Working conditions in the associations

The Libreria Editrice Vaticana published the proceedings of the Annual Meeting sponsored by the Dicastery last year with the moderators of associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities. "Working Conditions in the Associations. A service in justice and charity," was the theme chosen for the annual meeting that took place on April 28, 2022 and which followed the end of a long process of listening and discernment carried out by the Dicastery.

Throughout this journey, the Dicastery, writes Prefect Kevin Farrell in the introduction, “has gathered from multiple sources and various perspectives - ecclesial, civil, canonical, pastoral, spiritual - the various elements upon which the guidelines that have already been communicated in the past to presidents and moderators are based, and which we wanted to revisit in greater depth with this meeting”.

In light of the elements that have emerged, "ensuring working conditions according to justice and charity for the members of an association who work for it," the Prefect continued, "means remaining faithful to the charism that gave rise to that association. It has sometimes been mistakenly believed that doing so distorts the charism or weakens the members' spirit of service and belonging or even reliance on Providence. Nothing could be more false! Every charism, a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, is given for the good of the faithful, for their growth. It cannot, therefore, come into conflict with their human and Christian dignity and, therefore, with their rights and duties”.