The Covid-19 pandemic has effected FACSI contributions in 2021
FACSI, the Apostolic and Charitable Fund of the Society of Jesus (the acronym comes from the Latin name) is an agency of Father General which offers financial support to projects in various parts of the world. Each year, Provinces and Regions are asked to contribute to FACSI. FACSI receives requests for funding and assistance from needy entities. Father General decides to which projects FACSI resources should be directed.
Every year, the Superior General reports on the contributions which have been received and on their distribution. This year he did so in his letter of 31 August. It should be noted that FACSI does not build up a capital fund. Rather, all the monies received are distributed. Therefore, the number of projects which can be supported each year depends entirely on the level of contributions received during the year.
For
2021, Father Sosa began his letter by noting that the global Covid-19 crisis
has certainly had a negative impact on the total of contributions received for
FACSI, and, therefore, on the funds available. In many places, the Society
dedicated resources to people directly affected by the health crisis at the
local level. As a result, less money was available to distribute on the
international level.
More specifically, in 2021, FACSI received 43 applications for financial assistance, and was only able to fund 20 of these projects. The total requested in the applications amounted to €2,162,962, and the 20 approved projects received €931,679, or 43% of the total requested.
Some details: in 2021, 8 projects from the Conference of Africa and Madagascar were accepted (46.7% of the amounts allocated), 5 projects from South Asia (27.5%), 3 projects from Latin America and the Caribbean (10.5%), and 1 project from the European Conference (4.3%). The distribution of funds by apostolic ministries was: the educational and intellectual ministry received €411,036 (or 44.12% of the total funds), the pastoral ministry received €397,598 (42.67%), the social apostolate received €73,044 (7.84%), and other Jesuit works received €50,000 (5.37%).
It
is worth recalling that FACSI was one of the initiatives set up by Fr Pedro
Arrupe during his time as General. He saw it as a means to make all Jesuits
aware of the needs of their companions who live and work in difficult contexts;
in his view, FACSI was a project to promote the universal character of the
Society of Jesus.
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