La Thuile

CHARITABLE OUT REACH AND WORK
From the the Solidarity Banks to the business management school, Andrea Franchi and Bernard Scholz spoke about themselves and about what we can learn by obeying the reality that presents itself to us

Thursday evening, Andrea Franchi and Bernhard Scholz spoke about what it means for them to engage with reality–the former in charitable work and the latter in his job. For the past few years, Andrea’s gesture of charity has been to coordinate the Solidarity Banks (Traces, Vol. 10, No. 6 [June] 2008), formed of groups ofpeople who bring essential groceries to needy families. This very simple gesture revolves entirely around the relationship with the families. This relationship “is decisive, because it educates me each time to look at who I am: a poor fellow who desires happiness and who has had the grace to encounter the answer in Christ. It’s an educative challenge because when you’re before a family that can’t manage to make it to the end of the month, you can’t give speeches. You go there with the bag of food and stay before them just as you are,” Andrea said, at the opening of his testimony. Thus, the goal is your own education. He continued with an example: “Two friends were bringing groceries to an elderly couple, and a lovely relationship developed.  One day, the lady said, ‘I want to show you our wedding photograph. It’s in the attic.’ They went upstairs to look for it together, and when she opened a chest, they saw the photo on top of some bundles of cash. Nobody spoke. Then the old woman, on the verge of tears, explained, ‘Forgive us, the money is a gift from our grandson, but we didn’t have the courage to tell you about it because we were afraid you would stop coming. Yours is the only relationship in which we feel loved.’ These two friends continued to visit (without the groceries, obviously), because it was important for them.” Within a gesture of charity there is a human change; if my consciousness of myself changes, I change.”
Bernhard, who this year began serving as President of the Companionship of Works, is a consultant and educator. In 2003, Giorgio Vittadini called on him to create the Enterprise School. “Right from the start, it was a provocation for me and made me reflect on my work, because Italy has no school for small and mid-sized businesses. I set out with a certain intuition, then I conducted research; I observed the reality of small and mid-sized businesses, formulated a hypothesis, and we got started.” So far, a normal procedure. Wherein lies the diversity? “I had the clear impression that this work had been given to me, like a call, and I experienced it much more intensely. This made me realize that everything you do isn’t yours; it’s been entrusted to you. This point of departure also changed my way of observing, perceiving, and understanding the reality that I was facing; that is, it became obedience. In order to respond to the issues, I had to obey reality.” This is a different human journey, starting out from a real challenge and arriving at openness to the infinite horizon–even in managing a business.                              
(P.B.)