Ongoing Congregational Conference, Roncali Institute, Indonesia

Report Friday 23 June 2023

Br. Raphael Besigrinee

Today, participants already started feeling they are about to land, having reached the last but one day. The morning prayer service had the theme “In the Spirit of our Founders” lead by Bro. Lawrence Sitima. In his introduction, he reminded participants that as leaders, the exercise of authority entails guiding, listening, influencing and sometimes walking together with together with followers towards the fulfilment of God’s will. He used the reading from our constitution (art. 51) to remind, not only FIC leaders, but other brothers that “it would be incorrect to shift our personal responsibility away to those in authority. Every brother should be concerned with the happiness of his fellow-brothers”. Thus for leaders to succeed, followers must contribute their bit. 

Participants convened at 09:00h for the morning session, namely Financial Accounts of the General Council. In other words, this was the opportunity for provincial superiors to hear the financial situation of the Congregation, and how the General Council is  managing the finances of the congregation. The presenter was Bro. Remy Nyukorong the General Treasurer of the congregation. With the help of a PowerPoint presentation, he lay bare the general picture of the financial situation of the congregation followed by information on the balanced sheet and income statements.  

As all FIC Brothers are aware, it is our congregational policy to try as much as possible to maintain the level of investments and thus not “eat” into our capital. We still rely on the income from our investments to service the needs of our provinces. FIC deals with two main Banks: ING and Van Lanschot, and this means the two banks are holding our investment portfolios. We continue to believe that a cautious investment policy best matches the current climate. The General Treasurer reported that we rely on coupons and redemptions to ensure funds are available when required. Both Van Lanschot and ING Portfolios showed a positive returns in the month of April 2023. The current assets of the General Council seems to be sufficient for the longer-term, but financial discipline must be maintained, particularly, in the case of requests for special funding by provinces.

After the presentation, the General Superior made two comments:  First he commended the RHN for the excellent example they displayed by giving the proceeds of the sale of De Beyart to the General Council. This Spirit, he stressed, needs to be emulated by the provinces. The second is information on the search for new accommodation for the brothers in the Netherlands (including the GC) due to the high cost of maintaining the present old buildings. This presentation concluded the morning session.

On the schedule, we were to discuss unfinished business in the afternoon session, but there was none, so the time was spent on Any Other Business and evaluation. The right channel for sending financial requests to the GC was highlighted. The GC also announced that the new Provincial and congregational stamps were ready, and the samples would be given to Provincial Superiors in due course. The ConCon was given a very positive evaluation during this session, and this brought to conclusion the day’s proceedings.