In the 30 years of existence of the Jesuit Conference of Provincials of Europe there has never been a meeting of all the treasurers of all our provinces and regions. In recent years there have been regional meetings in Western, Southern and Central Eastern Europe, but now the development of Jesuit networking and the ongoing process of restructuring the provinces has helped to bring together all those in charge of property management and finance.

It has been a long process to compile the agenda for this meeting. There are many issues that treasurers have to deal with in their countries that affect in the same way other territories and can help each other. For example, in many places financial help is needed to support the studies of young Jesuits. We cannot give up good formation for the new ones, since five years ago the Major Superiors of Europe and the Middle East created a system of solidarity to ensure the necessary funds for formation. The purpose of the meeting of treasurers is to evaluate this Solidarity in Formation Mechanism. Unfortunately the same cannot be done with health care funds. This means that we need to ask for help and to encourage the creation of Development Offices in every country to explore new ways of fundraising and mutual assistance.

One of the main moments of the treasurers meeting was the input of Alain Deneef, president of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni (WUJA), who spoke about organizational evolution in a changing world and opened new horizons of collaboration and networking in our structures. Treasurers enjoy an atmosphere of mutual help, transparency and commitment among the different territories of our Conference. The steering committee for this meeting (Fr. Jaime Badiola, Fr. Artur Demkovicz, Fr. Franck Delorme, and Fr. José de Pablo) took care of every single moment in plenaries, groups, liturgies, prayers and logistics. The presence of the General Treasurer of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Thomas McClain, who was also involved in the previous work for this meeting, and his assistants Fr. Antonio Delfau and Fr. Michel N’Tangu was really helpful to realize that our solidarity is reaching many Jesuit works all around the world in many generous ways.

The Jesuit house of the Old Abbey of Drongen, in Flanders, was the perfect venue for the meeting of treasurers that finished also with a visit to the remarkable city of Ghent and a taste of the best Belgium beers.