News
Sustainability: the word of the day!
PGC - Highlight of the day n.2 – Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Roma
The second day shared by the CEC (Congregation Economic Council) and the PGC (Plenary General Council) was once again devoted to temporal issues through three major topics.
We first focused on studying the 2026 budget for interprovincial solidarity for formation. The process, prepared by the CEC, consists, on the one hand, of identifying the subsidy needs of certain provinces in order to help them provide formation for the brothers and, on the other hand, of proposing a distribution of contributions to this solidarity among the provinces that have the means to do so, as well as providing for a reasonable withdrawal from our Formation Solidarity Fund. This process thus makes it possible to assist 12 formation houses and contribute to the costs associated with « stagiaires », out-of-province students, health insurance, and the purchase of vehicles for these houses.
The second phase was devoted to establishing the medium-term real estate plan (PMT) for the years 2026, 2027, and 2028. This MTP, which has been in place for several years, allows us to respond, within our means, to certain real estate investments that are useful to the life of our communities and/or our pastoral activities and for which it is very difficult to find financing outside of Assumption. This collective discernment process takes place first at the provincial level, then at the CEC level, and finally at the PGC level. It requires us, collectively, to better anticipate the needs of our mission and the funding required for the coming years. Several projects were presented, and the final decision will be validated by a vote of the Plenary General Council in a few days.
Finally, the last part of the day was devoted to the question of the “sustainability” of the new entities of the congregation (vicariates, vice-provinces, young provinces, etc.). This word of the day is not very easy to translate into French, as it covers several ideas depending on the context - the translator of the day suffered somewhat. The discussion focused on several aspects: what will enable our young congregational entities to become self-sufficient? What will ensure their sustainability, viability over time, development, financial self-sufficiency, etc.? We had some good answers through projects already in place and projects to come: whether they involve training brothers to deal with economic issues; real estate projects with outside investors; loans taken out to invest in income-generating projects; or self-financing projects of various sizes and types. To name a few projects currently underway: founding new schools; producing and selling bottled drinking water; hair salons; sewing workshops; student restaurants; telephone service stations; income-producing real estate; agro-pastoral farms; small livestock farms; fruit juice production and marketing; guest houses, etc. All these initiatives seem very promising to us and encourage the provinces that are able to do so to participate in one way or another in the necessary investments... Sustainability is on the move...
Our first two days were therefore very fruitful and the provincial treasurers will be able to return to their mission locations tomorrow. The CEC and the general treasurer were warmly thanked for their work, and the joy of a job well done was clearly evident during the fraternal evening of theater and dancing that brought our day to a wonderful close!
Fr. Benoît Bigard