Administration: transparency and evangelical orientation

21. Economy and good management are important services in our Institute. Thriftiness is part of the fabric of our lives. That's the way it is - no getting around it, only to see how we can approach this reality. The way we view money and the building up of financial resources has evolved in the religious life. Marcellin manufactured nails and had looms for weaving. Today, our material well-being is likely to depend upon salaries and other means provided by society.

Accounting methods are written into the laws of each country, conditioned in part by financial systems and institutions. But above and beyond legal considerations and those of the marketplace, we have Gospel values and ideals, as well as the guidelines of our own documents. Certainly we need to be in compliance with civil laws in any given country, but not beholden to pressures and arbitrary rules dished out by banking institutions, marketers, and consumer groups.

We really have to keep our distance in this regard because, though our structures may be similar to these kinds of enterprises in some ways, the means and ends of religious institutions are markedly different from them. We are not about amassing a financial fortune. What we're interested in is using money well, being aboveboard and managing it wisely, and above all, placing it at the service of spreading the Gospel in accordance with our very own Marist charism. And this obliges us to uncover and eliminate conditions that are debasing our administrative system. We must find new methods for making the administration of our material goods more in tune with Gospel priorities.

Sharing our mission is requiring us to organize and separate the accounts and legal responsibilities of our religious communities from those of our apostolates. A lack of clarity in this regard makes it difficult for families and co-workers to understand how we manage our financial affairs, creating a certain mystery about the fees we charge and where the money ends up. Sharing our mission means that we also need to provide clear and transparent information. In this regard, as Brothers, we can and must set standards and adhere to Provincial guidelines even if we don't have specific administrative responsibilities.