An online evening was offered on December 1, 2020 by the missionary axis "Responsible in society" on the theme of fraternity in the business world. The leaders met with François Prouteau, president of Fondacio, around the encyclical of Pope Francis "Fratelli tutti".
"Brotherhood in the business world, is it possible?" It was around this question that 62 managers, executives and directors aged 30 to 86 met for a web meeting on Tuesday evening, December 1, 2020.
This evening was hosted by the responsible axis in society and was the occasion for a plenary time in videoconference around François Prouteau, president of Fondacio, for a teaching on the encyclical Tous Frères "Fratelli tutti" by Pope Francis.
The evening began with a time of prayer around the Gospel of Matthew (12 46-50): “Jesus answered her: Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
How, following in the footsteps of Saint Francis, can we live as brothers?
Tuesday's meeting recalled that business is a human adventure, made up of women and men gathered to serve and act for the same purpose. We are invited by the Pope to be actors of fraternity in our companies that are open to the world.
Teaching by François Prouteau on the encyclical
François Prouteau also addressed the articulation between paternal love and fraternal love. Fraternal love calls upon human relationships of equality and reciprocity, of dialogue from one to another, and to infinity. Paternal love helps in the generation of each human being: becoming oneself in relation to the other and as another. As another, this means that identity is always in the process of becoming, that we are fundamentally altered by others who make what we are and become, and also as the Other who is the Son of the Father: "God became man so that man might be made god" (St. Irenaeus, hær. 3, 19, 1). There is a unique love that is expressed in different types of expression and that the figures of "father", "son" and "brother" highlight.
This dynamic of love brings us together and invites us to give the best of ourselves as two faces of the same reality, which is that of love to allow the other to become himself and to grow. As leaders, it is up to us to develop these spaces and times to live fraternity. Francis ended with a concrete example. Managing in truth is rooted in a singular experience: God is fraternal love, where love and truth embrace.
Being a "school of fish" type organization
This is what Henri-Pierre de Rohan Chabot taught us during his 35 years of commitment to Fondacio. Brotherly love is the compass that transforms whale-businesses into schools of fish where everyone is connected to others in a current of love and truth. It is the very image of brotherhood. We are, each of us, fish that advance in the current of the Holy Spirit because brotherhood, through the trust it allows, promotes the spirit of love and Truth. The more we enter into the brotherly relationship, the more we will promote this spirit of love and truth because trust will be there and it will be possible to love and be true.
Henri-Pierre de Rohan Chabot highlights five levers to promote this:
- Marvel at the person in a genuine way
- Trust and give the relationship time
- Serve
- To love each other (as I loved you)
- Leave the person free from the relationship
Participatory work according to Fondacio's pedagogy
After a time of solitude, the participants met in small groups to reflect on how to live this fraternity in our companies and what we felt called to do next around the following questions:
1/ Do I personally feel that I embody a “brother” attitude in my company? Do I feel like I experience brotherhood in the company?
2/ In the company, are opportunities or places offered and developed to enable genuine exchanges?
3/ What invitation do I receive and what does this commit me to?
The word “enterprise” should be understood in the broad sense, that is to say all workplaces (companies, associations, administrations, etc.)
The evening ended with the following words:
"God our Father, Creator of the Universe and of every human being working in our company, in your company, help us to spread your word wherever we go, both at work, which is our daily livelihood, and in our business relationships with our customers and suppliers who are, like us, your sons and daughters." Excerpt from a Prayer by Jean-Robert OUIMET (Canadian businessman who died in 2018)
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