In the social apostolate the institutional form or set-up varies a great deal from work to work. This variety is reflected in the different names used — apostolic community or apostolic team, centre, institute, project or working group — and the very different types and levels of activities undertaken: accompaniment, research, grass-roots work, development, writing, popular movements, advocacy. Working together in such activities are Jesuits, other religious, professionals, support staff, volunteers and perhaps others, in varied and complementary roles.

What basically unites all these people is the daily work. This depends on some form of organisation, which can be simple or sophisticated depending on the history and circumstances of the project. Organisation — whether of a tiny project or of a multi-purpose centre — includes the distribution of tasks, the efficient use of human and material resources. It may also include planning, sharing social analysis, evaluation, coordinated research and action. These aspects do much to develop the staff and form a team.

Working as a Jesuit apostolic team includes good organisation but also goes deeper. It becomes really possible if each member occasionally shares with the others at the level of beliefs, hopes and values. In the sharing, each person's vocation becomes manifest in its integrity. As competence, dedication, energy, affection and good humour come together, the team gains in substance, spirit and identity.

Teamwork, not only an internal matter, is a significant form of witness. What we do together and how we do it together give more credible testimony than words alone to what we believe in, hope for and work for. Our teamwork is not just efficient and productive but, with our faith and hope shining through, effective in service and social change.
 

Þ On-going Tensions (4.2)

Relationships of openness and trust Every culture has preferred ways of organising work. While each group can probably learn, inter-culturally, from approaches used elsewhere in the social apostolate, there is no question of imposing a single way of working together. The purpose here is to help discover what might be done to strengthen teamwork, and the present reflection must be adapted with sensitivity to the local situation. To encourage and develop teamwork, the following are usually helpful: · formation of staff · clarity of roles and goals · giving/taking appropriate responsibility · conflict resolution in a culturally appropriate manner · leadership which listens to the members and cares for them · proper structures of accountability for both staff and leaders

We participants were drawn from all walks of life within the Society: old and young; various nationalities, experiences, professions, status, language. But amazingly we were able to communicate and listen to one another without any form of discrimination or complex. It reminded me of stories of the first Pentecost! This was the Society of Jesus I wanted to join, live and die in when I freely became a member several years ago. (Joakim Mtima Chisemphere at Naples)

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The fundamental bases on which as staff we want to work with one another are relationships of openness and trust, with a high degree of consultation, dialogue and involvement in decision-making.

Listening is always at the origin of working together! Listening may be a human gift which some have more than others, but everyone can probably learn it. It begins with taking time rather than being too busy, and giving full attention to the one speaking. To listen is to let go of one's own task, role or expertise, to set fears and frustrations aside, and to look beyond the first meaning (often the cause of misunderstanding) for the experience and real intent behind the other's words. Be more eager to put a good interpretation on another's statement than to condemn it, advises St. Ignatius at the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, and presuppose that the other person is doing the same.

Lack of listening may not be the root of all staff problems, but without good listening teamwork is surely impossible.
 

We make up work teams with other persons: inter-disciplinary teams which seriously face the challenges of our time, requiring creativity and a critical attitude with sensitivity to the life of the people whom they accompany and from whom they learn; teams open to regional, national and world realities, motivated to establish relationships with other teams, accomplishing professional work motivated by the following of Jesus. (Latin America)

Each one needs to try to listen, but as a group it is also important to clear some space and set aside time to speak together, sort out our disagreements, clarify our misunderstandings, and develop a common language for communicating with ease and security. These are skills which an outside facilitator may help us to learn. Good communication allows us to put important things "on the table" for discussion, and this mutuality and transparency are the basis for teamwork and participation in decision-making. To find the right points and an appropriate way to discuss them is probably the role of leadership. Everything is not equally or identically discussable by everyone. Hopefully every Jesuit social apostolate, from a simple group or collective to an articulated institution, can become a team or include teamwork in this full sense.

Styles of Working

Considering a Jesuit social project, here are some "types" which, when put together, show the variety of persons involved:
 

status Jesuit other religious person with family single

work administration programme support ad omnia

category professional support staff intern/trainee volunteer

origin local national from another country of a different culture

Such combinations of types usually produce a rich complementarity, but they can also sometimes lead to friction. For example, professional staff vs support staff vs volunteers; those who earn

Teamwork - pg - 49 -

more vs those who earn less vs those who do not earn; those with families vs single people vs Jesuits.

Besides persons, a style also colours the whole work. Within a project, relationships can be quite informal, the tasks distributed flexibly, and leadership exercised in an inspirational or charismatic way. Everyone appreciates an esprit de corps which motivates and supports the members and which communicates the intrinsic worth of the project to others who, in turn, are attracted as volunteers. However, a charismatic or informal style may prove inefficient in the use of resources, reluctant to adapt to new challenges, awkward in integrating new staff. The leadership, if dominated by personality, may not allow the members their proper autonomy and responsibility within the organisation.

The social apostolate also uses an institutional or professional style which puts the premium on competence. Instead of being informal, roles and functions are differentiated. Here we find features like clear distribution of tasks, lines of authority, areas of responsibility, planning and management, contracts between employer and employee, fair scales of pay and benefits. Such conditions help make sustained teamwork possible. The work is seen to be of good quality, and this generates confidence and support from the public and the Church. An institutional style can also suffer, especially if the centre or institution grows too large, inaccessible to the poor and bureaucratic in dealing with people. Attachment to jobs or professionalism in the pejorative sense can replace dedication to the work of service. Once rigidity sets in, the institutional style becomes difficult to renew.

Each project is a particular mix or permutation of informal, inspirational, institutional and professional elements. For it to work well, the complementary roles and contributions of support staff, professionals and leadership need to be appreciated. The combinations, in reality, are not always easy — if a project becomes so professionalised that the volunteers get squeezed out; if a volunteer working out of free personal commitment misjudges an employee doing a paid job; if an inadequate salary scale makes it impossible for people to continue when married; if leadership is heavy-handed; if administration becomes bureaucratic.
 

Some shortcomings are inevitable, but a Jesuit social project can also sin through authoritarianism or clericalism, through discrimination against minorities and in particular against women, through systematic under-appreciation of the worth and dignity of certain persons on staff. Our mission to promote the justice of God's kingdom behooves us to face such sins and make every effort to reform, even at great expense or pain. Teamwork does not mean that everyone gets involved in everything, but that the various contributions come together. For this it is important that a team really have coordination, not only in action but also at the level of research and reflection, where the great challenge of developing effective interdisciplinary teamwork awaits us.

Partnership of the laity in social apostolate is a significant phenomenon for us today. Lay men and women can often be true witnesses of the mission. Hence, it is expected that they are enabled to identify themselves with the mission, and participate in greater measure in the decision processes. The question is: To what extent have they experienced this identification and participation?  (Naples Congress)

Pg - 50 - Promoting the work — Teamwork 3.6

Finally, rather than types or styles, it is people who make up a team, and we know it works when we perceive spontaneity, generosity, clarity, gratuity, security, dedication, effectiveness, simplicity. Are these present in our work?

 Jesuit-lay collaboration

Each role or category — employer, employee, professional, support staff, full-timer, intern, volunteer — can be filled by a Jesuit, other religious, single person or someone with a family. Fundamentally, each group needs to understand and appreciate the strengths and constraints typical of the others.

Lay people have much to offer, including occupations or professions which are essential for bringing greater justice to society and culture. At the same time, lay people have needs in terms of income, commitments to family, professional development, job security, social life.

Jesuits and members of other religious congregations offer their personal and professional competence, often shaped by their religious formation; they bring their special links with the Church; they can share their spiritual heritage and a style of leadership which makes possible the work of others. They also have needs and constraints typical of community life, the availability which obedience requires, commitments to the Society or Congregation.

Mutual understanding and respect, therefore, are indispensable: a real appreciation of the dignity, equality and difference in the lay and Jesuit vocations, and a readiness to recognise the gifts, needs and sensitivities typical of each group.

In the social apostolate there is a great variety of working relationships between Jesuits and non-Jesuits. Focusing mainly on projects or institutions which the Society sponsors and directs, the Jesuits owe it to our co-workers to give a clear and transparent account of our aim and purpose. A work for which the Society takes ultimate responsibility "must be guided by a clear mission statement which outlines the purposes of the work and forms the basis for collaboration in it. This mission statement should be presented and clearly explained to those with whom we cooperate" (GC34, d.13, n.12). A Jesuit in a non-Jesuit work like a trade union, popular movement or UN research centre has the opportunity to share with others what we are trying to do in the social apostolate (n.14).

Moreover, we Jesuits may give testimony, in word and deed, in freedom and vulnerability, of our life as followers of Christ in the Society of Jesus. Some will resonate with this testimony. Christian colleagues of an Ignatian formation and spirituality join in implementing our mission. Þ Origin (1.) — Vision (5.)

Religious of other congregations and other Christians are similarly invited to express the faith as followers of Jesus Christ and members of his Church and the spirituality which motivates their social justice work. Those of other faiths and spiritualities are welcome to do the same, and secular-minded colleagues to share their important human and cultural values.

There are fears and hesitations which might block this deeper communication. Earlier sins of intolerance or proselytism; a false respect for the sensitivities of our colleagues be they Christians, of another faith or of none; the implied or express rejection by others of Christian
 

Some co-workers have roots in social action, in the parliament of the streets. Some come from a faith (although not necessarily Church) premise. Others come from a secularist-humanist concern for justice and now search for transcendent foundations of their social action. For some, it is mainly a job, and so the need for clear terms, conditions, job description, staff appraisal. (East Asia)

faith, the Church or Ignatian spirituality — any of these may discourage Jesuits from trying to communicate our deepest inspiration. It is up to us to find an appropriate, transparent manner of doing so. At the same time, since it is the Jesuit social apostolate we are working in, the tradition and full reality of the Society of Jesus constitute an important "given." Without imposing, they establish a realm of meaning and discourse with both content and limits, so that religious, moral and spiritual issues are not simply up for open-ended debate. Þ Religious Reading (3.5)

Although there is a risk of sharp disagreements and even conflict, and although there are situations where silence is the appropriate respectful attitude, a taboo should not be allowed to cover all such issues. We have much to learn from the variety of one another's humanism, social vision, faith and spirituality.

Formation

All staff should have the chance to avail themselves of opportunities to increase their competence, through informal training as well as formal education.

The Jesuits, as sponsors of the social project, should inform the staff about the Province and the Society, share relevant materials such as decrees of recent General Congregations or certain letters of Father General, and offer those who are interested an on-going formation in Ignatian spirituality. In addition, just as we Jesuits want to share our vision and spirituality, we also have much to learn from others and are happy to.

The Ignatian charism would have us find God in all things, and the Jesuit charism would embody this mysticism in a concrete work. It is in this spirit that each social project or centre would like to have bonds of friendship and kindred spirits and a real working community.

Pg - 52 - Teamwork 3.6

1. Which aspects of an institutional, professional model and which of an inspirational, informal one are found in our centre or project? What would help us work more as a team?

2. How are characteristics, vision and mission to be discussed between Jesuits and colleagues? Are there opportunities for sharing and formation?

3. How are authority, decision making and accountability exercised and shared?

4. What is the identity of the project: Jesuit, Ignatian, Christian, independent, non-confessional, secular? How does this identity shape relationships between Jesuits and non-Jesuits on the staff?
 

3.7 Cooperation and Networking

Cooperation and networking of all types probably represent an authentic sign of the times in the sense meant by Vatican II: something new emerging simultaneously in different places, something both challenging and promising in the light of the Gospel.

The poverty, suffering, exclusion, injustice and violence we deal with are enough to overwhelm even the most dedicated or sophisticated project of the social apostolate. Therefore our projects and ministries must work with others. We pool our creativity, intelligence and strengths with those of others to face problems of great scale and complexity; and our cooperation itself is a significant witness to the solidarity and justice that we believe in, hope for, work for.

A great deal of cooperation in the promotion of justice is already underway, and some efforts have been very effective. We want to learn from these and reinforce them. At the same time, networking as an approach to social injustice is relatively new and sometimes quite difficult in practice, and we want to be realistic in facing the problems and resistance.

This chapter considers cooperation within the social sector in each Province and Assistancy; cooperation with Jesuits and colleagues in other sectors; and cooperation with other social centres, projects, organisations and movements at every level. In each case, we will try to discover what might be done to enhance both our cooperation within the social apostolate and our contribution to networking with others, to promote the justice of the Kingdom.

Sectoral cooperation Þ The Jesuit body (3.10)

Within the social apostolate, we look back over several decades of much creativity, deep fidelity, fraternity and cooperation. We also notice the vigorous spirit with which strong positions were taken, which sometimes made it difficult to step back and find the distance to listen to one another. We realize that a passionate and prophetic commitment to a social cause should not exclude listening to others. When it does, those who do not listen eventually become isolated, and the net result is to weaken the social apostolate, that is, our corporate response to poverty, suffering and injustice.

Lack of listening and non-cooperation are serious defects and not without their irony. Those who know us are often struck by the strong ties among Jesuits generated by our common spirituality and tradition and nurtured through a long course of formation. Logically, these fraternal links as Jesuit companions should translate into an extensive and effective web of contacts among all sorts of Jesuit efforts and projects. Fine long-running examples of such cooperation already exist.

Among the many factors which contribute to the life of the social sector in each Province, we may distinguish two kinds of cooperation, one based on the issues and the other accenting the approach or disciplines we use.

The issues themselves can bring together social apostolate projects of similar kinds within a Province or in different Provinces. For example, those who are dealing with unemployment, homelessness, drugs, urban youth, human rights, have much experience worth sharing — at least for the sake of learning and mutual support, but perhaps also to help one another, coordinate efforts, join forces. This can only enhance the justice which each effort is striving for in its own way, while at the same time strengthening the social sector we belong to.

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Some Jesuit projects are networking with their counterparts in other Provinces, for example, Jesuit Volunteer programmes, Jesuit social scientists in Europe, prison chaplains in North America, ministry among indigenous peoples or the urban poor in Latin America.

The other characteristic form of working together is between different disciplines and levels. The cheerful image evoked at the Naples Congress of "head" linked with "feet" is in fact a very high and very promising ideal. It means connecting direct and organisational involvement among the poor, reading of and research into social reality, and action on culture and structures.

Þ On-going Tensions (4.2)

Even within an individual Jesuit or lay colleague, "head" and "feet" can exist as a healthy tension: a Jesuit inserted among the poor who works as a competent social scientist, or a social researcher who is directly involved with the poor.
 

Such personal integration contributes to the still greater challenge of developing working relationships at the Province, Assistancy and Society levels. Thus, individuals involved in Jesuit projects and centres at a geographical and social distance from one another exchange experience and insight, not as fmished results but as complementary inputs into an on-going common effort. Social research centres and centres for faith and new points of contact with other types and levels of social action.  "Head" and "feet" learning to work together, besides giving fresh impetus to the social apostolate, may allow us to take up a fundamental challenge in our field. Socio-cultural reality is so complex that no social science by itself, nor the social sciences put together, nor even a broad practical approach like "Human Development" put forward by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a promising method for comprehending it. Action and reflection in the social area need to be connected on a new basis. The basis could be habitual collaboration between some who reflect critically on social issues and formulate theories, and others who work actively in the field.

A central strategy of much Jesuit social ministry involves strengthening local communities, encouraging participation in community building, and culture, whether free-standing or based at universities, find developing local connections to wider social resources and networks. Usually such social ministry is highly collaborative, with Jesuits working side by side with lay men and women, members of other religious com munities and other local organizations. (United States)

Each may profit from the experience and insight of the other: the theoreticians in closer touch with lived problems of poverty and injustice, the practitioners absorbing perspectives of analysis which give quality to the direct, developmental or organisational assistance which they offer, and both as they make their impact in the public sphere.

Cooperation involves more than merely juxtaposing the current methodologies of analysis or critical reading with fieldwork as currently practised. Rather than just hope that something interesting might emerge, we can learn to combine the typically isolated enterprises of "head" and "feet" into an integrated approach to social reality bringing direct experience, social sciences, philosophy and theology together. The task is to forge a valid inter-disciplinary approach for the sake of greater justice, and the Jesuit social apostolate is perhaps uniquely placed to take up the challenge.

Cooperation and Networking - pg - 55 -

Instead of lamenting the individualism and fragmentation typical of our day, we can learn to combine "head" and "feet" within a shared mission on a worldwide basis, maybe a unique chance to find new intellectual and practical methods for the promotion of justice.

Cooperation with other Jesuits and colleagues

The social apostolate has much to learn and receive from other apostolic sectors and also much to offer to the rest of the Province: to other ministries, formation, community life, vocation promotion and volunteer programmes. The Social Apostolate Initiative is meant to facilitate better communication, interchange and mutual support between the social sector and the rest of the Province. Þ The Social Apostolate Initiative (Appendix B.)

But given the sometimes difficult history we have travelled (some of whose consequences are still with us), what is the best way to foster such cooperation?

One option is for the social sector to wait until others approach us and ask for information or suggestions. For example, a Jesuit finds himself distant from the poor and asks for ideas about living or working in a more inserted manner; or a Jesuit community wishes to draw nearer to the poor and asks for suggestions on how to exercise effective solidarity.

Another option is for members of this apostolate, avoiding blanket criticisms or general advice, to propose specific occasions for cooperation. Thus, Jesuits working in the social sector could approach a Jesuit school of business administration to develop appropriate accounting techniques; develop techniques of reflection on social experiences for candidates, novices, high school or university students; ask a media Jesuit to make video available as a tool for work on social issues in a poor neighbourhood; approach retired Jesuits who may be willing to tutor kids in difficulty or visit with MDS sufferers or homeless people; or ask Jesuits in the infirmary to pray for suffering or despairing persons.

Cooperation is so important that it is worth preparing carefully. The social sector, for its part, is taking time during the current Initiative to clarify its purpose and discourse, a positive step towards working effectively with other sectors which have a long and steady apostolic history.

The open possibilities for communication with fax and electronic mail allow Jesuits to work together internationally in the area of social justice. Examples include:

· the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the campaign against landmines;
· Jesuits for Debt Relief and Development (JDRAD) on the cancellation of the external debt crushing very poor countries;
· International Population Concerns (IPC) on demography and poverty;
· the consult on globalisation based at the Woodstock Center in the United States;
· the electronic-mail list, called "sj social," for discussion of justice issues and the exchange of information.
Þ Resources (Appendix D.)

There are many issues such as environmental protection and the reform of international institutions on which we could work together internationally. GC34 recommends international work with communities of solidarity in supporting the full range of human rights (d.3, n.6).

Pg - 56 - Promoting the work

Cooperation with others
 

Those with whom we cooperate may be individuals, groups and organisations, public entities (municipal, state and national levels), the Church, intergovernmental bodies. The types of cooperation include exchange of information or joint work on specific issues, involvement in coalitions and participation in networks.  Cooperation takes place on all levels from local through regional to international, with at times complex inter-relationships running through different levels of a single problem. GC34 strongly encouraged regional and worldwide cooperation:

In many respects, the future of international cooperation remains largely uncharted. With creative imagination, openness and humility, we must be ready to cooperate with all those working for the integral development and liberation of people. (GC34)

While the work or issue brings us together, experience shows that it may be easier to unite against than it is to agree on what alternative or change to work for. Moreover, are there values which prove incompatible, or is the issue itself enough to render all differences "indifferent"? It may be necessary, though painful, to take a stand on issues of life, arms or non-violence, ethical issues like plagiarism or defamation, or social issues like ethnic chauvinism or religious bigotry -even at the risk of weakening or leaving a coalition.

The impulse to cooperate comes from the experience of the complexity of social issues in a "globalising" world and the relative powerlessness of each individual effort. Successive technologies (telex, fax, e-mail) make networking ever more possible and inexpensive. A proposal to set up a network usually meets with initial enthusiasm, but unless the network's purpose and rules are clear, however, those enlisted are unlikely to make use of it. Effective networking, like any other social project, requires good planning, leadership, discipline and resources. A network can serve quite different, related or overlapping purposes: urgent action, exchange of "hard" information, exchange of "soft" news, cooperation on a common project, advocacy or lobbying, monitoring public or global institutions (the national government, the United Nations) or participating in a special event like the Rio, Copenhagen or Beijing conference.

Cooperation and Networking - pg -57 -
 

In the process of cooperation at whatever level, working with others to have an effect on society, differences that used to put distance and even opposition between groups, prove interesting and even complementary resources. If cooperation is a real priority, then our social project or centre invests time and human and material resources in cooperation and develops a work agenda in common with other groups.  A real commitment to cooperation, which often means sacrificing one's own preferences or immediate interests, shows that we do not consider ourselves or our project the sole or entire solution. On the contrary, we happily acknowledge complexity, diversity and pluralism, and we affirm cooperation itself as a positive value — for its efficiency and for its cultural and evangelical effectiveness. It is an important sign of the times and an expressive witness to the kind of world we hope and work for.

We try to live the principles of a future society to which we contribute with the work we do, such as: respect for personal freedom, solidarity, pluralism, commitment to justice, fraternity and democracy in decision-making. (Latin America)

 1. Are there examples of cooperation in this Province between individuals or works in the social sector and individuals or works in other apostolic sectors. How might such cooperation develop?

2. What are some successful examples of local cooperation and broader networking that you know of? Are there some unhappy ones? What factors have significantly contributed to or worked against the success of these efforts?

3. What values do cooperation and networking both realize and project? What are the strengths and weaknesses of technologies like fax, e-mail, the Internet, the World Wide Web? In what ways has technology facilitated networking and promoted justice?

3.8 Planning and Evaluation - pg - 59 -

In every Jesuit social project, a constant exchange of information, impressions and new ideas is going on, and so planning and evaluation are always taking place: informally and implicitly in the midst of the work; in routine meetings and tasks which make up our working together; and in occasional, more or less formal procedures.

Evaluation examines what we set out to do, how we implemented our programme of research and action, what has been achieved. Planning, having gathered the relevant factors, proposes new approaches to achieving what we earlier set out to do or, more profoundly, formulates new objectives.

There is much overlap: evaluation tends to look back for the sake of the work in future, while planning looks forward on the basis of assessing the relevant factors both in the field and within the project. All planning involves some evaluation, and all evaluation has implications for planning.

A great deal of know-how concerning evaluation and planning is available from manuals, experienced facilitators and staff members of other social justice and Church groups. The present chapter — not a full treatment in itself — helps to identify the steps or resources that might be needed. Discernment, which marks all our evaluation and planning but cannot be reduced to these, characterizes the entire social apostolate and is treated separately in chapter 4.1.

Beginning with the evaluation and planning already going on, we review the features of the process, consider the components of our social apostolate being evaluated and planned, and conclude with larger themes our planning and evaluation raise.

Informal, regular and formal occasions

In the daily flow of work, staff members constantly meet and ask one another: "How are things going? What's new? Has something gone awry? What are you doing next?" This informal interchange, with its typical asking, recounting, probing and verifying, willy nilly includes elements of planning and evaluation.

Things may generally be going well — everyone on staff busy, much output and outreach, many needs being met, donors sending support. However, these facts (or impressions!) do not render superfluous a deliberate effort to examine our activities and programmes.

Many Jesuit working groups regularly set aside some time (a morning, a day, a weekend) to report on activities, bring everyone up to date, take stock and make suggestions. More explicit evaluation and planning are usually involved when hiring staff, redistributing tasks, finishing up a project, taking up new work, applying for funds, writing a report, budgeting for the coming year. Informal evaluation may lead to an improvement in how things are done.

Those unfamiliar with good process may resist planning and evaluation as pretexts for intrusion and inspection or simply as a waste of time. There is also the fear of changes that might result or the opposite fear that a congratulatory rather than self-critical exercise will paper over what is really amiss. Despite these fears, evaluating and planning, competently undertaken and followed through, bring many essential benefits.

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Prom time to time, a Jesuit social centre or project may deliberately undertake a formal process of evaluation and planning. There are a number of valid reasons that motivate a social work to take stock formally and set goals and objectives for the future:

· Significant changes occur among the people served or the issues worked on.
· External demands seem to overwhelm all plans and determine priorities, and staff members feel overloaded.
· The people we work with or the groups we collaborate with suggest new directions.
· The work seems to lack focus or the results leave us dissatisfied.
· The staff faces an important transition such as finding a successor to the founding director.
· A funding agency requires a full report.
· The Province apostolic plan requests an account of the ministry.

In the following, it helps to choose either evaluation or planning as the focus for reflection and to keep a specific social centre, work or community in mind. The concerns also apply, in different ways, to the whole social sector in a Province and may usefully be taken up by the social commission or by coordinators meeting at the Assistancy level. If a point seems too obvious to be worth mentioning, please remember that in another project or Province, or in this project or Province at another time, the same point may be very relevant.
 

Ingredients

Planning and evaluation — whether a one-off meeting, a regular series, or a formal process -themselves need to be reviewed, to see if they are well-designed and running well. The purpose here is to look over some basic elements that are usually involved, to see which weak or missing ones are subject to improvement.

Planning and evaluation are shaped by those who commission the exercise, those who design and conduct it, and those who participate in it. Evaluation may be commissioned by the project or centre itself (either the leadership or the whole group), by funding agencies, by the sponsoring Province.

An external evaluation is designed and conducted by outsiders, with more or less involvement of the staff. When a problem runs very deep, for example, the leadership or the whole staff is in crisis, then evaluation generally needs to be external if it is to be credible and effective.

An internal evaluation is designed and conducted by the centre or project itself and is, in this sense, a self-evaluation, while planning is by nature internal. Both can benefit from the expert and dis-interested help offered by facilitators (design, group dynamics) or technical consultants (financial auditing, statistical sampling).

Experience shows that whether evaluation is internal or external, participation is most important. The active participants may be the leadership or administration, or the professional staff, or the whole staff. An evaluation involving as many of those engaged in the work as possible gives better findings and makes the implementation of recommendations or planning much easier. Beneficiaries of our services, groups we collaborate with, NGOs or public agencies, funders and Church representatives may also be invited to participate.

Planning and Evaluation - pg - 61 -

A second concern is the design of the evaluation or planning. It is essential to define the purpose or objectives as precisely as possible. What needs exactly are to be met? What are the most important questions to be answered? If the questions are about success or failure, how are these terms defined, and who (external evaluators, leadership, professionals, staff) establish the criteria? How are the constraints that establish the limits of the project's viability to be found and faced? Does our socio-cultural analysis inform our planning and evaluation?

A third set of issues may be found in the method or style. For example, a different approach is used to prepare a year's work than to review the overall mission. It is important to establish an appropriate calendar: a hasty process risks superficiality, a prolonged one may drag down all the other activities. Another aspect is the level or scope: can the problems that are identified be solved on their own or do they point to a deeper malaise?  A final set of questions about the outcome needs to be faced at the beginning. What are the hoped for results? What is the range of possible changes? Being ready to draw the fruit from evaluation or foreseeing how planning will be implemented help to keep the process honest and modest, feasible and focused, and are convincing pledges of its seriousness.

Let us develop methods and techniques of planning which arise from a reading of social reality in which we are inserted, a reading from the perspective of the poor and constantly up-dated by the frequent practice of social analysis. (Latin America)

Components of our work

We now look at what is being evaluated and planned: Which components — whether of a whole centre or work, a single department, or a particular programme — are going well? Is something needed to maintain them? Are they worth strengthening? Is a component overlooked or neglected and, if so, how can it be brought in?

As all our work is finally for and with others, the first questions may well have to do with efficacy and impact: how the work or centre meets the real needs of people in society and the Church. We need to look at the results — admittedly hard to appreciate, much less quantify -and ask whether they are what earlier planning would lead us to expect. Are they in harmony with our mission? Are they sufficient? Are they unexpected? Our research and writing may "produce" useful things, but do these get out and reach people? We may do good workshops and communicate effectively, but does sufficient research support the activities?

Intrinsic to the work of our project or centre is its "reading" of society. Despite our good reputation in this area, as a staff we might rarely share our analysis with one another, much less verify if it has become routine or is really perceptive of new problems emerging and responsive to change. Is our analysis precise, and adequate to the complexities?

Our social, cultural, evangelical effectiveness depends very much on how staff members work together. Appropriate levels of openness and participation are important. Evaluation and planning can look at what really gets put in common on the table, and whether we make use of opportunities for constructive criticism or tend to avoid them. Cliques or divisions, individualism, careerism and neglect of coordination are obstacles to teamwork. Evaluation and planning are opportunities for a team to coalesce and take active responsibility for its work.

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It seems that our approach to social analysis up to now has often been too narrow, focusing on the economic dimension to the neglect of the cultural, spiritual and ecological aspects. Such a fundamental question is very much the "business" of an evaluation. (Africa)

Since so much depends on collaboration, we might evaluate our links with sister groups and consult some of them in our planning. Otherwise we run the typical danger of appearing too busy or independent to cooperate with others.  Without reducing everything to professionalism, we want to employ professional and intellectual skills in all our social ministry. Is the work well set up, efficiently run, productive? Is creativity encouraged? Does the outcome of the project warrant the human, financial and material resources employed?

Given the undertaking, are these insufficient? Given the resources, are the expectations realistic or not? Is the work cost-effective and sustainable and can it be replicated? To ask if we should cut back, change focus or wind down may seem threatening since a work, once institutionalised, operates on the presumption that it will carry on and usually grow.
 

The way in which decisions are reached is another area to be examined. Is there incisive evaluation and proactive planning? This area also involves looking at the way in which leadership contributes to the life of the team and the quality of the ministry. Does it find a balance between authoritarian excess and the anarchy of everyone deciding everything?  The needs are usually enormous and endless, and the work done obviously relevant. But is it well thought out? Is this the best way of running it? For example, does the technology we use show simplicity? Does it enhance both productivity and the service of justice? Or does it distance us from sister groups and the people we serve? The material, financial, infrastructural means used also need to be examined to see whether they are effective, in harmony with local culture, and of some witness value.

Very significant Social Apostolate works are frequently developed by talented and hard working Jesuits who do not involve themselves in a team approach. Their efforts are highly personalised in planning administration, fund raising, and evaluation. Often they bear only a tenuous relationship to the local province or region not being a corporate apostolate. Younger Jesuits are not encouraged to be involved in the work nor adequately prepared to take over responsibilities for it. As a consequence the work may simply die out when the Jesuit dies or leaves the area. (Africa)

Finally, how does the particular centre or project participate in the social sector of the Province, and how does the Province exercise care for the work? Are young members of the Province familiar with and supportive of the project, and do some of them foresee being involved in future? Or is the work, even though located within the Province territory, not a "corporate apostolate" but outside the social sector and the Province mission? If so, what might be done to bridge these gaps?

Planning and evaluation, in the spirit of Characteristics, involve looking for the questions which cannot not be asked. Sometimes, for both objective and emotional reasons, these questions are difficult to find and raise. It is also difficult for a group to be self-critical and face change. Despite obstacles and resistance, though, we should find which steps (few or many, big or small)

Planning and Evaluation - pg - 63 -
 

are needed in this particular work or social sector at this time: the grace to see, and the strength to do.  Themes for reflection Planning and evaluating sometimes uncover broad, deep themes worth thinking over in our work and also in our community life. The Jesuit social apostolate does not invent its own mission but receives it from the Society of Jesus: to bring the faith and justice of the Gospel to society and culture. Each work, project, centre or community implements mission and in turn contributes to the whole sector and the overall Province mission.

Jesuit institutions can use the following means to help in implementing our mission: institutional evaluation of the role they play in society; examination of whether the institution's own internal structures and policies reflect our mission; collaboration and exchange with similar institutions in diverse social and cultural contexts; continuing formation of personnel regarding mission. (GC 34)

Do our work and way of life fulfil the mission integrally or — as is sometimes the case — do they respond to motivations which are intellectual, ideological or psychological in nature?

To work well requires organizational efficiency and professional competence, and in vital tension with these are Gospel values of charity, forgiveness, gratuity and reconciliation. At the same time, the Gospel is no substitute for competence and organization, no excuse for complacency or sloppiness. Effectiveness in service of the poor is not identical with, but mysteriously greater than, "bottom line" efficiency according to the dominant system.

Seeking to promote the justice of the Kingdom, it is not easy to evaluate the fruits. Some results are perceivable and objectively appreciable, but many others — connected with people's conversion and social transformation — are invisible yet very real, with direct or indirect effects on individuals and communities, culture and structures.

Differentiating between success and failure — real, apparent, short-term and long-term — is a matter of the criteria that are obeyed in practice. Does what we do and live translate our mission into reality and convey our vision to others, or do these ideals actually get reduced to the tasks that take up all our time? Our day-to-day practice communicates unerringly, far more accurately than words, the values we really embrace.
 

Pg - 64 - Promoting the work — Planning and Evaluation

Mistakes made in the socio-cultural field may have wide repercussions and lasting effects on others and ourselves. Some are practically inevitable, others avoidable. Let us learn from failures, celebrate successes, learn and grow through both.

Evaluation and planning mean paying attention to the culture which our ministry is promoting: the model of society which is being encouraged, the political impact, the ethical meaning, the evangelical significance. They present a continuous opportunity to make what we do and live, in a social centre or project and an entire sector, ever more truly characteristic of the Jesuit social apostolate.

1. What planning and evaluating are going on in our work? Are they only informal? Are there regular meetings as well? Is there occasionally a formal process? What, in each case, are the benefits and short-comings?

2. In our community, how do evaluating and planning take place? Are the themes for reflection, like the ones presented, relevant to community life?

3. Other social justice groups notice a penchant, in Jesuit projects, for methodical thinking and critical reflection. They sometimes ask us to help them plan or evaluate. What — out of our formation, experience and characteristic approach — have we to offer such groups?

3.9 Administration - pg - 65

Administration is not a topic towards which most Jesuits have a natural inclination. However, it is worth remembering that St. Ignatius spent over fifteen years administering the new Society of Jesus as its Superior General and writing its Constitutions. His example is strong encouragement to take this topic seriously. "Administration" and "management" belong to the worlds of business or bureaucracy, while "our way of proceeding" is a very Jesuit expression. In this chapter they come together in the actual running of a Jesuit social centre or project.

This daily concrete running may, depending on the kind and size of the work and on the local culture, be called action, administration, conduct, direction, management, operations, practice or programme. Insofar as ours is similar to other comparable grass-roots work, NGOs, research and action centres, these are important to refer to in thinking about our administration.

Much of what is involved in the actual running of a Jesuit project usually remains in the background, but that does not make it indifferent to our mission. Here the characteristic consists in paying attention to apparently pedestrian ones, so that "how we manage" really supports, enhances and testifies to "what we are trying to do."

Just as earlier chapters showed how to read the situation rather than giving a picture, so this chapter does not describe any particular Jesuit project, much less define a correct or ideal type. Instead, it mentions points to consider under a number of headings — place, human resources, finances, material means. Each group needs to find what issues it ought to attend to and apply with intelligence and creativity.

Day to day

The place we work in (a room, a building, a complex) and live in (a house, an apartment, a residence) should be physically accessible and culturally welcoming in a special way to the poor — the people for and with whom we work. It should also have facilities apt for living, hospitality, working, meeting, thinking, writing. It should be reasonably clean. What receives prominence in the decoration — pictures, posters, images, symbols — makes an impression deeper than many words. Does the decor say what we want to get across?

With respect for both the donors and the beneficiaries, we use material means and resources well: paper, books, vehicles, computers, audio-visual equipment. We avoid a throw-away mentality and are careful not to damage or waste. Buildings and equipment may seem "just a means" which does not deserve attention, but something considered normal in one culture (to discard paper, to borrow a car) may have quite a different significance in another.

The resources called "ours" have been entrusted to us to be used for the social apostolate, for the poor, for justice. Whether or not we share material resources with sister groups that are less well-endowed is sometimes at issue.

"Human resources" mean the material conditions in support of our working together: just wages, social security and other minimums of labour justice for both professional and support staff (an important and sometimes complicated distinction which small projects usually need not make). They also include basic working conditions for interns and volunteers, and the Jesuits who sometimes fit into these categories and sometimes do not.

Pg - 66 - Promoting the work

Also related to working together are the resources of leadership which should serve the whole project. As much as possible things should be run with transparency and everyone on staff should be kept well informed. However, not all staff members are equally responsible for the issues of administration, and openness may be difficult if some on staff cannot keep confidence. Finally, "human resources" in quite another sense are the staffs competence, formal knowledge and learned skills, put to work together.
Þ Teamwork (3.6)

In some countries, people involved in social justice projects and research centres are adapting techniques of business administration for use in their own administration. Jesuit organisations, especially larger ones, may benefit greatly from submitting themselves to an appropriate discipline in terms of personnel, resources, finances and fund-raising, without assimilating a for-profit mentality.

Financial questions

Exercising responsibility for our financial resources may begin with taking care to use money well. At a minimum this means using it honestly, not being arbitrary, accounting for income and expenses with transparency, and using accounting methods appropriate to the size and type of project. Once again, while all staff members are not equally responsible for financial issues, an appropriate level of information is important.

Because of the poverty situation of the Continent, many excellent and well developed Jesuit Social Apostolate works must seek outside funds from church organisations, foundations and private individuals to support their capital expenditures and ordinary running costs. Over the years, this can engender a dependency that dictates past orientations, present operations and future prospects. Because of recent economic and political developments outside Africa (e.g., recessions, opening up of Eastern Europe), the source of funds is significantly declining. This has direct results on the viability of many of our apostolates. (Africa)

In some case the Society of Jesus sponsors the social project, provides the facilities, assigns Jesuits to work in it, provides financial resources, and consequently accepts an important moral responsibility. other sources of funding carry responsibilities too. Funds provided by the Church, by benefactors and sometimes by beneficiaries are a form of cooperation or partnership. It is important to keep the sponsor and supporters well informed. Funding from corporations, foundations and the state may provide an essential piece of the budget, with the risk however of making us dependent, affecting our real priorities, and limiting our freedom to act or to criticise. Many projects are trying to diversify their sources of major funding, but this takes effort and may result in loss of income.

Investments made in our own name or by the Society for us deserve scrutiny according to principles of ethical or responsible investment. Religious congregations and NGOs have developed such principles that are applicable to Jesuit projects. The purpose of investment is to earn revenue to support the work, but should we invest in corporations whose conduct we criticise? Should we invest overseas to earn a higher yield at lower risk, or invest in the national economy with less earnings for the social apostolate and sometimes real danger of losing the capital?
 

Administration - pg - 67 -

Preparing a budget may be the occasion for reflecting on our real priorities in what we choose to work on and spend on. A temptation is the "economy of scale," which favours activities of greater proportion and scope for the sake of greater efficiency or productivity and to reach more people. Is this logic always valid for us? Þ Planning and Evaluation (3.8)

Despite good intentions, abuses may be committed, and there are no fail-safe recipes or perfect solutions. The point is to be watchful, pay attention, exercise care for persons on the basis of justice and stewardship in the use of resources. This responsibility we accept is a question not only of integrity as seen from within but also of the public image we project.

The public persona

The public persona of a Jesuit project, more than just image, is essential in having an effect in society and culture:

· to communicate our concerns
· to relate with other groups
· to resist injustice, promote change, involve others
· to influence public and political opinion
· to protect the vulnerable (occasionally ourselves) from attack
· to raise money or win other needed forms of support.
 

In any encounter which people have with our project or centre (personally, in groups or in the media), what do they see, experience, expect and conclude? The ways in which we manage our physical, human and financial resources translate into cultural, ethical and spiritual impressions. Do people find us and our project competent, cooperative, generous and reliable? How the media treat our work, the positions we take and the causes we promote, are also our responsibility. On us depends how we treat journalists, which groups we associate with, and what kind of image or persona we project. Learning how to give a good interview is a practical way to improve our media presence.		The agencies for economic assistance have turned their eyes and hearts to other continents. They complain moreover about the lack of successful experiences in the struggle against poverty which endure and serve as a repeatable model.  (Latin America)

A Jesuit social project fulfilling its mission projects a certain coherence between social action and spiritual discourse. Others will testify to its credibility, to the witness it offers, to the hope it shares, to the Good News it conveys.

Tensions

The project/organisation/institution is a multiplier of individual efforts, a presence or even weight in society and culture. Such a resource, providing prestige, influence and a comfortable livelihood, can become absorbing in itself. A well-established work does not easily shed a critical light on itself, and criticism from without is often unwelcome.
Þ Planning and Evaluation (3.8)

Pg - 68 - Promoting the work

Some Jesuit groups fear that concern for administration might dull the prophetic edge of their work. This fear may be due to an unexpressed preference for "anarchy/spontaneity" rather than running things as a team. Other groups may Fmk the concerns raised here obsessive, introspective or self-centred because they do not see their relevance to urgent issues and demands. Still others, enmeshed in internal difficulties, may find the points "too little too late" to help them out of a morass, whereas new or small projects may see in them early signs of their future institutionalisation.

Many a Jesuit works full-time on administering a project or centre, spending practically all his energy on management, fund-raising, public-relations, hiring, planning. His leadership makes possible the social justice service which staff offer. Externally, a Jesuit director is often credible in the public realm and among supporters. Administration is a real service in providing the conditions under which the work can be done effectively and harmoniously, and the fact that the Society provides or helps assure the leadership and resources is appreciated.
 

The leadership of a Jesuit gives many a project its Jesuit identity — and yet sometimes, sadly, one in the transition to the second generation does the work really become integrated into the mission of the Province. Those in positions leadership in the social apostolate are invited to lead with awareness and discernment of the real tensions underlying the choices to be made. Without interior freedom we can easily be trapped by the apparent good of careerism or an addiction to the task at the expense of persons. If we do not pay attention to this dynamic within the groups and institutions in which we ourselves are directly involved, we can end up struggling for justice and human rights while violating them even as we strive.

The true paradox of our apostolate is found here, of between work for justice which is socially and culturally effective, and work for Justice which is evangelically expressive of the Good News. (Father General at Naples)

In many concrete administrative decisions, "efficiency or professionalism" and "social results" come into tension with "poverty or simplicity" and "evangelical, counter-cultural witness." The debate often moves between "principle or purity" and "organisational pragmatism or expediency." The point here is that choices made unconsciously are better made with awareness of the tensions involved and after discussion by the staff. Þ On-going Tensions (4.2)

Administration and justice

"Don't sweat the small stuff" and "Be faithful in little things" are two apparently contradictory bits of proverbial wisdom which illustrate the challenge of administering well a work or centre of the social apostolate.

Openness and transparency, dialogue and, sometimes, counter-cultural courage may be necessary for a group to recognise and face the ambiguities, limitations, temptations, even sins which mar its day-to-day functioning. Thus, administration has a wide-ranging relevance for the justice which every social apostolate centre or project not only talks about but also tries to implant or promote. It is a living experiment in people learning to work together for others, translating ideals into social and cultural reality, testifying in deed to the Kingdom of God.

Promoting the work — Administration - 69

In conclusion we make our own the promise expressed by the Latin American Provincials of the Society of Jesus in their November 1996 Letter on Neo-liberalism in Latin America:

1. In its action and outreach, our centre or project is trying to implement justice, reconciliation, solidarity. Are there concrete signs of these values in the daily running of it? Are there also counter-signs, values which ignore or deny the justice of the Gospel?

2. Could the Jesuit Province Treasurer help to develop more specific questions for the social apostolate to raise regarding our administration, working conditions, investments? Could someone help us reflect critically on our public relations and presence in the media?

3. Since Jesuit community is not a "private" but an intrinsic part of the social apostolate, are there questions of administration worth asking about our community life?

3.10 The Jesuit body - pg - 71-

The mission of the Society of Jesus according to the Formula of 1550, "to strive especially for the defence and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine," was re-expressed by GC32 in 1975 as "the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement, since reconciliation with God demands men's reconciliation with one another." This, added GC34 in 1995, "cannot be achieved without attending to the cultural dimensions of social life and the way in which a particular culture defines itself with regard to religious transcendence" (d.2, n. 18).

This historic decision commits the Society of Jesus to the promotion of justice at the most fundamental basis of our identity and all our activity: our mission. "The service of faith and the promotion of justice cannot be for us simply one ministry among others. It must be the integrating factor of all our ministries; and not only of our ministries but also of our inner life as individuals, as communities, and as a worldwide brotherhood" (GC32, d.2, n.9). Therefore "the promotion of justice should be the concern of our whole life and a dimension of all our apostolic endeavours" (GC32, d.4, n.47). Expressing this concern and living out this dimension have constituted an important effort of the Society's since 1975.

From the overall mission of the Society, according to the Constitutions and Complementary Norms, flows the social apostolate. Its specific goal "is to build, by means of every endeavour, a fuller expression of justice and charity into the structures of human life in common" (NC 298). The social apostolate consists of "social centres for research, publications and social action" and "direct social action for and with the poor" (NC 300). These projects and institutions and the Jesuits and colleagues expressly dedicated to this apostolate make up the social sector. The purpose of the social apostolate is to work together, effectively and evangelically, for the poor and for the Church.

Each Province maintains structures to sustain the social apostolate, and the social sector relates in particular ways with the rest of the Province and, reaching out, with the rest of the Society. At first sight these might seem like issues for Jesuits alone, but they affect everyone sharing our work, spirituality and mission.

The Social dimension

All Jesuit ministries respond to important human, spiritual and religious needs. All want to reach and serve the whole person. This cannot be done, according to GC32, 33 and 34, without also always confronting sin and promoting justice in society. The commitment is strong, the idea is clear, but to discover what the commitment means here and now and put it into practice has not been easy. Nor have we Jesuits found it easy to help one another in this regard. Despite the historical difficulties, however, today there are many Jesuits and colleagues, in every sector, who show great social concern in practice.

All Jesuit ministries are meant to integrate the promotion of justice into their mission at one or more levels: through direct service to the poor, by developing awareness of social responsibility, or in advocacy for a more just social order (GC34, d.3, n. 19). There are outreach programmes located in Jesuit universities or secondary schools in middle-class communities, as well as educational and pastoral institutions serving people on society's margins: Fe y Alegría elementary

Pg - 72 - Forming the apostolate

schools, inner-city (Nativity-type) middle schools with intensive programs of education for the urban poor, urban core parishes largely engaged in social ministries.

But unhappy memories and resistances still do damage today, and misunderstandings continue to occur. Since Decree 4 all Jesuits have had a serious responsibility for the promotion of justice. Therefore, some Province members fear that they may legitimately be criticised for their work or lifestyle, denounced or told what to do by those in the social apostolate.

The fact that there are some social projects and works and "inserted" communities in a Province is no reason for others to "leave the promotion of justice to the specialists." More subtly, perhaps, the fact that someone works full-time in social research does not exempt him from the justice dimension either, including living simply or among the poor and having direct pastoral contact. Or the fact that a Jesuit works full-time on a particular social project — for example, with the homeless or illiterate day-labourers — does not exempt him from reflecting on wider social issues of consumerism or the public stance of the Province on human rights.

Rather than trying to sort out the long-running misunderstandings, the social apostolate proposes a kind of mutual embargo on both criticisms and fears until such time as, understanding each another better, we can help one another live the commitments which the Society has assumed.

The social sector

The activities of the social apostolate — "social centres for research, publications and social action" and "direct social action for and with the poor" — have different names in different parts of the world: social action, social ministries or social-pastoral ministries, social justice, social work or services, development, worker mission, work with the excluded or marginalised, Quart monde or Fourth World.

Without wanting to replace any of the local names, we use the expression "social apostolate" to refer generically to this great variety of activities or involvements in society and culture. The similar expression "social sector" refers to the Jesuits and colleagues, projects and works from the organisation point of view and distinguishes them from other apostolic sectors.

While this makes logical sense, it is not always easy to imagine or visualise the social sector. Nearly all other apostolic sectors are typified by a definite, often traditional institutional form. Thus, education: schools, universities; spirituality: retreat houses; communications: publishing and electronic media; pastoral: parishes or missions; formation: novitiate, scholasticate.

If you ask a Jesuit, "What do you do?" and he answers "I'm in secondary education," a significant image immediately comes up. If he adds the name of the city, the subject he teaches or the administrative pest that he holds, you quickly form a pretty complete idea of his ministry. By contrast, the social sector has neither traditional institutional forms nor typical means or instruments of its own. It is marked by nearly endless variety and rapid change. So if to the friendly question, "What do you do?", the Jesuit answers, "I'm in the social apostolate," no image comes up unless he quickly spells out what he does, where, since when, among which people, in what kind of setup, with which colleagues, to what purpose.

The Jesuit Body - 73 -

Therefore, without making unnecessarily sharp distinctions or demarcations, it seems helpful to think of the social apostolate sector in terms of concentric circles.
 

In the inner circle are the Jesuits and colleagues who work expressly in the social or socio-cultural field, and the projects, works or institutions explicitly dedicated to the promotion of justice, along with schools, parishes or communities inserted in very poor areas and Jesuits working in social institutions or projects not sponsored by the Society. Together with the Social Commission and its co-ordinator, this is the core group.

In a wider circle are the Jesuits and colleagues who, while committed to activities in another sector, dedicate some time to direct work for justice, live among the poor, and have strong bonds with the core group. This circle, along with the first, form the whole social sector. The largest circle is the essential social dimension: the other Jesuits and their colleagues working in other sectors, in formation or in retirement, for whom the promotion of justice is an always present dimension of their mission.

If, with all their heterogeneity, the individuals and works of the social area remain scattered and unconnected, they remain difficult for other Jesuits to comprehend and consider part of the corporate commitment or mission of the Province. "That's not a work of the Province," it is too often said, "but Fr. So-and-so's project.... It's within the territory of the Province but isn't part of our mission."

Pg - 74 - Forming the apostolate
 

The social sector can be for Jesuits an area or "space" in which we come together, feel welcome, express ourselves, confront ideas, be heard, reflect, discern — and also pray and celebrate our faith and life together. For we are not merely social activists; we are men and we are religious, and we need to cultivate and express what makes us such. The young who join our work need it and ask it of us, as do in their own way our non-Jesuit colleagues. To create a vibrant social sector, a most important feature is the full participation of the "head" and the "feet," as they were cheerfully dubbed at the Naples Congress — the more intellectual ones and those more involved in direct action. The two groups usually differ considerably in daily experience and work style; if this has created distance in the past, now an opportunity exists to make this difference an advantage. The "head" and the "feet" of the social apostolate need each other's viewpoint and contribution.

a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i)

The Social Apostolate Catalogue (1997) Coordinator of and social commission Significant works of social action in the Province Centres for social research, training and action Jesuit magazine, review or other media projects treating contemporary issues Pastoral projects with a note-worthy social aspect Educational works with their justice dimension Works of Ignatian spirituality with a social accent Jesuit formation in its social dimension Collaboration with other groups or projects of social justice

If one aspect is weak, the effort worthwhile as it may befalls short of Jesuit social apostolate. Communities in which "intellectuals" and "organisers" and "workers at the base" live together facilitate this sharing on a daily informal basis.
Þ Cooperation and Networking (3.7)

The social apostolate has spawned movements such as the mission ouvrière and the Jesuit Refugee Service as well as significant groups and specific projects. Incorporating these in a social sector and fomenting its life does not threaten the diversity; rather, it is a pooling of blessings and strengths and, eventually, a sharing of responsibility for the social apostolate as a ministry within the Province mission.

Even in Provinces where very few people are ministering socially, there may be the occasional sporadic effort. Then the social sector often develops in stages. The first stage may be called a "collection" of individuals or pioneers: some come when a meeting is called, others do not, everyone speaks but only to exchange news. The second stage may be called a "federation" of representatives: people come to defend or further their own interests or works. The third stage is a real sector whose members care for the sum of projects, works and staff, taking collective responsibility for the social sector as an organic apostolic body now and in future; this could go as far as taking responsibility for coordinating the submission of project proposals to funding agencies.

Even as a federation but especially as a true sector, this is the appropriate forum in which we can raise problems, propose new initiatives, and take some responsibility for human and financial resources. This is the appropriate place to study the Province page in the Social Apostolate Catalogue and ask what should change or develop in the social apostolate of the Province.

The Jesuit Body - pg - 75 -

The social sector in the Province

The social sector exists not only to take care of its own but also to serve the Province and help the Provincial.
 

Each province and region should appoint a coordinator for the Social Apostolate whose task will be to assist all Jesuits to integrate the social dimension of faith and justice into their lives, communities and ministries and specifically to encourage and facilitate the personnel and activities of the social sector in order to assure effective faith and justice works.  (Africa)

A vital social sector contributes intrinsically to the mission of the whole Province and helps it fulfil the whole Society's commitment to justice. Not only does it make its own sectoral contribution, but usually through deeds and examples rather than through words of advice (much less denunciation or criticism) it also proposes ways in which the Province may implement the Society's mission in the socio-cultural field.  A united and active social sector can promote human rights; take a public stand on a social issue, whether local, national or international; make a contribution along lines of Catholic social teaching; participate in a coalition with other religious congregations, on the diocesan level, ecumenically and nationally. At such moments the social sector is at the Provincial's service. It can give him advice, prepare materials for him, accompany or represent him.

The Provincial is to encourage the social sector with cura apostolica: by listening and providing direction, assigning men and material resources if needed. The Provincial should visit each social apostolate work, and the coordinator may usefully prepare the annual visitation. Besides his cura personalis for the Jesuit members, the Provincial may also give the colleagues an opportunity for a colloquy (manifestation) to encourage them spiritually and affirm their contribution to the mission of the Province.

The Coordinator/Delegate and Social Commission

The Social Coordinator and Social Commission are the usual organisational structure of the social apostolate in a Province. Their work helps to create and maintain and develop the social sector. Where it does not exist yet, an active coordinator and small commission can do a great deal to help a sector develop.

The delegate and commission unify the various social activities, Jesuits and colleagues and future members, into a vital apostolic sector. They turn a bunch of individual or group activities into a definite "area" within the Province. The coordinator and commission help the sector to function and develop healthily and the various social efforts to integrate appropriately within the Society.

The coordinator chairs the commission and cares for the sector's inner life, internal cohesion, continuity and intercommunication, its creativity and renewal. He has an important role as advisor to and liaison with the Provincial and his consultors, providing encouragement in the social field where others may feel some hesitations. He works with the coordinators of other sectors, especially the Delegate for Formation.

The Social Apostolate Commission, which reflects the reality of the sector, be it a collection, federation or apostolic body, can be a sounding board, a kind of parliament, a sort of "consult." At least one member should be a Jesuit student, and the commission should be consulted about

Pg - 76 - Forming the apostolate

social aspects of formation and about experiments, regency and special studies for interested

young Jesuits. The commission mediates the sector's relationships with the rest of the Province. Since the social apostolate is difficult for others to visualise, the coordinator and commission may serve as a kind of image or symbol to which the Province can refer and in which young Jesuits might see reflected their apostolic aspirations for the future. Þ Next Generations (3.11)

Beyond the Province
 

The social problems we come up against, as concrete and local as they may be, are often rooted in global causes. Yet "we Jesuits do not exploit all the possibilities given to us by being an international apostolic body. A certain kind of provincialism, the immediate demands of local needs, and a lack of appropriate interrelated structures have prevented us from realising our global potential" (GC34, d.21, n.5). Þ Cooperation and Networking (3.7)  At the Assistancy level, a social apostolate coordinator and a commission made up of the Province coordinators may meet annually. Their tasks, similar to those on the Province level (above), are to reflect on larger issues, provide orientation if not agree on common programmes, and organise interprovincial cooperation on problems involving several countries. In Latin America, such meetings involve both Assistancies together, while in Europe there is exchange of information among the four Assistancies involved.

Great solidarity and availability and real openness to change (mobility) will be necessary among the Provinces, even as we remain firmly rooted in our own culture, in order to foster the growth of cooperation and coordination, in service of the world-wide mission of the Church. (Europe)

The Social Apostolate Secretary at the General Curia in Rome is mandated to offer encouragement and facilitate cooperation and the flow of information. Being external, he can help in a special way as animator of the reflection in each region and Province; on the other hand he can animate and coordinate the joint work and reflection between different Provinces and regions. Promotio Justitiae is an instrument of communication that can be strengthened. "Initiative and support for these various forms of networks should come from all levels of the Society, but the Secretariats of the General Curia must continue to play an important role in establishing them" (GC34 d.21, n.14).

1. What points, highlighted in the Characteristics, do we have in common as a sector? Or in other words, what does our common life as a sector consist in at the Province level? at the Assistancy level?

2. Looking at the Social Apostolate Catalogue or the graphic of the core group, social sector and social dimension: do these outlines reflect our concerns and shared responsibilities for the social apostolate?

3. Do the works and projects of the social apostolate enjoy an adequate relationship with the Province, the larger membership and the leadership? Are there ways and means which might improve the integration, the communication, the collaboration between those in the sector and those living the dimension?

3.11 Next Generations - pg - 77 -

Other chapters of the Characteristics deal with changes in the social apostolate in response to changes in its surrounding context: the forms of injustice, the available resources, the thinking of the Society. But as the people who carry out the apostolate themselves change in their manner of living and working, this has the effect of changing the social apostolate as well. The present chapter considers the distances separating the generations, the possible dialogue between them, and the formation offered to the younger members.

Generations

"Older" generation — obviously a relative term — here means Jesuits with studies completed, final vows pronounced, some years and even decades working in their social apostolate assignment. These men and their colleagues, their response shaped by experience of the world and Church some years or decades ago, represent the existing social apostolate. The apostolate recognises that attitudes and responses born in an earlier time need to be renewed, and this renewal is what the Characteristics process tries to promote.

"Younger" generation means Jesuits in formation, before final vows, who are being introduced to the social apostolate. They have a different experience of growing up in society and Church. Their encounters with the social apostolate lead them to wonder: "Can we find our place here?"

Questions such as the following are present whether or not they get asked:

· What does the social apostolate do?
· How does this respond to the poor, the suffering, the injustices?
· If the effort looks secular at first sight, what does it really mean for Jesuits in terms of faith,
religious life, priesthood?
· What faith motivates this apostolate and how does this ministry in turn express our faith?
· Can I imagine myself working as a Jesuit priest or brother with others in this apostolate and thereby fulfilling my human, religious and priestly vocation?

Pg - 78 - Forming the apostolate
 

· And how does this sector carry out our mission and relate to the other priorities of the Province? Such questions are not necessarily new. The established generation lives out its way of answering them, and this constitutes the social apostolate in each Province today. The questions become urgent when the younger group re-asks them according to its own sensibilities, and tests the established responses against its experience of society/culture/Church and its future hopes.  The potential for misunderstanding is great, as we saw in the opening example, and the stakes are high because, unlike groups which have the option of either engaging or ignoring each other, here the evolution of the social apostolate depends intrinsically on the transition between generations of Jesuits.

Some of you are pioneers. You are the crusaders. You started it. If I can do it, it is because I stand on your shoulders. And I salute you. But, how am I to find my place as a young person, beside you who crusaded, who started? How am I to find a space where I can learn, where I can make mistakes? (Naples Congress)

Dialogue

The language of GC32 compared with that of GC34 caused opposite reactions in the Louvain community meeting, and much the same takes place regarding words important for the social apostolate, such as:

Besides words with their accumulated differences, the social apostolate also seems to gather powerful images or convictions that are nearly always loaded with strong emotion. These are often claims about the "one important thing" to do: work with these people rather than any others, this activity is the key one, this the all-promising approach, this the priority of priorities. Other fixed notions based on misunderstandings — for example, that the social apostolate lacks spirituality, or that the younger generation lacks social concern — do damage to both the social sector and the Province. They are not so easy to recognise and overcome.

Next Generations - pg - 79 -

Thus, just as much more is involved than the meaning of words, so there are many ways of carrying forward a dialogue: in living community together, in reading reality, in prayer together and shared spirituality, in working together, in being as Jesuits both brothers and colleagues. If people are willing to listen, to respect, to learn, to give, to receive, if elders resist imposing their meanings and if younger colleagues are willing to learn beyond their immediate experience, then real dialogue can and will result.
 

At the beginning I was reluctant to talk about my story, having the impression that only "experts" would speak. But as time went on, I realised that the Jesuit family gathered in Naples wanted to hear my story, our stories, and I started freely sharing in the small groups and in the larger Congress gatherings. I discovered that many of my ideas and feelings were in resonance with others at this assembly.  (Joakim Mtima-Chisemphere)

In many Jesuit works, the older generation is represented by a Jesuit founder, a charismatic leader. If a young successor has been designated, he is rarely ready (in both senses: willing and prepared) simply to "take over.', Significant issues of priorities, style, dimensions need to be faced, such as working together; individual work rather than collaboration or teamwork; and administrative responsibility for large-scale and costly institutions. If the incumbent director makes little effort to introduce the young Jesuit into the work and train him gradually, it is difficult for the latter to involve himself on his own.  The Characteristics mark out the common space in which dialogue might occur. The future social apostolate is being prepared in any case.

If younger Jesuits are involved in the dialogue and contribute to the renewal, the future apostolate will probably not differ in essence from the one in place today — many (maybe all) the major elements will be found, though with different emphases, in different proportions, and with new creativity and enculturation. Young Jesuits on staff and in administration, together with their lay colleagues, will shape the apostolate in response to the changing needs of God's people.

The inter-generational dialogue, crucial for the present and future of the social apostolate, has to be mutual — otherwise it is not dialogue!

It is important for those already in the social apostolate to have good links with young Jesuits from candidacy on throughout formation. Talks, visits and experiments should be marked by transparency. These encounters are potentially formative for young Jesuits generally, in terms of the social dimension of our mission. Specifically, they are our opportunity to offer encouragement and advice to those who in future might work in the socio-cultural area. Interested students could well hold occasional meetings for exchange and reflection with current members of the social sector.

Those who, immersed in the conflictual and suffering world, live Ignatian spirituality and the Jesuit vocation transparently while competently and enthusiastically carrying out the social apostolate are an important encouragement for younger members of the Society.

Pg - 80 - Forming the apostolate

Option for the young

Many of those entering the Society now worked previously with the poor or marginalised, part-time during school or taking a year off for service at home or overseas. If such experiences and motivation tend to fade and disappear during formation, the social sector might well ask itself why this happens.

Formation in the social apostolate begins with a kind of volunteer placement: candidates, prenovices and novices often work in social ministries, usually in direct service with the excluded but also in popular education, development or even research and writing. Such experiments or placements, linked with pastoral work, are occasions for young Jesuits to encounter the poor, enter into socio-cultural aspects of reality, exercise the social dimension of our mission and, hopefully, further develop the social concern that many had on entering the Society.
 

Social experiences may be part-time ministry during studies, full-time involvement during a summer, or regular studies in a rural or village context for a semester or two. They require good personal and spiritual accompaniment as well as guidance in doing socio-cultural analysis and theological reflection. It would be a great service to formation if the social apostolate could help develop methods and techniques of theological reflection on the socio-pastoral experiences which many young Jesuits are having during their formation.  An adequate curriculum of studies includes social philosophy and ethics, culture and media, social science, moral theology, Christian and other social teaching. Formation communities do well to be located in poor or simple areas and have contact with the neighbourhood. But insertion and involvement, rather than cause studies to suffer, have their proper place within the over-all process of Jesuit formation.

Many younger Jesuits still have the feeling that the works of the social apostolate are too secularised or sometimes insufficiently integrated in the apostolic planning of the whole Province. Direct contact with the poor and with the sector are important during course of formation. (Europe)

The Society has clearly declared its commitment to simplicity, insertion, social responsibility and some young Jesuits live these values within the formation phase. But insofar as the same values do not seem to be appropriated and implemented by the "adult" Society but superseded by other options, they remain associated with and limited to the early phases of Jesuit life. The process reaches a natural limit: formation cannot effectively form young members contrary to the mainstream, and it serves only to a limited degree as a means for reforming the Society as a whole.

Regency in the social apostolate is both an experience of the Society's mission and an excellent preparation for future work in this sector. Ideally it is a practical process of supervised learning. But if a Province has no suitable social apostolate community or team, then how can a scholastic be sent to regency in the social apostolate?

A Jesuit who goes into the social apostolate without adequate theoretical and practical formation risks remaining a sort of "ordained permanent volunteer" among the poor. Programmes need to be designed, often on a case-by-case basis, to help Jesuits acquire the needed degree of competence, university-level knowledge and practical know-how.
 

Next Generations - pg - 81 -

For formatores to orient a young Jesuit and for the Provincial to assign him to regency in the social apostolate, to special studies or to a permanent assignment, they need to be able to visualize the young man as a fully formed and well-rounded member of this apostolate. Jesuits already in the social field can offer useful suggestions for a programme of special studies to equip a young Jesuit with the competence he will require in future as a member of this apostolate.

Young Jesuits are welcome to participate in social apostolate meetings in the Province. It is good for them to have an opportunity occasionally for exchange at an Assistancy or international level with other young Jesuits interested in the social sector.

Jesuit inter-generational dialogue has a special quality in its lack of symmetry. On the one hand, the young are not only dialoguing with their elders out of interest but are being formed by the Society and socialised into it. On the other, the young have a certain weight, priority and responsibility, not because they are always right, but because by definition of history the very future of the Jesuit social apostolate depends on them. And we believe that indeed it is in good hands.

1. A long-established word like "development" takes on new meanings as the society and culture change. A simple exercise to discover differences of meaning which often remain hidden: take the thirty italicised words listed alphabetically above and put them in your order of importance, while someone twenty years older or twenty years younger does the same. Compare the results to see if some significant inter-generational differences emerge.

2. In the inter-religious context, GC34 recommends the fourfold dialogue of life, of action, of religious experience, and of theological exchange (d.5, n.4). Might these serve as a useful "agenda" or outline of four areas to consider when reflecting on the relationships between the current social apostolate and the young members of the Province?

3. The dialogue between the older and younger generations is not necessarily symmetrical, nevertheless both would be vitally concerned about the apostolic and spiritual patrimony of the social apostolate. How might each generation contribute to a process of passing on the heritage? What are the avoidable obstacles? How might the process be helped along?

Continue to 4 — Style, How do we proceed? Discernment 4.1