“No one likes beautiful eyes on a neighbour’s face†(“Nadie quiere ver ojos bonitos en cara ajenaâ€). I remember this Venezuelan refrain when listening to the report of Fr. José Salas on the economy. The province of the Rosary is known for being well-off. These are the “beautiful eyesâ€. But it does not speak of the reasons that brought about this well being. The reasons are simple: spend less than what is gained, centralized fraternal economy, to work beyond the limit of retirement.
Brother Salas synthesized the information. The world financial crisis affects the Province of the Rosary. Some traditional sources of income had since evaporated. The new missionary foundations are maintained with the help of the Province. The expenses in health care and the attention for the elderly, which is a priority among the Dominicans, has elevated greatly, since (the friars) are living longer. A concern of our administrators is what we now call “money laundering†because the globalized economy is a phenomenon so complex that only the greatest economists can understand.
The syndic suggests and prays that young friars should be formed in order to asume the task of administration, substituting those in office, for life does not detain itself. Perhaps we are not convinced that the costs of formation are very high. Studies in Bogotá, for example, are very expensive. It is evident that money is at the service of the mission. And the syndics are not the ones who have the last word in taking decisions. The syndics are also apostles and missionaries. The questions raised after the repport were squalid. A Sign that the friars are interested more of their habitual work than in the credit cards and bank accounts. It is a positive sign.
In the afternoon of the 23 August and the morning of the 24 August we dedicate them to listen to the reports of each Vicariate. If I would try to presume in summarizing what had been said of the five Vicariates, they reminded me of this refrain: “This is too much for oneâ€. I shall do so as a hair- pulling lunatic. Well this is the society where we live. The means of communication will not say not even a word in order to revive our Chapter of Avila, although it may be infinitely more humanizing, important and evangelizing that political.
The Vicariate of Spain is the most numerous, the most complex and most conflictive; it is also the most endearing. I have visited the restored Infirmary in this Monastery of Santo Tomás. It is a work worthy of its function in which it was destined. The physical work is a marvel. The human content can snidely tell us: “What I have been and what I am nowâ€, said one of the sick. The physical ruin leads us to desire for the resurrection of Christ which we deserve. But one thing is certain: “real†death comes before the biological death.
The reports from the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan repeated the same chorus line with this supplication: WE need more missionary brothers, the task is overwhelming us. The report from Venezuela was more optimistic. The socio-political situation of the country is of great concern. The integration of the Vicariates of the Betica Province and that of the Rosary is as urgent as it is inevitable. The process is blocked not due to the fault of the Vicariate of the Rosary Province. The fact that there are three Venezuelan friars in the Chapter is significant.
It is narrated sotto voce that a friar (of French cultura (sic), Francophone) was elected as prior by his community. He declined the appointment with a very simple argument: “I shall accept when the house be a community and not a hotelâ€. This is not the case of our Vicariates. In the meetings of the Spanish friars would create some “holy argumentsâ€. Brother Kleyver, who is young, Venezuelan and from Maracaibo, aside from being the Prior, smiles to see our belligerency and our hot-headedness. He knows that these boiling sentiments end with the meeting. Thanks be to God!!
I would like to think that the conflicts in the different Vicariates of the Province of the Rosary are as they alluded in these lines, are not that sour, not that deep nor not that permanent. Amen. The state of the Province is good. The young friars of the Far East give continuity to the work done for many centuries by other friars. There are reasons for optimism.
BenjamÃn GarcÃa Fernández (chronicler, and nothing more than this)