Capítulo General 2024

La Grande Bretèche (Tours), 07/18/2024, Sr. Gemma Morató i Sendra and Sr. Conchi García Fernández - www.domipresen.com.- And as is tradition, the day after the Report on the Life of the Congregation, the Economic Report is presented.

We began the day with the Eucharist presided over again by the Dominican, Orlando Rueda, who reminded us that a chapter is like the plow and must turn the soil to be able to sow anew.

Already in the hall, we entrusted ourselves to Marie Poussepin in each one’s language and then an act was approved. We thanked Sister Joanna Fernandes in advance for her arduous work over so many years, her commitment, and her effort for transparency.

In a very visual and pedagogical way, Sister Joanna, with the help of Sister Beatriz Elena García Santa and Sister Margarita Salinas Azañero, to whom she thanks for their support over these years, presents the Report starting from the economy of Francis, which brings life and not death, and we must start from the economy of Saint Dominic, who sold his books for the poor, or Marie Poussepin, who rooted her economic vision in the service of charity.

She asked us if our missions, works, or ministries truly express our charism and if we are aware that service is for the poor, but she also called us to help each other among the structures to share resources and seek solutions.

And she continues presenting us with questions: Is it enough to have a school or a hospital, or should we see how these help the environment, the most vulnerable? It is not just what we have but how we use the goods.

When presenting the Congregation's Economic Affairs Council, she highlighted four documents with which we must work: the one on Stable Patrimony, in which they identified five criteria to evaluate properties: mission, historical value, profitability, maintenance, and legal compliance; the Statute of the Provinces' Economic Affairs Council; the Congregation's policy and the investment policy, based on the document Mensuram Bonam, with all the ethical guidelines based on the Social Doctrine of the Church.

The Congregation’s fund expresses sharing (C 231), the sense of belonging, and solidarity; it was highlighted that COVID greatly affected the fund since evidently, we are part of the world.

The graphs illustrated the entire presentation, clearly situating us in where we stand in the contributions to the Congregation's fund, investments, and the use of the Congregation's fund resources.

Sister Joanna, explaining the visit to the structures, quoted A. Maslow saying that “at any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety,” and that during her visit to the provinces she found that step forward and urged us to share our five loaves and two fish. She balanced the Congregation’s patrimony in the structures and the financial reality of the sisters, as we live from our work, and also reflected on real estate.

She concluded by explaining that she was very aware that this was her last Congregation report, and that in addition to having 15 structures, we have reduced to 9 and this will change the landscape, and finally, she invited us to rediscover a common economic vision for our life, in the style of Marie Poussepin, with simplicity, work, and poverty.

Thank you, Sister Joanna, for these years dedicated to the economy and for making us understand what the economy means in the Congregation!

The afternoon was dedicated to the presentation of what Stable Patrimony is by Sister Joanna and Sister Beatriz Elena. How is it objectively analyzed which assets are stable patrimony? they asked us and clearly and extensively explained the previously pointed out criteria, which will continue to be studied and will soon begin to be tested through some forms to see if they really help us discern the stable patrimony of each structure.

We continued the chapter task with the election of the president - Sister Herminia Rincón Marín -, secretaries, and scrutineers for the election of the superior general and then we met in commissions to continue delving into the work for the modification of the Constitutions that the entire Congregation previously worked on, to then do the sharing.

Video of the day