdom and its justice before everything else, the one who finds in God the true treasure of his life (See Mt 6:31-34). Poor is the one who is available to get rid of every thing in order to obtain that treasure, the one who is afraid that God and His Kingdom will no longer be found if his heart becomes full of the goods of this world.
Looked at through the eyes of the Kingdom, how do material goods appear to us? They are not objects of contempt, they should be seen as realities that must not enslave us (See Mt 5:29-30), because man is much wordier than things are (Mt 16:26). Whoever lets things seize him, loses his freedom and loses sight of the Kingdom. The Gospel man uses things that can be of use in the building of the Kingdom, but knows how to go without them in order to set his sight and his heart on realities that are truly important. There he is: a man who is free, not so much from material goods as he is free for, or at the disposal of, the Kingdom.
From the Gospel blossom forth some lines of behavior which are a must for every disciple of Jesus: The more one becomes rich in the things of the Kingdom, the more one becomes poor in the things of this world. A progressive renouncing to material goods strengthens one's being in Christ, but the possession of things of this earth develops a craving for power and diminishes the capacity of serving the others and makes one veer away from the logics of the Kingdom. In this light, the announcement by Jesus, "Blessed are the poor!" becomes easy to understand: blessed, not because they are poor, but because they did not allow themselves to be caught by things, but became full of the fullness of God. Because they did not entrust their own fulfillment to material things and did not give to things their own fulfillment, they became people of the future!

An Inheritance We Must Not Forfeit

We are sons of a man of God, Joseph Allamano. His life tells us where the true treasure is, the real treasure. Meaning, he led to maturity for us the behavior of the wise administrator of the Gospel. Matured, himself, in the school of holiness of the Cottolengo, he developed an unlimited confidence in the Providence of God. He would throw his whole being into developing daring projects because he always found out first what God's will was. Meaning, he was sure that God would not abandon him (See Conf II, 308). His suggestion to his missionaries was: "As you begin any new enterprise, you should not consider its magnitude, nor the difficulties in translating it into reality, nor should you consider the amount of work needed to concretize it: you must simply find out whether it is God's will. Then dive into it, it will succeed." Such trust in the Lord gave him an adventurous sense of enterprise, gave him courage because he felt that he was an instrument in the hands of a Father who never abandons his children. At the same time, all through his life he used discretion towards the benefactors, even when the expenses of the running of the Institute became huge. He urged his missionaries never to bug benefactors by proclaiming to the four winds the needs of the mission, and to avoid being fanatic fund-raisers. He once quipped when some untimely initiatives were begun: "No! No! I don't like it. I don't like merchant priests. There are enough of those in the diocese. I don't want you, my sons, to act the same way." (Ib. 28).
He was always aware that the money he used was not his own: He always considered himself its administrator, not its owner. And he urged his missionaries to do the same. One day he told Fr. Ciravegna: "Get used to carry some money in your pocket, and learn how to always think that it is not yours, but that it belongs to the Benefactors of the missions. This way, you will think twice when you feel like spending it." (Ib. 35). He will often tell and retell these ideas, almost as a catchword, underlining an important principle to teach a correct use of material goods: "Donations do not come to us for our own comfort, so that we may live better, but that the others may feel better. When we have what we need, that's enough… Don't say: 'Well, we've got the money…' You must have money in order to do good, not to live well. As the Lord sends them to us, let's do good works!" (Ib. 38).
Transparency and prudence in the realm of administration were scrupulously practiced by Joseph Allamano, and he demanded the same from his missionaries. In his book, Fr. G. Pasqualetti narrates several experiences of missionaries in this area (Ib. 41-44). They were all deeply impressed by his scrupulous precision in the registration and administration of donations to the Institute. Some of them say: "In the administration, he was most precise; he would enter every donation with utmost accuracy… and he would do it immediately, while the person who brought the money in, or took it out, was still there in his presence" (Ib. 42).
Here is a witnessing by Fr. Sales on the Founder's ideas concerning just salaries and respect for civil laws: "He was always extremely scrupulous in questions related to justice. He couldn't cheat his neighbor out of one penny. He declared that he was ready to be cheated a little bit, rather than run the risk of cheating others. His and anyone's spiritual and moral goods were always more important to him than material goods" (Ib. 44).
The sharing of goods was another preoccupation of the Founder. "If we do not economize," he would tell the professed students, "what are we going to send to Africa? We should only use the strictly necessary, we cannot keep everything for ourselves" (Conf. II, 252) ). It was because of the demands of sharing that he was convinced that missionaries can never be rich (Conferences to the Sisters II, 6).

Paying Attention to the Calls of the Poor

The masses of the poor in Third World countries too question us on how we use material goods in the contexts of our missionary work. Even our Constitutions decided to attach the demands of the vow of poverty to the calls from the poor: "Let the missionary grow in an authentic love for evangelical poverty through a constant conversion of heart and attitudes, so that he will 'possess the spirit of poverty' down to its roots" (SL, 242). This way, he will witness to his trust in the Providence of our Heavenly Father (See Mt 6:25-34), he will show that he is interdependent with the poor and that he possesses the freedom to raise his voice in their defense. In unison with the community, he is encouraged to live even more austere forms of poverty, in accordance with the demands of the milieu where he lives" (Const. 44).
Two paths has the post-conciliar Church delineated and trod, although not always in too easy a way: To become credible and understandable on the inside, through the removal of all useless superstructures and the elimination of connivance with "power"; and engaging itself in transforming the institutions and all unjust and alienating structures. All this comes under the name preferential option for he poor (See Evangelization and Human Promotion, 13; Vita Consecrata, 82, 90).
When a Christian community gives back the primacy to the Kingdom of God, it feels driven to "Evangelize the poor" (See Luke 4:16-21), it shares with them its life and everything else. Such a choice is not contingent, rather, it reflects one of its constitutional exigencies; and it has its roots in the Gospel itself. It is not sectarian, because meeting Christ brings the Christian close to the poor and to all those who need salvation. To choose the poor, means to share their lot, to identify with their struggles, to raise the voice to defend them, to pay in person for the choice of camp.
As missionaries and consecrated people, the service to the poor and the sharing of their lot must become part of our nature, so as to become the cartina di tornasole of our choice of Christ and his Kingdom: "The choice for the poor is inherent to the dynamics of love lived according to Christ. Consequently, all disciples of Christ are bound to it. However, those who want to follow Christ more closely, those who want to imitate His attitudes, cannot but feel involved in a special way in this cause. The sincerity of their answer to the love of Christ guides them to live as poor persons and to embrace the cause of the poor" (VC 82). The same ideas are stressed by Redemptoris Missio: "The first addressees of the mission are the poor, and their evangelization is a par excellence sign and proof of the mission of Christ (60).

II. NEED FOR DISCERNMENT

Money And Mission: A Not Always Easy Relationship

A few decades ago during the colonial rule in Africa, and also more recently during the economic boom in the Western World, it came natural to many missionaries to confront the reality of well-being in many European countries and the precarious situation in mission territories. In the context of mission promotion, it was easy to paint in dark tones the state of poverty in mission territories, so as to stir up the generosity of Christians in Europe and North America.
With the passing of time, and after some not too positive experiences, the rapport between missionary and money and other material means became more cautious, if not outright pessimistic. Missionaries understood that money could not always solve the complex problems of social justice; also, the structures raised at the cost of much sweat and with the sacrifices of the benefactors, often did not measure up to the foreseen objectives, and sometimes even acted like boomerangs against the missionaries. Private interests too, corruption, bureaucracy and alike contributed to render useless "our work". Notwithstanding our efforts and our originality and imagination that would often come up with new mechanisms of development, it was clear that these things did not change much the lot of the poor.
If we consider the problem from the standpoint of the "mother" Churches, missionaries often felt a certain malaise in front of this praxis, and not because it was hard for them to beg for the poor. They became aware that the problem "money" often monopolized their mission dialogue, so much so that to say 'mission' was, for many Christians, equal to saying 'money'. How could they efficiently communicate to God's people such messages as: mission means to announce Christ, we're all responsible for the mission, Christ still calls to the mission…? And how could they propose to today's society such themes as justice, solidarity, peace…?
The generosity of the Christian people towards the poor, and the collections taken up in their favor, do have New-Testamental roots. Christian generosity and collections for the poor were not on the defendant's bench. The critical sensitivity against money and other means for the missions was caused by the excessive emphasis placed on them, or because of a lack of moderation that lowered the importance of other values.
Here are some of the main challenges that often come up in this area, that come up every time we ponder our relationship with material goods in the context of our missionary work:
- An excessive flowing of aid might slow down the maturing of young Christian communities that, rather than teaching their own members to become self-sufficient, keep on leaning on means collected somewhere else.
- Missionary work risks losing its transparency and evangelical witnessing to the eyes of neophytes and non-Christians. Unfortunately, what often is more easily noticed in missionary work is not human and Christian solidarity towards the other brethren, but rather a certain climate of business and easy riches.
- An evangelization that is accompanied by lots of money and many other material means does not develop a sense of responsibility in the faithful. The Church is not sensed as one's "home". Furthermore, the Christian community does not feel spurred on to face the challenges and problems proper to their milieu, because there always is someone on top who thinks things out, someone who makes the decisions and puts them into practice…
- The missionary who is rich might build defensive barriers that isolate and protect him from the people: thus, he avoids situations of precariousness and poverty because he wants to shun any danger. The rich tend to seek isolation, create ghettos and build superiority pedestals. It is difficult indeed to establish mutual trust relationships and rapports of true friendship and fraternity between the 'rich' missionary and the poor.
- Internationality is growing in our Institute: some missionaries keep on living as the rich do, barriers will be erected among members of our missionary family. This will have harmful consequences on the family spirit and on the work of evangelization.

The Courage of Conversion

Our behavior in doing mission is not to be dictated by psychological motives, and our life style should not be imposed by strategical schemes. To be sure, today we are sent to do mission by the One who told His missionaries: "Go! Behold I am sending you as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals. Stay in that house, eat and drink what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go back and forth from house to house" (Luke 10:3, 7). Jesus' teaching, His style of life and His way of evangelizing: These things must guide us in fashioning our apostolic methodology. This we must do while keeping in touch with the realities of modern times, with today's challenges and the present world. From Vatican II on, the Church has always encouraged Religious Orders and Congregations to live a more austere way of life and a better adherence to the evangelical value of poverty. Our Constitutions and many other documents of our Institute during these past years have kept on calling us to live a different style of life that will help us concretize a more efficient kind of evangelization. Keeping in mind what was said above, and examining it in the light of our documents, we are now going to recall, briefly, some doctrinal directives relative to the use of material goods:
1. We read in St. Paul that, "When the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5). The mystery of the Incarnation is the basis of the Christian announcement and the direction that every apostolic praxis must follow. his mystery seems to suggest that power, efficiency, success and material means cannot be the measure, the criteria and the strength of missionary strategy. The Word of God became a man, but He also became a child, helpless, needy. Wanting to fulfill the mission the Father gave Him, He used the means that poor people know how to use, and not those that would make Him popular, that would give Him an image, make Him efficient. When Peter tries to dissuade Him from going ahead with His plan, the Master uses strong words (Cfr. Mark 8:39-39), because He wants the same kind of mission to be used by his disciples: "As you sent me into the world, so I send them" (John 17:18). In Matthew we read: "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 10:38-39). The cross was the way Christ chose to save us. But he also chose it as the way to be used by anyone who follows Him in bringing salvation to the world: The cross that saves, the cross that reconciles, and the cross that also kills, that divides, that causes persecution.
2. From the cathedra of our "abundance" we will never be able to preach the cross of Jesus Christ to the masses of the poor, we won't be able to to give credibility and meaning to the words of the Gospel. We can then ask ourselves: How will our way of doing mission be judged by the cross of Jesus Christ? The missions that we form, often effort at the cost of much, will they attract the attention of people because they are similar to the style of mission that Jesus wanted to communicate through his cross? "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are" (1 Cor 1:27-28). Thus expresses his credo the convert of the way to Damascus, the greatest missionary of the primitive Church. Power, wisdom, things of this world - they are not the things that save. We can't fool people by giving them our 'things': God alone saves! "When I am weak, that's when I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10): Pauline logics destroys many of our buildings in efficiency, our attempts to self-fulfillment, our wishes of vainglory.
3. Evangelization is our suprema lex. Above any other interest, personal or not, we should welcome whatever favors and helps evangelization. Efficiency will never prevail over whatever renders apostolic works authentic, just as evangelical witnessing must always be above any project and action of ours. Courageously, we must ask ourselves whether the time has come to get rid of certain weights and hurdles that we pile up on our evangelizing tracks, as asked by our IX General Chapter: "To follow a style of life that is poor in its structures and simple in its work programs and in the use of material goods, and to listen to the queries and the sensibility of the poor" (32.1). Resisting these capitular directives could be caused by the culture of consumerism today present everywhere. We must react courageously to this situation, we must appeal to our conscience as disciples and to our apostolic know-how. If we must reach a conversion, it should come from our confrontation with Jesus of Nazareth, not with the milieu or the people that surround us.
4. "Let our missionaries be encouraged, also by the community, to live more austere forms of poverty in relation to the demands of the milieu." (Constitutions, 44). "We wish that there be among us a greater radicalism in the practice of poverty. In our relationship with God, in our community life, in our apostolic action we intend to share our life with the poor whose values are for us a school of spirituality" (IXGC 54). "The mission is impossible without being 'for' and 'with' the poor". "Poverty determines the premises of consecrated life through a sobriety and style of life that favor solidarity, sharing and nearness to people" (XGC, 30). If these statements are to affect our method of action or our apostolic praxis, they must be allowed to generate in us deep convictions which, must have their root in the perennial values of faith in Christ and in consecrated life. Our Constitutions and our General Chapters encourage us to enter into more austere forms of poverty and nearness to the poor. These forms of poverty must find their expression in fraternal and serene acceptance of new experiences that must be approved by our Institute. These experiences, quasi labs for a new way of living the mission and announcing Christ to the peoples, must be favored and encouraged by the Regions in an enlighted and courageous discernment.
Our Institute, together with the Consolata Missionary Sisters, chose for 2003 the Blessed Paolo Manna as our special patron saint. May his teaching, audacious and prophetic in the area of missionary poverty, spur each one to begin a serious revision of his own life, in all fidelity to the missionary vocation and the call of Christ who wants us near to the poor and interdependent with them.

III. LET'S AGAIN VISIT OUR ECONOMIC PRAXIS

At this point of the reflection, we don't want to "turn the page" and begin talking about a different reality. What was said about the ideal of our religious life, about ways of looking at material goods, about the teaching of the Founder and our choice of the poor, that must enlighten all other aspects relative to the economy in our Institute. It is not possible to read the first part of this letter as 'Religious' and the second part as 'Administrators'. We are individuals that the Lord called to follow Him, people who were sent to evangelize the poor. The goods that the Lord puts in our hands must help us reach this purpose, must aid us to live coherently our vocation.
The pages that follow do not have the purpose to abolish or to take the place of the Directory for the Administration of Goods. The questions we will deal with aim at recalling certain facets that concern the correct use of goods, questions that need revision and special attention in the present context of the life of our Institute and the mission. For technical and detailed directives, please consult the Directory for the Administration of Goods.

A. Our Providence

As sons of Blessed Allamano, a man who always nurtured the greatest trust in Divine Providence , we believe that, through our benefactors, the Lord will never allow us to lack the material means which we need for our life and for our missionary work. Furthermore, the salaries received by some of our missionaries, the stipends for pastoral services rendered and the income from social pensions constitute other sources of income for the Institute. Some of the Provinces, thanks to Last Wills and productive activities, make possible the work of the General Direction and its yearly contributions to the Provinces. Finally, the care of each missionary in the administrative sphere is a precious and necessary contribution to the concretization of the self-sufficiency of each Province.

The benefactors
Our benefactors are the expression of Divine Providence towards us. As every day we lift prayers to our Heavenly Father that He will keep on giving us our daily bread and all that we need for our sustenance, our activities and our solidarity with the poor, we cannot forget our Benefactors. Besides praying for them every day, each missionary community must keep constant contact with them by mail. Every donation received must be timely acknowledged and thanked for in writing. Contacts with the benefactors, although marked by a sense of urgency should never lack kindness and discretion.
In this field, there must be coordination at the level of our Institute. Which means that no missionary will ever start any campaign to raise funds without previously obtaining permission to do so from his own Provincial Superior, and permission from the Provincial Superior of the Region where the offerings are to be collected. There must be communication between the missionary who wants to collect funds during his holidays in his country and the people in charge of that Region.

Work
Because of his profession of poverty, "In accordance with a traditional praxis in our Institute, and following the teaching of the Founder, missionaries must appreciate and love work" (Const 16), manual work included. It must always be accompanied by the missionary's spirit of initiative and laboriousness: this way, the missionary will always express his nearness to the world of the poor to which poverty connects us so deeply.
It is very important that our younger members be formed to, and become imbued of, this spirit. During the formative years, let them be introduced to meaningful work experiences that, opportunely remunerated, will be an economic help to their community. They must also be taught to understand our Family spirit, a spirit that requires each and everyone to be interested in his community and in the whole Institute, which is their new family, even in concrete aspects such as: rendering the house inviting, contributing to the self-sufficiency of the community, participating in the right order of the milieus, using correctly the things that belong to the community.

Salaries, Stipends, Pensions
Salaries, stipends and any income that is the fruit of the work and of the initiative of the missionary belong, by the power of the vow of poverty, to our Institute. Their administration will be regulated by Regional norms or, in their absence, by the directives given by the Regional Superior.
Social pensions, too, and the ones that elderly missionaries receive thanks to special pension payments, belong to our Institute. The missionary must keep a faithful account of them and give regular and periodical accounts to the Regional Superior.

Donations
All donations received by the missionary from benefactors, whatever purpose they might be given for, belong to our Institute and to the mission, and cannot be used by the missionary without the explicit permission of the superior, and then always in accordance with our Constitutions (Cfr. 48.1). In order to ask for donations for special projects, the missionary must have the previous permission of the competent authority. If the offering is given to the single missionary, it becomes part of the common purse, either of the local community or of the regional community, according to the norms that are proper to each Province, exception being when the competent superior decides otherwise. The offerings given without a specific purpose will always become part of the common purse.
Only the offerings given to the missionary by relatives within the fourth degree belong to the missionary personally, as established by our Constitutions. However, the use of those offerings is not left up to the missionary, it is always subject to the approval of the superior.

Mass Offerings
"Missionary priests offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the intentions of the Superior General" (Constitutions 64). They will, periodically, give account of the number of Masses celebrated, of the offerings and of the intentions received. Every Province will give precise norms regulating the reception of offerings and their destination. It is the job of the Regional Superior to receive the reports of the Masses that were celebrated, and to remind the missionaries of this their duty if and when there is lack of interest or refusal in this matter.
The General Administration will provide Mass offerings to the Provinces that do not have enough of them. If there are too many, these offerings will be distributed to the poorest dioceses, rather than to single priests who might ask for them.

Financial Reserves
Building a reserve of funds has become regular praxis in our Institute. Through these reserves, we try to guarantee enough means for the needs of our Institute and the mission. These funds are added to the donations of our benefactors and to the income that comes from the work of our missionaries. Many questions might arise from this system of management of our goods, and the implications of such a system might affect our way of living poverty. It is necessary that we continue to clarify its context and its limits, and to set down directives for the whole Institute. In this letter we shall only give some principles.
1. It is necessary to affirm that our Institute cannot live only on the reserves of funds. Just as do he poor who trust Divine Providence, we must live off what we get from ourwork, the help from our Benefactors and the internal solidarity of our Institute.
2. The reserves of money that our Institute possesses are usually used to maintain our houses of formation, to take care of our sick members and for our new missionary foundations and openings.
3. Because of the duty of fraternal sharing and the engagement of the common purse, local communities have no permission to capitalize. They can keep a certain amount of money for ordinary and for unforeseen expenses. The limits of this amount of money are decided and fixed by the Direction of the Province. Whatever passes these limits is given to the Regional Administration.
4. The Provinces will accumulate a certain capital. Its interest will be added to the donations by the benefactors and other kinds of income so as to cover the ordinary and extraordinary expenses. The highest limit of these reserves will be established by the General Direction in consultation with the directions of the Provinces.
5. It is the task of the General Administrator and his Council to manage the capital of the Regions, deposited at the General Administration. In so doing, he will always keep in mind the exigency of witnessing to trust in Divine Providence, the needs of our Institute and its missions, and the ethics of investing and of the banks where our funds are deposited.

Donations and Legacies
All donations that are over the competence of the Local Superior need the written authorization of the Superior of the Province before being accepted. Any donation to which an onus is attached has to be given authorization by the Superior General, after consultation of our legal adviser.
All questions relative to real estate and all that comes from inheritances is managed by the Regional Administration through its legal real estate office (if present), in strict contact with the General Administrator. The income from real estate sales and what comes from any inheritance will be thrown into the general fund of the Institute, and afterwards divided by the Provinces.

Solidarity Fund
Quite a while back, the Solidarity Fund was established in our Institute. It takes care of the sick members of the Society, and it is propped up by the 1.5% of the gross income of each Province. In our days, its income has no longer been distributed by the Provinces that have greater debts because of the care of the sick: This will allow the fund to become a true reserve that, in the future, will help the confreres who do not have any medical insurance. However, the Provinces that did not have single medical expenses that are superior to a certain established amount that is decided by the General Administration, will be reimbursed: This reimbursement will be taken from the Solidarity Fund.

B. Some Principles that Regulate the Administration of Goods

Administration in Our Institute
This administration is regulated by the vow of poverty. Which means that every norm and directive in the administrative field must always take its inspiration from poverty, must follow its spirit and become concrete in everyday life.
By the force of religious profession, every missionary renounces the use of any material thing and money without the previous and explicit permission from the superior. Because of his religious profession, the member also renounces the use and the managing of his patrimonial goods. Before making his perpetual religious profession, he must also write his will or testament in order to dispose of his goods in an act that also has civil value and effects. These acts can later be changed with the approval of the General Superior. With the permission of the Superior General, a missionary with perpetual vows may also totally or partially renounce his patrimonial goods. It is opportune that this renunciation take place only after several years of perpetual profession.
Every missionary to whom the task of administering was entrusted must be aware of doing a very important job in favor of our Institute and in favor of every confrere. He should never forget the criteria that must direct everyone of his actions, such as witnessing to poverty, the common good, justice and fraternal charity.
Every administrator exercises his service under the responsibility of his respective superior: Local Superior, Superior of a Province or General Superior. As far as the administration of goods is concerned, the job of superior and of administrator must never be reversed or confused. Permissions in the area of the vow of poverty are the responsibility of the superior. The one who administers is the administrator and not the superior. A clear separation of the two roles assures a sain reciprocal control.

Austerity in Everyday Life
The society we live in, influenced as it is by an unrestrained sense of consumerism, challenges our style of life, a style that must find and use certain concrete and visible ways of living poverty in everyday life. Clothes, traveling, holidays, means of transportation, everything must reflect the austerity of life proper to a missionary. The same way, our houses and the means that we use to do our work must be inspired by functionality and simplicity.
Every community should use discernment before it decides on a big expense relative to their life. An important criterium to determine our life style is the sharing of our life with people among which we live and work. A practical means that well translates the austerity of our life is the attention we must pay to the budget of the expenses incurred and the study of the budget: Both ordinary and extraordinary expenses must be studied. The budget must be prepared and evaluated by the community itself before being presented to be approved by the superior authority. Ordinarily, this should be done at the moment of the writing of the PCL. It is opportune that periodical moments of revision be also established.
Every Province establishes the amount of money that the single communities can use without further permission from the Regional Direction. The same applies to the modalities that pertain to the buying and the alienation of things.
The General Directory of our Institute establishes, in very clear and detailed fashion, the instances when the missionary may return to his own country (Const 25.3, 25.5). The Superiors of the Provinces must see to it that these norms are scrupulously followed and that any kind of abuse that is contrary to our state of religious and the vow of poverty be avoided.
It is the praxis of our Institute, and it has been ratified by the General Directory, that "No missionary may possess a car for personal use. The use of cars is communitary and is regulated by to the demands of the offices and services of the community" (45.1).
The General Directory establishes also that no missionary may "Have accounts in the bank set to his name outside the administrations of the Institute" (48.2). However, at present, in some Provinces, there are confreres who might be asked to have a personal account in a bank for their personal administration. In such cases, the written permission must be asked from the Regional Superior. The latter will see to it that for everyone of these personal bank accounts there be a second signature. The missionaries must give a regular and periodic account to their respective superiors on how they use these bank accounts.

Personal Savings
This name is applied to the amount of money that each missionary receives from his own community for his ordinary expenses. Such amount of money is not to be given to the missionaries on established periodical dates, but it is renewed upon presentation of the account of the expenses made previously.
It is good that in our formative communities, professed students be educated to the correct use of the 'Personal Savings', and avoid even the appearance that it be considered as some sort of "monthly salary" that each one may use according to his whims.

Faithfulness to Civil Laws and the Directives of the Local Church
The missionary will be careful to observe not only the administrative norms emanated for our Institute, but also those coming from the civil society and the Church. This, our Founder wanted his missionaries to do. Scrupulous attention to laws and norms is not only a positive answer to the demands of justice, it also becomes a very necessary witnessing to the society in which we live. Without naming every instance in which this faithfulness must be exercised, we recall here some to which particular attention must be paid:
- The salaries and the stipends for the persons who work in our communities must conform to civil laws and at the same time to the parameters of justice.
- Missionaries will never concretize any help project without having previously obtained the permission of both civil and Church authorities. Utmost care must be exercised that the local people get involved in such projects; such projects must be the object of discernment by the missionary community before asking for the authorization of the major superior.
- In the concretization of works and any other economic activity, the administrators and the superiors, according to their own level of competence, must faithfully follow the civil and ecclesiastical rules in what concerns taxes, contributions, profit taxes, security norms.
- Since we must practice solidarity with the poor and share our goods with those in need, the superiors and the communities must be careful to answer the calls for aid and the requests of subsidies that might come from ecclesial entities or humanitarian organizations, according to the possibilities of the Province and in harmony with the criteria of our own legislation.
- The superiors and the administrators should avoid incurring debts and obligations with third parties in order to solve the internal financial needs of our Institute. In the case of single missionaries who contracted important debts in an illicit way and without permission, the Directions of the Provinces, in consultation with the General Direction and in respect of civil legislation, will decide whether to involve or not to involve our Institute in paying such debts. If this happens, the modalities and the grade of intervention of our Institute in favor of the confrere must be clearly specified.

Respecting the Intentions of the Donor
In the administration of the goods that Divine Providence gives us through our benefactors, the intention of the donors must be taken into highest consideration. No one has the right to take this intention lightly, avoid it, or disregard it, especially when it is clearly expressed. When a mission project is sustained by the benefactors, but afterwards, for some kind of reason, it cannot be concretized, the consent of the benefactors is necessary before using the money for other purposes. If, for some reason, this consent could not be obtained, the donations received should be returned to the donors: This is the honest policy.
It is our duty to instruct the Benefactors in such a way that they will give their contributions to useful projects that have the required permission and authorization.
The offerings given for the missions without a specific purpose, will de deposited in the common regional or local community purse, and will not be at the disposal of the single missionary.

Caring for Real Estate Goods
Every local community must take good care of our houses and other real estate goods. A plan must be prepared annually, if serious deterioration is to be avoided, a deterioration that would require afterwards expensive work in order to maintain these goods.
The Provinces that have big houses that are used only in part should study opportune solutions to provide the community with smaller and more functional buildings, and thus reduce considerably the expenses of their upkeeping.
It is the duty of every Local Administrator to keep an inventory of all real estate and other possessions that belong to our Institute or to the local Church. The updating of these lists should be done annually, new possessions should be included in it, and things that no longer belong to us should be excluded.

C. Economy and Communion

In the past, religious poverty aimed at instilling in the religious the sense of austerity of life, good management and renouncing things that were not necessary. The task of administrators consisted in reducing expenses, to save as much as possible, and making a discreet accumulation of resources so as to arrive at the end of the year in a positive state of business. Today, we are discovering a new dimension of religious poverty which is labeled as sharing, communion of goods, economy of communion, solidarity. The two aspects must not be separated so that our sharing may not be reduced to the mere "scraps that fall from the table of the rich." We should share not only what is superfluous, but also what we ordinarily call "opportune", and in some cases even what is "necessary". Every missionary should convert to this new vision of "communion", which requires opening up the heart and the hands to those who are in a greater need. The young, particularly, should be formed not to accumulate for themselves and for their own work and activities, but to be prepared to behave as true brothers towards the other members of our religious family and towards the poor.

Communion at the Local Level
At the local community level, the administration operates on the common purse principle. 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. In order to correctly practice the common purse system, the following are necessary: preparing the annual estimated budget, which must be approved by the Regional Direction; paying particular attention to the reading of the balance sheets; making a periodical discernment on the financial situation; having a clear understanding of the role and task of the local administrator; receiving a correct account of all income and of all the expenses from every member of the community. All members of the community must practice sobriety of life and curbing of the expenses, and strive to develop their search for the necessary sources of income.
When the income is not enough to cover all the expenses of the community, the intervention of the Region will be called for. This is done through an appropriate request to the Regional Superior.

Communion of Goods at the Regional Level
The circulation of goods at the level of the Province will work if all the communities are available to share what they do not need. Thus, the regional fund can be established and grow. The Region must decide the ceiling of the financial reserves that each local community can keep: this is done by taking into account each community's ordinary expenses. The rest is sent periodically to the Region's purse. Unless the rules of the Province have decided otherwise, another source of income for the Region's common purse are the donations from benefactors that are given with no definite purpose, and also the annual subsidies from the General Administration.
Every Province, especially during the meetings of the Regional Conference, may come up with other means to develop the Regional Fund. Some regional activities may have the purpose to boost the regional economic self-sufficiency. But we must avoid the pitfall of becoming traffickers, which is against the spirit of poverty, and have trust in human and Divine Providence. Requests for financial help are normally addressed to the Regional Administrator. The latter studies the request together with the local community in question. If he deems it necessary, he asks for the opinion of the Administrative Council and then presents it to the Superior of the Province for approval.
More than the amount of the fund, the cordial and fraternal participation of all the missionaries in establishing and building up the Regional common purse is a meaningful sign of the family spirit that must be a characteristic of every Region.

Communion of Goods at the Level of Our Institute
Our Institute has a general fund that is supervised by the General Administrator. From this fund, the General Administration takes what the General Direction needs, subsidies to the Provinces, and other specific needs of our Institute. This fund is built up with what comes from wills and testaments, bank interests and subsidies from some Regions. It does not grow in funds, because it should not become an improper accumulation of money that contradicts poverty; and it does not diminish, because it must go on being a precautionary measure for our Institute.
At the end of each year, the General Direction allocates to the Provinces the surplus of the preceding financial operation, and deposits in the fund an amount that corresponds to the inflation index. The subsidies to the Provinces aim at helping their common purses and at aiding projects that favor the evangelization of the poor.
For a few years now, the General Administration has developed and put into action a plan to gradually raise the level of funds of the poorest Provinces. In force of the principles of equality and fraternal sharing of goods, the General Administration should mentalize and guide the Regions that have reached the established financial ceiling to distribute their surplus by the poorest Provinces.

Solidarity with Family Members in Difficulty
Faithful to the teachings of the Founder and to family spirit, our Institute will make an effort to be open and sensitive towards situations of real need on the part of members of the families of missionaries, especially in the cases of emergency and serious sickness of parents of missionaries. Every contribution will be given to the community of which the missionary in question is a member, in full dialogue with the Regional Superior and with his authorization.
The families of the missionaries who work in foreign lands should be periodically visited by our confreres and should keep in contact with our Institute. This way, it will be easier to come to know situations of true indigence, and to intervene in an opportune and timely way.
The Province, or the continent, in which a missionary lives should study norms and details that regulate the economic support that a missionary who lives in that Province or continent can give to his family: this should be done following IMC legislation and the norms contained in this letter. We must not let local traditions that are contrary to the vow of poverty to take root, and we must make sure that certain families of missionaries do not come up with excessive demands. To guarantee this, let missionary animators and formators sensitize the families of our students on the new rapport that religious profession and the vow of poverty create in relation to them. Wherever it be deemed necessary, the moment a young man joins our Institute, a written request may be asked from his parents in which they state that they willingly let their son enter our Institute, and that they, the parents, will no longer expect any economic compensation from these their sons. No candidate will be accepted by us whose family needs the help of their son for their own subsistence, for the precept does command, "Honor your father and your mother".

Sharing Our Goods with the Poor
"The mission is not possible if it isn't "for" and "with" the poor." Poverty in consecrated life determines the premises of consecrated life through a sobriety and style of life that favor solidarity, sharing and nearness to people" (XGC, 30). Faithful to the capitular directives and to the centenary traditions of our Institute, each missionary and the Provinces will develop an openness and sensibility to sharing their goods with the poor. This they can concretize in diverse ways. We cannot forget that the goods placed by Divine Providence in our hands are for the needs of the missionaries, for the poor and for evangelization. Sharing what we have is one of the most "missionary" ways of living religious poverty, and that is what people preferentially expect from us.
Let each missionary and the Provinces try to respond positively, as much as they can, to the requests that our Institute sends through the General Direction to aid situations of special need, such as natural catastrophes, wars… We should also get our Christian communities involved in these matters.
Not forgetting the service our houses must render to the missionaries and the necessary privacy that they must safeguard, our houses should welcome the poor. This is a excellent sign of sharing and brotherhood.
Missionaries must shun the subtle temptation of presenting themselves as "the benefactors" of the poor by offering to them works and things that satisfy more the donor than the receiver. In every realization, let the missionary always look for the collaboration of the people and of local organizations, so that his role may not appear as predominant.
We underline the importance of the custom that exists in some Provinces, which was also used during the centennial celebrations of our Institute, of distributing every year part of our surplus to the poor. It will be a sign and a memory of the engagement of our Institute and of each one of us, which stems from our missionary vocation.

Aid to those who Leave our Institute
Through the General and Regional Directions, and in the name of evangelical charity, our Institute will be solidary with the perpetually professed members who permanently leave our Congregation, independently from the ways and motives that led them to make such a decision. Each case will be studied separately. We shall consider their age, capacity of work, their diplomas. Exempt from these are the priests who become incardinated in dioceses.

D. Administration of Goods

The Administrators
In the area of the economy of our Institute, the General Administrator and the Regional Administrator have a role of extreme importance. Basing ourselves on past experience and on the present availability of personnel of our Institute, we delineate here the characteristic traits of the administrator, not so much to idealize its figure as to underline the characteristics that each missionary who is called to this service should strive to acquire.
1. The administrator is a Consolata missionary who identifies fully with our Institute and its mission, one who knows the characteristics and the spirit of our Institute and tries to abide by them. The technical know-how and capacity that he needs in order to serve in the administrative field must be integrated into his vocational identity; even more, they must highlight the latter.
2. He is a person who must be able to work with others. The demands in the economic area today become more and more numerous, and no single person can claim to be able to hold such an office all by himself. He must be conscious of his own limitations and allow experts to help and advise him. Besides, he must be constantly in dialogue with the Council of the Province or the General Council in whose name he operates.
3. He must develop an interest in social questions and in solidarity with the poor. He will beware of the excesses of neoliberal capitalism and of the laws of unscrupulous marketing. He knows the social doctrine of the Church and updates himself constantly through appropriate studies.
4. He must always cultivate the attitude of the student because he knows that things continually change in this field, especially in the area of the laws that regulate the patrimony and the workers. Social justice, too, raises many questions that touch the administration of the goods of our Institute.
5. He must be able to conjugate a necessary realism in the management of money with the values that are proper to religious life and the Gospel. In fact, nothing is more concrete than money, and there is nothing that can be more affected by currents of thought or ideologies than economy. The administrator must be able to manage the economy of the Institute on the parameters of social justice, religious poverty and the demands of the mission.
6. He must be able to use discretion and prudence in divulging information relative to the confreres. At the same time, he should be prodigal in sharing, at the interior of the community or Region, the information that helps the community to grow in the sense of co-responsibility, the information that strengthens family ties.
7. The tasks of the administrator are different from those of the superior. The administrator does the things that belong to ordinary administration, the superior and his council authorizes the administrator to do what belongs to extraordinary acts of administration.
Most of what has been said here about the General and Regional Administrator may be said also of Local Administrators. Before beginning working in their job, Regional Administrators will spend an appropriate amount of time with the General Administrator to familiarize themselves with the new technical aspects of administration and with the praxis of our Institute. As much as possible, in a local community the role of superior and administrator should not be held by the same person at the same time. At the regional level, there should be periodical meetings among local administrators to help them perfect their accounting and administrative skills and update themselves on the various aspects of their office.

The Principles that Guide Us
A correct administration of goods cannot be only the fruit of the good will of the one who is called to hold the office of administrator. A sufficient amount of knowledge of the rules that must guide administration must be placed at the disposal of all missionaries, since, to some extent, they are all called to administer. In this area, the subsidies prepared by the General Administrator should be used , as well as other documents available in the Provinces.
Our documents have often expressed the desire that our professed students learn the fundamental notions of our system of accounting and become familiar with the principles that regulate the use and the management of the goods of our Institute. This must now become effective. Let the Regional Administrator provide every year to our students an appropriate course on this matter, after agreement with the people in charge of our formative communities. In this course, the technical notions should be taught, but let the spirit that guides the use of goods in our Institute be largely explained. The students should also be widely informed on the financial situation of the Province, its problems and difficulties included.
The General Administrator is to begin the revision of the Directory for the Administration of Goods, so that it may always better respond to the administrative needs of our times and the new realities of our Institute. A copy of it should be given to every missionary, and explained to each and all.

Some Rules of Good Administration
1. 1. Every true administration begins with an analysis of the balance sheets of the previous year and of the formulation of the estimated budget. Let's not forget that, in order to save money, we can never try to avoid taxes, salaries, social justice...
2. 2. Whoever administers funds or other goods must give an account to the one in charge: The Local Administrator to the Local Superior, the Regional Administrator to the Regional Superior, the General Administrator to the General Superior. Also, the work of each subordinate administration must be submitted for examination and approval to the next administration in the upward-scale. It is also necessary that the competent superior, personally or through others (accounting examiners), make sure that everything is in order, and that each administrative activity was done in a correct way.
3. Every time there is an absolutely necessary extraordinary expense without having the needed funds, and a debt must be incurred, it is necessary to obtain the explicit permission of the competent major superior. While discerning, the following criteria must be followed: The expense must truly be necessary and unpostponable; we must be certain that we will be able to pay back the whole debt; we must not simply trust the word of Benefactors who tell us that they will give the needed sum of money, or the promise that they will get a financial contribution from a public or private entity. One way or another, we suggest that the money be obtained from the regional or general fund rather than from banks.
4. 4. In the case of alienation, acquisition or restructuration of a pretty good amount of real estate, the permission must be obtained from the General Direction. The opinion of experts must also be obtained and the interested community must make a serious discernment. We must also consider the future economic consequences of the act or of the expense that is about to be incurred.
5. Every good administrator thinks not only about the present, about balancing the monthly or annual budget or account, he must also consider the future. At the end of the month or of the year, any surplus must not be spent just like that, but go into the growth of the common goods fund. Acquitting himself of the daily and current affairs should not prevent the good administrator from taking a wider look at the all important businesses that weigh on the community or on the Region.

Self-Sufficiency
Self-sufficiency at the level of the local or regional communities is the objective that must be sought by everybody, even if the many missionary situations do not allow it to be arrived at in an easy way. In many countries, aid from the State is minimal, insignificant even, no social welfare exists, and the aid given to health and school activities is nominal. In many dioceses, the missionaries do not receive any subsidy from the local Church, and the contribution from the Christian communities is very low. Obviously, the Provinces that operate in such circumstances consider self-sufficiency an aim of still-far-away achievement.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, our engagement and good will to render the local communities self-sufficient should never be absent. We give here some suggestions on how to gradually reach such autonomy.
1. As much as possible, ordinary expenses should be covered by local contributions. In the case of extraordinary expenses (buildings, means of transportation, formation houses), outside help may be sought.
2. Whenever possible, local products should be used. No goods should be imported from other countries if they can be found locally.
3. The style of life should be simplified and rendered compatible with the means at our disposal.
4. Before the novitiate, students should contribute, financially too, to their maintenance. Missionaries should try to find scholarships for our students in formation.
5. Let the Provinces, in communion with the General Administration, constitute the Regional Fund, whose interest will aid their self-sufficiency. This fund should not be used for the needs of the Region, only its interests should be used. Although the capital belongs to the Region, its purpose cannot be changed without the permission of the General Council.
6. Let the Provinces study the possibility of realizing projects that will generate income. Thus, dependence from foreign entities will be reduced. However, such projects should be compatible with our missionary work and the style of life of a religious community.
7. Some indispensible steps necessary to reach economic self-sufficiency are: Careful planning of the available resources, adequate preparation of the personnel working in economic services, transparency and information, periodical controlling of economic activities.

Administrative Transparency and Community Information:
These two are elements of fundamental importance in a correct administrative management. They will find their concretization in the following:
- trying to get all the collaboration possible when budgets and projects of a certain importance are elaborated;
- undergoing periodical controls that are accurate and serious, and are prepared by competent persons;
- giving out detailed and exhaustive reports, at the local and regional level, during IMC meetings;
- organizing meetings and courses of economic nature, not only for the administrators but also for the superiors since the latter have responsibility over their respective administrations.

IV. AN ONGOING REFLECTION…

As we have already said at the beginning this document is meant to kick off a continued reflection on the subject by every missionary and by every local community, and by every regional and provincial community. We do hope that it will be a propitious occasion that will touch off in our Institute a candid and sincere dialogue on the matters that are connected with religious poverty. This document is a necessary path to tread, and a necessary condition to reach the objective proposed to us by the XGC. The result of the reflection of each Province, if communicated to the General Direction, could afterwards be shared with the whole Institute, and it would become an ever growing power towards an ever greater inculturation of this value in the diverse contexts in which our Institute operates.
Among us, everyone knows that the theme of poverty, economy and the use of material goods for the mission is a theme that can produce, whenever it is put into practice, a lot of difficulties and misunderstandings among missionaries, especially if they come from different cultural stock. Inculturation is a powerful richness, but it must be conquered, understood, matured by all of us in a slow and gradual process. We must always remind ourselves that no culture can be considered as a defense wall in front of the demands of the radical defenses that our choice of life proposes to us. We know that every culture is called to confront itself, in the daily toil of communication with the confreres, with the fundamental nucleus that is point of reference for all, which is the Gospel and our missionary charism. Only in perfect openness and availability can we extract from the principles exposed in this document the operative choices and the attitudes that must characterize us. They must all be understood in the same mode and with the same strength, but with a sense of personal conviction.
The General Direction wants to organize, towards the end of 2003, a general meeting for Regional Administrators, in order to find the operative options that are most appropriate to the concretization of the directives that were exposed in this document. In this meeting, the members of the General Direction and the members of the General Council of Administration will be present.
We thank the Superiors of the Provinces for their precious contribution to the redaction of this letter. We want to ask them to prepare, in collaboration with all their regional offices, a program that will deepen this theme at the various levels of their own Province. The impact that this document will have on our religious family will much depend on this capillary work that they will be able to accomplish.

V. CONCLUSION

Our Institute has just concluded its centennial celebrations: one hundred years at the service of God and of the mission. With grateful joyous heart, we have sent our thanks to the Lord. We have also expressed our fervent decision to continue, with renewed interest, the journey that is ahead of us. While we look ahead towards the second century of life of our Institute, let us allow the prophetic words of our Founder echo in the heart of each one of us: "It's true, you know, that the whole future of our community depends on the observance of the vow of poverty; when its observance becomes slack, the whole spirit evaporates… I am sure that if our Institute will obey these rules, it will always progress. Woe and alas if the time will come when these regulations will no longer be observed." (Conf III, 9-10). He used to add: "As long as the community stays in the spirit of poverty, it will do a lot of good. Woe and alas, if it fails! When one begins faltering (in this area), everything goes!" (Conf II, 469).
May our Mother Consolata and St. Joseph, who is traditionally venerated in our Institute as the protector of the administrators, bless us an guide us always!
With best wishes and fraternal greetings,

Fr. Piero Trabucco, IMC,
(Father General)
Fr. Anthony Bellagamba, IMC
Fr. Norberto Ribeiro Louro, IMC
Fr. Aquiléo Fiorentini, IMC
Fr. Jean André Benedetti, IMC