A proposal to professionalize the management of a missionary congregation and its institutions in the Philippines

• Main Author: Mendiola, Maria Lourdes R.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1974
• Subjects: Monasticism and religious orders; Religion
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/281
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study aims to provide an over-all picture of the organization and operation of the missionary congregation with emphasis on the dynamics of change that the sisters and the superiors will face in their decision-making activities. This study made use of the systems approach to describe and analyze the Missionary Congregation and its institutions. The following methods were used in the study : 1) Trend analysis of statistical data to trace the growth and expansion of the congregation in terms of institutions, commitments, personnel, and material resources 2) Historical research on the Missionary Congregation with the use of primary and secondary sources in the archives of the Provincialate and the different institutions visited and 3) Direct observation obtained from actual work experience in the Congregation and personal interviews with Superiors and knowledgeable persons in the Congregation and its institutions. Findings of the study revealed that the simple organizational set-up of the Missionary Congregation, which was adequate for a few institutions and which had been maintained with few modifications, could no longer be efficient. The Congregation realized that the Sisters should be academically qualified for their work and that their training program gave more emphasis to religious formation. Besides the rising costs of operations, the recent tax, customs duties, and labor legislations would further aggravate the financial plight of the Missionary Congregation and its institutions, particularly the schools. While the Congregation engaged in the expansion of its institutions, there was an apparent lack of provisions for the Sisters' needs for the future, particularly the Sisters' formation program and the retirement program. The simple recording and reporting system was replaced by a new system , which introduced the separation of the community accounts from the institutional accounts. The new system though existing had not been implemented in all the institutions of the Congregation.