Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría. Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas Tags: Solidarity, Development, Society, Philippines By Dr. Bernardo M. …More
Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría.
Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría
Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas
Tags: Solidarity, Development, Society, Philippines
By Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas, Vice President for Research, University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). Chairman, Center for Research and Communication
Introduction
Development is a multi-faceted word that is shared by academics and social scientists, on one hand, and policy makers and program implementors on the other. To differentiate the various nuances, a wide range of adjectives have been affixed to the word, as in such phrases as economic development, sustainable development, human development and socio-cultural development.
The purpose of this paper is to present the concrete examples of initiatives for attaining authentic human development all over the world that have been inspired by the teachings of St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei.
Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría Escrivá
Human work is completely indispensable for the personal development of each human being. As St. Josemaría used to repeat, each person must sanctify his work, sanctify himself in his work, and sanctify others through his work.
Always united to the teaching authority of the Church, St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei, reinforced and in some instances anticipated the social doctrine of the Church in giving concrete solutions to the goals of authentic human development. Fifty three years before Laborem Exercens, St. Josemaría Escrivá had already started to preach about the sanctifying value of human work. In an interview published in the Spanish magazine Palabra (October 1967), St. Josemaría explained the meaning of “sanctifying work”: “The expression 'sanctifying work' involves fundamental concepts of the theology of Creation. What I have always taught over the last forty years, is that a Christian should do all honest human work, be it intellectual or manual, with the greatest perfection possible: with human perfection (professional competence) and with Christian perfection (for love of God's Will and as a service to mankind). Human work done in this manner, no matter how humble or insignificant it may seem, helps to shape the world in a Christian way. The world's divine dimension is made more visible and our human labor is thus incorporated into the marvelous work of Creation and Redemption. It is raised to the order of grace. It is sanctified and becomes God's work, operatio Dei, opus Dei.”
Human work is completely indispensable for the personal development of each human being. As St. Josemaría used to repeat, each person must sanctify his work, sanctify himself in his work, and sanctify others through his work. But besides being a personal obligation work is also a communitarian task. It is a requirement of the common good.
From the very beginning of his apostolic work in Opus Dei in 1928, St. Josemaría had already preached what would be stated in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (n. 264) almost five decades later: “No Christian, in light of the fact that he belongs to a united and fraternal community, should feel that he has the right not to work and to live at the expense of others (cf. 1Thes 3:6-12). Rather, all are charged by the Apostle Paul to make it a point of honor to work with their own hands so as ‘to be dependent on nobody” (1 Thes 4:12), and to practice a solidarity which is also material by sharing the fruits of their labor with 'those in need' (Eph 4:28). Saint James defends the trampled rights of workers: 'Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts' (Jas 5:4). Believers are to undertake their work in the style of Christ and make it an occasion for Christian witness, commanding 'the respect of outsiders’ (1Thes 4:12).”
St. Josemaría did much during his lifetime to teach and encourage numerous individuals all over the world to make use of their ordinary work to contribute to the common good. Some examples of these private initiatives imbued with the spirit of solidarity, which especially characterized the teachings of Pope John Paul II in Laborem Exercens and Centesimus Annus, are found in a series of publications entitled The Grandeur of Ordinary Life. This series was published by the University of the Holy Cross in Rome on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of St. Josemaría, in 2002. In an introduction to Volume XI of the series, Dr. Carlos Cavallé, referring to the very graphic phrase "Christian materialism" coined by St. Josemaría, wrote: “Christian humanism gives priority to spiritual well-being, which is reached as the result of one's effort to achieve union with God. At the same time, however, Christian humanism insists on the inseparable synthesis between spiritual and material well-being, since it is precisely through created things and honest human activities carried out in the world that most ordinary Christians can and should reach union with God. This kind of 'Christian materialism' is at the center St. Josemaría's message.
Building a better society
“If we focus on the business world, we see that St. Josemaría's message is clear and sound. Pointing out the desire and the duty of all Christians to 'reconcile all things with God, placing Christ, by means of their work in the middle of the world, at the summit of all human activities, Blessed Josemaría is telling the corporate world and their executives that this desire to contribute from their business, each one according to his or her own possibilities to building a better society, and creating and distributing goods in a just and equitable way, should be combined with professionalism, a spirit of service which involves putting the needs of others first, and the noble aspiration to bring every human being to Christ. These are ideas that Blessed Josemaría not only preached all over the world, but which, as the Church solemnly declared, he also lived heroically.”
The freedom of initiative
St. Josemaría captured perfectly the freedom of initiative highlighted in the writings of Pope John Paul II, especially in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987). But he saw this freedom, not only from the standpoint of the entrepreneur trying to achieve his legitimate profit by the production and sale of goods and services, but also as the right of businessmen to contribute to the common good through not-for-profit initiatives. He motivated people in business to establish business schools in many parts of the world whose mission is to train men and women of business who commit themselves to work for a just and humane society as they operate and expand their respective businesses with the utmost professional competence and social responsibility.
Men and women of business with the utmost professional competence and social responsibility.
The first one of these business schools was IESE (Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa) Business School in Barcelona, Spain, whose establishment in 1958 was personally encouraged by St. Josemaría. Today, IESE Business School, the business faculty of the University of Navarre in Spain, is considered among the top business schools in the world, having been ranked number one among all schools offering the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) Program by The Economist in 2005 and 2006. What distinguishes IESE Business School is the commitment to the common good that it tries to inculcate in all who participate in its manifold programs, as a consequence of St. Josemaría's teachings.
The following words of the present Dean, Dr. Jordi Canals, in the Introduction to the MBA Program brochure, captures well how IESE, inspired by St. Josemaría, has committed itself to the training of business leaders who have integrated the spirit of solidarity into their corporate mission: “IESE Business School has a proven track record of innovation. It was the first in Europe to establish a two-year MBA and the first in the world to offer a bilingual MBA. Today, IESE has secured its position as a top business school globally, with campuses in Barcelona and Madrid, and pioneering activities in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin American and the United States. Our mission is to transform business and society through management education and leadership development, creating a better world by developing better leaders: people with big aspirations and a spirit of service equipped with the skills and capabilities to make a positive difference.”
IESE's experiences have been replicated all over the world by business schools such as the IPADE in Mexico, the IAE in Argentina, and the Lagos Business School in Nigeria, among others. In today's fully globalized economy, business leaders can often be more effective in promoting the international common good than governmental organizations.
In the context of a developing country like the Philippines, I have been personally involved in another undertaking directly promoted by St. Josemaría in the late 1960s. I am referring to the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), a private think tank and graduate school in the Philippines that trained professional people in the field of business economics, mass media, politics and education who were completely conscious of their moral obligation to contribute to the common good of Philippine society. As I described in the same volume to which I referred above, in the series of publications on "The Grandeur of Ordinary Life," CRC was instrumental in encouraging professional people, especially those in business, to promote the common good, through the Makati Business Club.
www.josemariaescriva.info/article/development-str…
This Club "arose from the efforts of a small group of business executives who received an intense formation in the social doctrine of the Catholic Church during the decade of the seventies in a top …
Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría
Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas
Tags: Solidarity, Development, Society, Philippines
By Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas, Vice President for Research, University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). Chairman, Center for Research and Communication
Introduction
Development is a multi-faceted word that is shared by academics and social scientists, on one hand, and policy makers and program implementors on the other. To differentiate the various nuances, a wide range of adjectives have been affixed to the word, as in such phrases as economic development, sustainable development, human development and socio-cultural development.
The purpose of this paper is to present the concrete examples of initiatives for attaining authentic human development all over the world that have been inspired by the teachings of St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei.
Development Strategies Inspired by St. Josemaría Escrivá
Human work is completely indispensable for the personal development of each human being. As St. Josemaría used to repeat, each person must sanctify his work, sanctify himself in his work, and sanctify others through his work.
Always united to the teaching authority of the Church, St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei, reinforced and in some instances anticipated the social doctrine of the Church in giving concrete solutions to the goals of authentic human development. Fifty three years before Laborem Exercens, St. Josemaría Escrivá had already started to preach about the sanctifying value of human work. In an interview published in the Spanish magazine Palabra (October 1967), St. Josemaría explained the meaning of “sanctifying work”: “The expression 'sanctifying work' involves fundamental concepts of the theology of Creation. What I have always taught over the last forty years, is that a Christian should do all honest human work, be it intellectual or manual, with the greatest perfection possible: with human perfection (professional competence) and with Christian perfection (for love of God's Will and as a service to mankind). Human work done in this manner, no matter how humble or insignificant it may seem, helps to shape the world in a Christian way. The world's divine dimension is made more visible and our human labor is thus incorporated into the marvelous work of Creation and Redemption. It is raised to the order of grace. It is sanctified and becomes God's work, operatio Dei, opus Dei.”
Human work is completely indispensable for the personal development of each human being. As St. Josemaría used to repeat, each person must sanctify his work, sanctify himself in his work, and sanctify others through his work. But besides being a personal obligation work is also a communitarian task. It is a requirement of the common good.
From the very beginning of his apostolic work in Opus Dei in 1928, St. Josemaría had already preached what would be stated in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (n. 264) almost five decades later: “No Christian, in light of the fact that he belongs to a united and fraternal community, should feel that he has the right not to work and to live at the expense of others (cf. 1Thes 3:6-12). Rather, all are charged by the Apostle Paul to make it a point of honor to work with their own hands so as ‘to be dependent on nobody” (1 Thes 4:12), and to practice a solidarity which is also material by sharing the fruits of their labor with 'those in need' (Eph 4:28). Saint James defends the trampled rights of workers: 'Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts' (Jas 5:4). Believers are to undertake their work in the style of Christ and make it an occasion for Christian witness, commanding 'the respect of outsiders’ (1Thes 4:12).”
St. Josemaría did much during his lifetime to teach and encourage numerous individuals all over the world to make use of their ordinary work to contribute to the common good. Some examples of these private initiatives imbued with the spirit of solidarity, which especially characterized the teachings of Pope John Paul II in Laborem Exercens and Centesimus Annus, are found in a series of publications entitled The Grandeur of Ordinary Life. This series was published by the University of the Holy Cross in Rome on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of St. Josemaría, in 2002. In an introduction to Volume XI of the series, Dr. Carlos Cavallé, referring to the very graphic phrase "Christian materialism" coined by St. Josemaría, wrote: “Christian humanism gives priority to spiritual well-being, which is reached as the result of one's effort to achieve union with God. At the same time, however, Christian humanism insists on the inseparable synthesis between spiritual and material well-being, since it is precisely through created things and honest human activities carried out in the world that most ordinary Christians can and should reach union with God. This kind of 'Christian materialism' is at the center St. Josemaría's message.
Building a better society
“If we focus on the business world, we see that St. Josemaría's message is clear and sound. Pointing out the desire and the duty of all Christians to 'reconcile all things with God, placing Christ, by means of their work in the middle of the world, at the summit of all human activities, Blessed Josemaría is telling the corporate world and their executives that this desire to contribute from their business, each one according to his or her own possibilities to building a better society, and creating and distributing goods in a just and equitable way, should be combined with professionalism, a spirit of service which involves putting the needs of others first, and the noble aspiration to bring every human being to Christ. These are ideas that Blessed Josemaría not only preached all over the world, but which, as the Church solemnly declared, he also lived heroically.”
The freedom of initiative
St. Josemaría captured perfectly the freedom of initiative highlighted in the writings of Pope John Paul II, especially in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987). But he saw this freedom, not only from the standpoint of the entrepreneur trying to achieve his legitimate profit by the production and sale of goods and services, but also as the right of businessmen to contribute to the common good through not-for-profit initiatives. He motivated people in business to establish business schools in many parts of the world whose mission is to train men and women of business who commit themselves to work for a just and humane society as they operate and expand their respective businesses with the utmost professional competence and social responsibility.
Men and women of business with the utmost professional competence and social responsibility.
The first one of these business schools was IESE (Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa) Business School in Barcelona, Spain, whose establishment in 1958 was personally encouraged by St. Josemaría. Today, IESE Business School, the business faculty of the University of Navarre in Spain, is considered among the top business schools in the world, having been ranked number one among all schools offering the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) Program by The Economist in 2005 and 2006. What distinguishes IESE Business School is the commitment to the common good that it tries to inculcate in all who participate in its manifold programs, as a consequence of St. Josemaría's teachings.
The following words of the present Dean, Dr. Jordi Canals, in the Introduction to the MBA Program brochure, captures well how IESE, inspired by St. Josemaría, has committed itself to the training of business leaders who have integrated the spirit of solidarity into their corporate mission: “IESE Business School has a proven track record of innovation. It was the first in Europe to establish a two-year MBA and the first in the world to offer a bilingual MBA. Today, IESE has secured its position as a top business school globally, with campuses in Barcelona and Madrid, and pioneering activities in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin American and the United States. Our mission is to transform business and society through management education and leadership development, creating a better world by developing better leaders: people with big aspirations and a spirit of service equipped with the skills and capabilities to make a positive difference.”
IESE's experiences have been replicated all over the world by business schools such as the IPADE in Mexico, the IAE in Argentina, and the Lagos Business School in Nigeria, among others. In today's fully globalized economy, business leaders can often be more effective in promoting the international common good than governmental organizations.
In the context of a developing country like the Philippines, I have been personally involved in another undertaking directly promoted by St. Josemaría in the late 1960s. I am referring to the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), a private think tank and graduate school in the Philippines that trained professional people in the field of business economics, mass media, politics and education who were completely conscious of their moral obligation to contribute to the common good of Philippine society. As I described in the same volume to which I referred above, in the series of publications on "The Grandeur of Ordinary Life," CRC was instrumental in encouraging professional people, especially those in business, to promote the common good, through the Makati Business Club.
www.josemariaescriva.info/article/development-str…
This Club "arose from the efforts of a small group of business executives who received an intense formation in the social doctrine of the Catholic Church during the decade of the seventies in a top …