The business faith and common good Institute kicked off their speaker series for this fall with a talk by Dr. Bonnie Wilson, Economist at St Louis University. The title of Dr. Wilson’s provocative talk was “Economics: A Theology of Scarcity, Or Something More?” Drawing on the notion of Economics as human exchange, focusing on the human encounter in such scenarios, she challenged us as Christians or people of Goodwill to resist the tendency to act with fear and a mindset of scarcity wherein we look at a business exchange as a situation where I must win and the other loses, but the rather to look with eyes of faith which attempt to see business exchanges as opportunities for win-win outcomes.

In a world where economic indicators show great progress for humanity, we find that people are less satisfied, more fearful, and in fact think things are getting worse, not better, Dr. Wilson pointed out.  So it is easy for us to seek to protect ourselves, and to see the other as a threat to our well being and financial security, which then plays out in our business interactions.  But people of faith and goodwill are called by the words of Christ to “fear not” and to not lose sight of the human encounter which we participate in when we are engaged in business.  Our presence is a gift to others, their presence is a gift to us, and with faith we should practice business with a theology of abundance, not scarcity, and generosity, not fear.

This was a great start to our speaker series, and the Business, Faith and Common Good Institute is grateful that Dr. Bonnie Wilson was willing to come share her insights with us. 

 

The 2017 CJBE conference (Colleagues in Jesuit Business Education) was hosted at Creighton University July 6-8th.  Over 60 business faculty came from more than 20 Jesuit and other Catholic Universities, from Boston College and Fordham to San Diego and Seattle, and many in between.    The theme this year was “Using Our Work for the Common Good: The Transformative Power of Jesuit-Inspired Business Practices” and presentations were given by faculty from marketing, management, ICT(IT), accounting, economics, business ethics, theology, philosophy, and others.

      

Fr. Nicky Santos of Marquette and also Fr. Peter Balleis, SJ of Jesuit Worldwide Learning both gave keynote presentations.  There were also keynote panels on the Creighton DBA program which incorporates Ignatian relection and pedagogy and CST principles throughout the 3 year program, as well as on the Economy of Communion (Jeanne Buckey (U St. Thomas), John Gallagher (Maryville C.), and Andy Gustafson (Creighton), and also a leadership course following the footsteps of Ignatius of Loyola in Spain by Chris Lowney and Steven Porth (SJU).

There were 30 presentations total, and each evening there were unique social events– Thursday night at the Omaha Press Club atop the old First National Bank building, Friday night at Hotshops downtown, and Saturday night at Professor Andy Gustafson’s house in Gifford Park.

The CJBE is a unique organization in that it brings together faculty within business who have a special concern to promote Jesuit and Christian thought and values and pedagogy in their classes.  There are few if any organizations like it in other disciplines, even in arts and sciences.

At the CJBE board meeting on Thursday, Creighton’s President Fr. Daniel Hendrickson joined the board of CJBE, along with Fr. Joe Koterski of Fordham University.

The Heider College of Business, Creighton University, and the Business, Faith and Common Good Institute contributed financially to help support the CJBE conference.

 

 

June 20-24 I got to go to Mariapolis near Hyde Park, NY, one of the Focolare centers in the US to participate in an Economy of Communion workshop for young entrepreneurs, and then also to be at part of the EOC annual meeting.

  

The Focolare are a lay movement which started in the Catholic church but now extends to the Lutheran, Anglican, and even Baptist traditions, focusing on loving the poor and living for Christ.  The Economy of Communion is one of their offshoot movements started in 1981 to help the poor by creating jobs through private enterprise, rather than handouts.  Their idea is that job creation enables people to experience the dignity of self-sustaining work.

       

This was the first ever “EOC entrepreneur bootcamp” in the US, and I was grateful for an opportunity to talk about what the EOC is and to give people some vision of its purpose and hopes.  You can see part of my video of the talk at the “Economy of Communion in North America” facebook page here.

   

Mariapolis was once a kids camp, but the Focolare bought it and have over time rehabbed it into a truly peaceful place.  Each evening we had a social time together, and for every meal we ate together in the dining area (usually outside on the veranda).

 

The bootcamp/workshop went from Tuesday night until Friday noon.  Then the EOC regular annual meeting started, and many long time EOC members and associates showed up (and some of the students and entrepreneurs who were there for the bootcamp stayed as well).  There are many long standing relationships among these members, who have pursued a vision of serving Christ through practicing their business in a way which seeks to focus on humans and dignity as they make profits.

You can see a nice video on EOC here.

Like I said, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be at the workshop and conference, and plan to be a regular there.

As a business-member of the Economy of Communion, I was invited to join a worldwide conference on EOC in Rome,  culminating in a meeting with Pope Francis where he spoke to our group.  Pope Francis had asked that we come to meet with him and hear from him at the Vatican.

In his talk to the Economy of Communion group, Pope Francis put his finger on a key point: “Capitalism knows philanthropy, not communion. It is simple to give a part of the profits, without embracing and touching the people who receive those ‘crumbs’.”  This is ultimately what is so different about the economy of communion—it is a vision to live out our lives and practice our faith through our business activities in a way which is truly novel and transformative.  Economy of Communion is not a philosophy of sharing money, it is a vision of using business to help build community and to help people through our private enterprise.  Through business we help bring about communion.

In this vision, Pope Francis pointed out, “You see the entrepreneur as an agent of communion. By introducing into the economy the good seed of communion, you have begun a profound change in the way of seeing and living business.”  This has significant affects on how and why one participates in business practices—and bringing even our business practices into our way of forming communion impacts our communion as well:

Certainly the economy becomes more beautiful, but communion is also more beautiful, because the spiritual communion of hearts is even fuller when it becomes the communion of goods, of talents, of profits. .

While Pope Francis has in various contexts brought up criticisms of aspects of the current capitalist system, he is not against capitalism.  He, as most Popes, agree with St. Thomas Aquinas that private property and private ownership is important.  That is why, when one of my fellow parishioners at church asked if Pope Francis is a Marxist, I could say without hesitation, “certainly not, nor a socialist”.  But he does think we as business owners can use our business to bring about communion in society.

In speaking to us, Pope Francis said he had three things he wanted to talk about.  First, money.  “Money is important, especially when there is none, and food, school, and the children’s future depend on it. But it becomes an idol when it becomes the aim.”  When the accumulation of money for ourselves per se becomes the aim, it becomes idolatrous, and “When capitalism makes the seeking of profit its only purpose, it runs the risk of becoming an idolatrous framework, a form of worship.”  Pope Francis pointed out that the pursuit of security in money is a deluded quest for immortality.

His advice for not making money an idol is hard but simple:

The best and most practical way to avoid making an idol of money is to share it with others, above all with the poor, or to enable young people to study and work, overcoming the idolatrous temptation with communion. When you share and donate your profits, you are performing an act of lofty spirituality, saying to money through deeds: you are not God, you are not a lord, you are not a master!

We overcome the temptation to let money become our idol by giving it, giving ourselves, and spending ourselves and our money for purposes beyond ourselves—for God’s purposes.  This practice is essential.

Second, Pope Francis spoke about poverty, pointing out that since Biblical times, the poor have always been with us, and they are often considered by society to be ‘discarded lives’.  Though we have some new ways to help some of the poor, “The principal ethical dilemma of this capitalism is the creation of discarded people, then trying to hide them or make sure they are no longer seen.”  And eventually we can become blind to this discarding, and to the discarded.  Francis said, “A serious form of poverty in a civilization is when it is no longer able to see its poor, who are first discarded and then hidden.”  Insofar as we shield ourselves from the poor, we become poor as well.

He then spoke about the ironic hypocrisy of a system which cares for the poor which it itself helps to create:

Aircraft pollute the atmosphere, but, with a small part of the cost of the ticket, they will plant trees to compensate for part of the damage created. Gambling companies finance campaigns to care for the pathological gamblers that they create. And the day that the weapons industry finances hospitals to care for the children mutilated by their bombs, the system will have reached its pinnacle. This is hypocrisy!

Rather than try to give aid to the poor, “The economy of communion, if it wants to be faithful to its charism, must not only care for the victims, but build a system where there are ever fewer victims, where, possibly, there may no longer be any.”   Charity is not enough, we must work towards “changing the rules of the game of the socio-economic system.”  The Good Samaritan helps the victim, but we must work to change the system to help reduce the amount of victims to begin with.  This is done by us in the way that we conduct our own business- the values which guide our decision-making, our conduct towards employees and other businesses, our customers, and how we envision the purpose of our business itself.  It especially will affect the way we treat others.  Often it is said that Economy of Communion is about gratuity and reciprocity—meaning that we act with grace towards others through business, and that we act in faith that there will be reciprocity of kindness and goodwill.  That is a radical departure from the dog-eat-dog world of business where people treat others poorly, then excuse it by saying, “sorry, nothing personal, its just business”.  Those with a vision of business informed by the Economy of Communion will act quite differently, living out gratuity and reciprocity as we pursue communion through business:

For communion one must imitate the merciful Father of the parable of the Prodigal Son and wait at home for the children, workers and coworkers who have done wrong, and there embrace them and celebrate with and for them — and not be impeded by the meritocracy invoked by the older son and by many who deny mercy in the name of merit. An entrepreneur of communion is called to do everything possible so that even those who do wrong and leave home can hope for work and for dignified earnings, and not wind up eating with the swine. No son, no man, not even the most rebellious, deserves acorns.

 

Third, Pope Francis spoke about the future.  The EOC has existed for 25 years (since 1981), but what should our future hold?  He encouraged us that though we are a very small group of businesses with this vision of communion guiding us, we can be salt and light and leaven in the world.  The key is, “What do we do so as not to lose the active ingredient, the ‘enzyme’ of communion?”  His answer is that we must share it: “The economy of communion will have a future if you give it to everyone and it does not remain only inside your ‘house’. Give it to everyone, firstly to the poor and the young, who are those who need it most and know how to make the gift received bear fruit!”  And this giving is not just giving of the profits of our business, but of ourselves—the gift of ourselves to others.  He says, “Today’s economy, the poor, the young, need first of all your spirit, your respectful and humble fraternity, your will to live and, only then, your money.”  Money is important of course, but it comes last.  This is why EOC is so much more than charity or aid.

Finally, Pope Francis concluded his remarks with a challenge to all of us:

You already do these things. But you can share more profits in order to combat idolatry, change the structures in order to prevent the creation of victims and discarded people, give more of your leaven so as to leaven the bread of many. May the ‘no’ to an economy that kills become a ‘yes’ to an economy that lets live, because it shares, includes the poor, uses profits to create communion.

I hope you continue on your path, with courage, humility and joy. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9,7). God loves your joyfully given profits and talents. You already do this; you can do so even more.

I hope you continue to be the seed, salt and leaven of another economy: the economy of the Kingdom, where the rich know how to share their wealth, and the poor are called ‘blessed’. Thank you.

It was a powerful message to us.  At times he was literally preaching to us—admonishing us and encouraging us to rise to the challenge.  It was a pastoral message we will not forget, I am quite sure, and it is clear that Pope Francis understands what the Economy of Communion movement is about, and wants it to spread like leaven throughout the economies of the world.

 

  

The 2016 Business, Faith and Common Good Symposium was an event to highlight the ways faith and a concern for the common good can motivate business practices.  We brought in 9 businesses and organizations, and had Michael Naughton as our keynote speaker.

   

Companies represented included Complete Nutrition, Thrasher, Thrivent, Chick-fil-A, Habitat for Humanity, Prairie Plains Resource Institute, Data Systems, Verdis, and Landmark Group.  Five of those nine were new– Thrivent had actually heard about the symposium and asked if they might participate– and it was great to bring in new perspectives which were inspirational to the students.  It was also great to bring back companies who have such a strong story that we wanted them back again.  The format was that each of these companies had their own session.  There were three breakout sessions at three different times, for a total of 9 presentations.  Typically they were 30-35 minutes with 10-15 minutes for Q&A.

 

Professor Michael Naughton, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at St. Thomas University was this year’s keynote speaker.   Naughton is really a preeminent scholar at the intersection of Catholic Social Thought and business, with 5 books and 40 articles, mostly related to that topic.   He also helped coordinate and write the Vocation of the Business Leader issued by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2012) which is a key document for thinking about business practices from a faith perspective.

Naughton’s keynote drew on the ” Vocation of the Business Leader” document, which he helped write as a summary of some of the key teachings of Caritas En Veritate.  He contrasted three notions of work, each paired with a distinct notion of leisure.  First, one might think of their work as just a job, and be fairly disengaged from work, seeing it merely as something which must be done for money.   If you view work as a job, then you view leisure as an escape from your job’s drudgery– so an unhealthy detached view of work leads to an equally unhealthy view of leisure.  Leisure on this view is a-musement.   Atheist means literally without-God, and sine muse means “to consider thoughtfully”, “amusement” means “without thought”– when we amuse ourselves we are trying to escape thinking and consideration of our situation.  And ironically to escape more often requires more money, so you have to work more, which leads you to need to escape more, in a vicious cycle!   On the other hand, if you are all too engaged in work, it may lead to a careerism where work is everything and it consumes you.  Leisure, on this careerist view, is simply time to recharge so you can do more work– sharpening your saw– and so leisure’s sole purpose is for the utility of working more.  The better view of work, according to Naughton, is a view of work as a vocation– a calling. With such a view of your work, you see that God has called you to a particular task in a community of persons.  All people have dignity, and each has a vocation of their own to help serve the common good.  Leisure linked to this vocation view of work is sabbath, where one rests to reflect on one’s place in the world, on things beyond work which actually give meaning to the work, and on one’s relationships to others.  This thoughtful consideration is literally the opposite of a-musement!

    

The symposium has definitely developed over time.  In 2013 we invited a speaker, internationally known Christian philosopher Robert Audi of Notre Dame, to give a talk on “business and the common good” here at Heider.  It was a nice event, and well attended.  For 2014 Tom Kelly and I worked to develop the first symposium, coming up with the idea to invite and we had as keynote Daniel Finn, a very well known Theologian who is also an economist.  For 2015 we had a reknown Catholic business ethicist Ken Goodpaster, and this year we had Michael Naughton.  Really, these are three of the greats in the field, so we have an outstanding track record and legacy.   So we are very proud of that.    The students who went to the sessions gave me some great feedback on the sessions– even the lesser-attended sessions were generally well-liked by students.  Students were moved by many of the presentations, but I got significant outstanding feedback on Naughton.  One student said that his talk helped her to see where she is at, and where she wants to be.  That is exactly the kind of transformational learning we are hoping for through the symposium speakers and events.

We are very excited for our annual Business, Faith and the Common Good Symposium on Friday October 7, 2016.  Our symposium is open to all students, faculty, and the general public.  9 businesses who are motivated by faith or a pursuit of the common good (or both!) will present.  We will kick it off just after 9:30 am, and then there will be three sessions simultaneously at 10, 11, and 1:15, with a keynote at 2:30 by Dr. Michael Naughton of the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis).  An open bar reception will follow that keynote.  Please come for any or all of the symposium!   Questions?: contact andrewgustafson@creighton.edu

The “Business, Faith and the Common Good” speaker series aims to bring to Creighton high caliber thinkers who have written on topics related to business, faith, and the common good. They include thinkers coming from philosophy, theology, management, marketing, and other various fields of thought.

By Andy Gustafson

In June, I attended an Economy of Communion conference at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.  Its an interesting conference because, while there are professors and academics at the conference, it is also made up of entrepreneurs, business owners, and laypeople inspired by the notion that business and spirituality can go together, and that the providence of God can be seen in and through business practice.

    

Highlights of this years conference were a showing of “Poverty Inc” with Michael Miller, the director with us to do Q&A.  Also Michael Naughton gave a fantastic keynote presentation on Subsidiarity, highlighting key aspects of that concept.  There were also powerful testimonies of real life situations from some of the business people at the conference.

    

I first became aware of the Economy of Communion in 2015 when I attended a  conference in Manilla, Philippines, and met John Gallagher, a professor of management from Maryville College in Tennessee.  He had done research on EOC businesses in the U.S..

I immediately identified with two of the core descriptors of the EOC: gratuity and reciprocity.  I found that a lot of the ways they described business fit very well with the ways that we run our house renovation and rental business.  It was inspiring to know that there were other Christians trying to live out their values and spirituality not only alongside but actually through their business practices.  I had often thought of our redemption of buildings as a strange sort of theological practice– imitating the redemptive work of God in the world.

EOC itself began in 1991 as a movement of the Focolare, a Catholic Spiritual group founded n 1943 by Chiara Lubick in Trent, Italy.  It has hundreds of thousands of participants worldwide.  In May 1991, while Chiara Lubich was on a plane approaching the city of San Paolo, Brazil, she was struck by the sight of the vast ring of ”favelas“ or ”shanty-towns“ surrounding one of the greatest concentrations of skyscrapers in the world. When she arrived at the little city of the Focolare Movement, Mariapolis Ginetta, near San Paolo, she learned that the communion of goods carried out by members of the Focolare Movement was insufficient to help all those Brazilians so close to her heart who were experiencing difficult times. This realization motivated her to provide food, shelter, medicine and, if possible, a job for as many as possible.  Having in her heart the newly published Encyclical by John Paul II, ”Centesimus Annus“, she launched the Economy of Communion: Businesses will freely put their profits in common just as the early Christian communities did.  Profits could be divided into three parts (not equal): for aid for the poor, for education and formation that could help foster a culture of giving, and for the development of the businesses themselves.

Economy of Communion is a vision of doing business with a concern for the human person, particularly the poor, with ideals of unity, brotherhood, eyes to see providence of God.  It began as Roman Catholic but is now multi-faith.  Currently, the EOC has ~800 member companies worldwide (50+ in U.S).   Some of its key characteristics are:

• EOC focuses on Business as human interaction
• EOC sees value and dignity of all people, and seeks unity with all.
• EOC has eyes to see Providence at work in the world
• EOC attempts to conduct business around the principles of gratuity and reciprocity
• EOC promotes a lifestyle of communion with others through business

It was very encouraging to be with so many like minded friends who are very thoughtful about the ways and whys of how they do business.

For a brief article about my participation in the EOC, see this:   https://eocnoam.org/2015/11/07/meeting-new-eoc-member-andrew-gustafson-of-communion-properties/

 

 

 

Book Review: God in the Marketplace (Henry T. Blackaby)

Stephie Grier

God in the Marketplace by Henry Blackaby details a collection of thought-provoking and self-reflecting questions for Christian businesspeople.  Written in a fashion that can be used as a self-study, the book is divided into six sections, each with a separate focus of different aspects of one’s life.  The sections were categorized as such based on the deepest concerns expressed by business leaders.  Blackaby reminds readers that regardless of where one stands in his or her career stage, man is created in God’s image and the purpose of life is to glorify God through respecting Him and living life in a God-honoring manner.  The following sections detail questions asked by business leaders wanting to know how their relationship with God affects their personal lives and business careers and ultimately how to honor God in all aspects of their lives.

Part one focuses on one’s personal life.  The first question expresses the concern of trying to incorporate Christianity wholly into one’s life: “What is God’s ultimate goal for my life as a businessperson?”  While compartmentalization of one’s business life, personal life, and religious life may become habit, it is these separations that strain one’s relationship with God.  Blackaby describes a scenario that seems ironic when balancing a business life and a religious life – individuals pray for God in want of something, but do not pray for God to become more Christlike.  Shifting this imbalance and merging the lines of compartment separation begins with understanding priorities and asking oneself how do those priorities glorify God.

Part two of the book focuses on one’s business life.  Assumptions that God is only concerned with sanctified issues such as the church is wrong because everything is sacred to God.  When one finds their calling in business, it should involve using the gifts God granted in ways that return thanks to Him and serves his purpose of helping others in the world.  So if one is asking, “Does God really care about my business decisions,” the answer is yes.  Incorporating God’s guidance into all business aspects, including business decisions, the overall well-being of the business, employee relations, strategy development, and crisis management should be innate.

“What is God’s will for my life?”  As the most often asked question, part three of the book focuses on the devotional life.  Often overcome by meetings, travel, and deadline in a market where success is a financial measurement and where “time is money,” it is this mentality that crowds out the time to have a relationship with God.  Businesspeople often divert their energy to gain the “good things” at the expense of their relationship with God, but Blackaby stresses that the opposite is the truth.  “When you delight yourself in the Lord, he provides everything you require to have a joy-filled life” (Ps. 37:4).  “Godliness is like a muscle, it needs daily exercise.”

The fourth part of the book focuses on one’s family life.  Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to see broken relationships among family when pursuing careers.  The often sought “work-life” balance is never in a state of equilibrium and that is to be expected.  Blackaby reminds readers that Jesus never had a work-life balance as he was living the life God commanded of him, abiding by God’s agenda.  Individuals struggling to balance family and job obligations must have faith that God will not allow one to neglect these things.  Seek God’s help and guidance will present itself to direct individuals balance work and family.

The fifth part of the book focuses on one’s commitment to church and his/her community life.  Distinguishing how to use one’s talents in the church is the work of God.  “God adds members to the church as it pleases him,” (1 Cor. 12:18).  Whether one’s role is as a follower, leader, or source of change, every congregation has a mission.  Businesspeople should invest their time in the church, focusing where their talents, whether in finance, management, medicine, etc., can make an impact, being sure to remember that God added an individual to a church because He knew that is where one belongs.

The last section of the book focuses on one fits and plays into God’s kingdom.  One’s life is viewed from a global and eternal perspective from God, not just what one does with his or her career.  Because of this global perspective, businesspeople should be concerned with how the business they participate in affects others across nation’s borders.  Involvement in social issues allows an individual to gain perspective of other’s spiritual and physical needs, two things that concern God when it comes to people’s salvation and eternity.  One need ask him-/herself, “What do you sense God wants you to do specifically to minister to the needy?”

Overall, the book is structured in a manner that is relevant to businesspeople regardless of career level and spiritual level.  Each chapter focuses on one question, allowing for a concise response and time to focus on the end-of-the-chapter reflection questions.  These questions encourage the reader to reexamine his/her relationship with God and in business.  More than responses to a question, Blackaby offers concrete suggestions for how to incorporate God into daily life and business transactions.  Most impressive, Blackaby prefaces that God in the Marketplace is not a one-stop definitive answers book.  Test everything, Blackaby mentions, because only you as the reader can think for yourself and discern God’s Word.