The Economy of Communion (EoC), founded by Chiara Lubich in May 1991 in San Paolo Brazil, draws entrepreneurs, workers, directors, consumers, savers, citizens, scholars, economists, all committed, at various levels, in promoting a practice and an economic culture imprinted on communion, gratuity and reciprocity. Through their own example, they propose an alternative lifestyle to the dominant one within our capitalistic system.
In Concrete Terms, the EoC Invites us to :
- Live and spread a new civil and economic culture, from the youngest to the oldest among us, which Chiara Lubich called “The Culture of Giving”;
- To form new entrepreneurs and renew present ones who willingly share their profit to sustain the goals of the EoC: reduction of exclusion and its subsequent poverty, diffusion of the culture of giving and of communion, development of businesses and creation of new jobs; business people who can conceive and live their activity as a vocation and service for the common good, aiming at the excluded in every part of the world and every social context;
- To fight various forms of indigence, exclusion and poverty with a double inclusion: productive and communitarian; in fact, we are convinced because of our experience of the past twenty years, that no form of forced poverty can be cured without including the disadvantaged in living fraternal communities and, where possible, also in the workplace, within businesses: so that those who can, and should work, might have an opportunity, or otherwise run the risk of remaining forever indigent.
In order to make this project possible, The Economy of Communion is working on a vast project of education to the culture of giving, through schools, meetings, formative events geared to young people, workers, business people and citizens.
Lastly, in Chiara’s charismatic intuition (at San Paolo in 1991) a founding and fundamental place to develop and make the EoC visible are the industrial parks in the little cities of the Focolare Movement, of which they represent a vital and generative component.
So, from the first ‘Spartaco Lucarini’ Industrial Park born in Brazil, to the last ‘Giosi Guella’ Industrial Park, inaugurated in Portugal in 2010, the parks continue to feed the life of the EoC, an important role today, but destined to become ever more central in the near future
In the Economy of Communion, the producers – entrepreneurs, workers, and their business associates – are inspired by principles rooted in a culture different than what prevails in today’s practice and theory of economics. We can define this “culture” as a “culture of giving” which really is the antithesis of a “culture of having”.
Giving economic assistance can express a self-giving rooted in our very being. In other words, it can reveal an anthropological view that is neither individualistic nor collective but rather is communion.
A culture of giving is not some form of philanthropy or welfare – these are individualistic virtues.
In a deeper sense, the very essence of a person is to be in “communion.”
Consequently, not every type of giving, not every act of giving creates a culture of giving.
For example, there is a “giving” which is contaminated by the desire to have power over another person and that seeks to dominate or oppress individuals and populations. This only appears to be “giving”.
There is a “giving” that seeks satisfaction and self-gratification from the act of giving. In essence, this is an egoistic self-expression and usually is perceived by those who receive it as offensive and humiliating.
There is a “giving” that is self-interested, or utilitarian, found in some of the current neo-liberal tendencies that always seek their own advantage.
And finally, there is the “giving” that Christians find in the gospels.
In this giving, the giver opens up to the other person and remains respectful of his or her dignity. It generates an experience of the words in the gospel “give and it will be given to you” even for the managers of a business. These words from the gospel might manifest themselves to the businessperson in the form of a financial windfall, or in the unexpected discovery of an innovative technical solution, or as an idea for a new winning product.
Profits put into communion and later destined for EoC purposes is the ‘uniform’ of the EoC, a necessary condition (although not a sufficient one) to partake in the project.
The first ‘idea forza’ (powerful idea) for the project, was to put profits in common, subdivided into three parts: for the development of the business, for cultural formation, to help those who are indigent.
Businesses that adhere to the EoC give equal importance to each of these parts, and every year, they distribute their profits according to this criteria. From 2008, an ‘EoC Report‘ is prepared each year with information on how the profits of these businesses have been distributed. The EoC reports are available here.
1. The Economy of Communion (EoC) is a movement that involves entrepreneurs, workers, directors, consumers, savers, scholars, economic workers, poor and citizens, families, and was launched by Chiara Lubich in May of 1991 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its aim is to contribute, according to the Charism of Unity, in giving life to businesses which they feel as their mission to eradicate social injustice so as to help build an economic system and a human society of communion, where, imitating the first community of Jerusalem, “no one among them was in need” (Acts 4,32-34)
2. The EoC is an international movement coordinated by a Central Commission and by Local Commissions linked to the Central Commission on the basis of the Principle of Subsidiarity.
3. Those who adhere to the EoC commit themselves to living the values and culture of communion in the light of the charism of unity, both as individuals and in the organizations in which they work, making themselves its animators and promoters. They commit themselves particularly, with ideas and actions, so that the culture of communion, giving and reciprocity penetrate always more into the world of economy and inform it at all levels
4. The backbone of the EoC is represented by businesses or productive organizations of various juridical forms, even non lucrative (non-profit, social and civil businesses, cooperatives, associations, etc.) that decide to adopt in their praxis the culture of communion and the values of the EoC.
5. The EoC businesses commit themselves in creating new wealth and jobs with creativity and innovation, and sharing of profits for the goals of the EoC Project, even beyond the environment of its interested carriers.
6. Based on the originating inspiration, the EoC gives life to Business Parks, located in the Small Towns of the Focolare Movement. The business parks, signs of the project’s witness and concreteness, are an integral part of the EoC, and make the project complete and mature in a certain region or Country
7. The request to adhere to the EoC by individuals and institutions should be addressed to the Local Commission, which gives approval as long as the following requirements are maintained:
- (a) serious commitment by the entrepreneur/s to begin a journey of communion with the Local Commission and with all the local and international EoC movement, not only as a single person but as an expression of the business community
- (b) sharing of the project’s goals and the purposes of the Charism of Unity of which the EoC is an expression
- (c) openness to allot business profits, when they are present, according to the three goals of the project, which are: (1) a concrete help to the poor, (2) the formation of “new men and women”, (3) development of the business and/or distribution to associates
- (d) inspires the governance of the business by fraternity, according to the document “Guidelines for Conducting an EoC Business”
- (e) understands and lives in relationship with persons in situations of poverty on a level of dignity, substantial equality, respect, reciprocity and communion
- (f) considers the business and/or action as a place or instrument to reduce poverty and injustice, both at the local and global level
8. The EoC also gives life to a movement of thought and ideas, in a genuine dialogue with the contemporary culture and with civil and social economy locally and globally.
9. The EoC cooperates with the various initiatives of the Churches, of various religions and of civil and political society, of which it feels to be a vital expression and an instrument of unity
10. The EoC contributes to “that all may be one” (John 17:21).