2.      Distinction between community and work

The massive insertion of laity in the works of religious is leading to a separation between community and work. The works of the Institute—schools, hospitals, rest homes… more and more resemble places of work and less and less places of residence. Also the necessary remodeling to bring buildings up to code with laws requires a transformation that reduces the family atmosphere in the  environment.

This gives rise to the need to separate the places where the activity is carried on from the living space. The common work moves to second floor (not everyone works in the local ministry or in the same ministry), and it becomes more evident that people are together because they share the same charism (a theological motivation). The community is not “together” only for reasons of work; there is a call to fraternity that precedes and serves as basis for apostolic choices. And it is to this witness that the lay world is particularly attentive today, especially young people who are seeking places where one can find a living space where fraternity reflects transcendent values.

The distinction between work place and house also demands a distinction between a community economy and the ministry economy. The first is changed into a family economy in which all are attentive to expenses and live a type of poverty (essentiality) that characterizes consecrated life. Members also re-assume the everyday services of the house (cleaning, cooking, laundry, maintenance),  earlier assured by the management of the ministry. These are all elements that help a sense of fraternity and belonging to a community which expresses its own richness by living its daily life together, in addition to collaborating in mission and being present in the social and ecclesial world.