Material goods in service to the lives of the Brothers

8. Our lifestyle: The location of our communities and resources. In general our communities have been closely tied to the work that they were doing, with a preference for the field of education at the primary, secondary, and university levels. No distinction was made between sites and facilities intended for the Community and those of the school involved. Often enough they depended on the same services. It never dawned on anyone to make a distinction between expenses originating in the religious community and those resulting from the community as a teaching staff.

This being the case, as our schools and installations changed, facing growing demands to upgrade in size and quality, so did the style of housing for our Brothers. In many cases, especially in the early stages of a school's development, these changes did not rupture the simple lifestyle in our homes. In fact, on some occasions in very poor areas, such changes left the Brothers with living conditions similar to that of our early Brothers. However, one cannot say the same today, and it seems to me that we need to examine and take action on this point, because I think it is having a profound effect on the way we are living out our religious consecration today.

Our possessions are meant to express who we are and claim to be. And so the relationship between our preferred means and ends is not an inconsequential one, and it merits serious thought and discernment. Other factors that we ought to take a good hard look at include the location of our education centers, the proximity of many of our residences to such centers, the social and economic standing of the neighborhoods in which we live, and the way in which we are obliged to meet legal requirements for maintaining the quality of our educational establishments.

In certain countries, the high income that Brothers earn as teachers is problematical for the practice of our simple and moderate lifestyle. Communities having Brothers who bring home big paychecks can run into trouble when it comes to realistically maintaining their choice to lead a simple lifestyle.

Separating elements of financial management. Today the tendency is to clearly separate the financing and budgeting of costs for the Brothers on the one hand, and for our educational and apostolic works on the other. In many cases this is already being fully implemented, albeit for a variety of reasons. Likewise, there is a clearer separation of sites and services.

This separation of locations and administrative systems can and should favor courageous decisions about the way we use money as individuals and communities, notwithstanding possible pressures to enhance the quality of our educational services. This approach would allow us to lead lives more in keeping with our customary statements about simplicity, witness, and solidarity.

Our calling to lead an unpretentious and prophetic way of life. We still have not positioned ourselves to interact in a prophetic way with the freewheeling economy and consumerism holding sway in today's world. This kind of economy can seep into the fabric of our personal and communal lives, as when we opt for top-of-the-line goods and services, upscale cars, expensive hobbies, and living standards associated with prosperous schools adjacent to our communities. It can also lead us to value people more for what they possess than for who they are. By taking a prophetic stance, the religious life will experience the loss of power, influence, and prestige, but it will find these losses more than offset when it proclaims its uplifting call to life and hope.

In your Province, in what aspects of the Brothers' personal and community lives do you see this prophetic option most clearly revealed? What aspects tend to conceal its appearance?