Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity Spiritual Life / Religious Identity Committee Accountability Paul Michalenko, ST Monthly Reflection - April, 2006 In 1982 seven people died mysteriously on the west side of Chicago. The cause was traced to cyanide (poison) laced aspirin, Extra-Strength Tylenol. The product was produced by the Johnson and Johnson Company. News traveled quickly about the incidents and was the cause of a massive US nationwide panic. It was clear that the tainted product did not originate from the production plants. Someone bought the aspirin, added the poison and replaced them on the shelves of stores. Nevertheless Johnson and Johnson were faced with a dilemma of how to respond with their revenue, integrity and the entire corporation at stake. Tylenol was the most profitable drug on the market.             The CEO and his vice-presidents moved quickly and decisively. They hired trucks with loud speakers to comb the neighborhoods to warn residents about the poison laden aspirin, in case they had not heard or watched the news. They assisted the police. They reached out to the families of the victims. But what shocked everyone is that they recalled 31 million bottles of Tylenol throughout the country with a retail value of over 100 million dollars. Marketing and business analysts thought that they had committed professional suicide. They had killed their corporation             Newspaper men and women later interviewed the top management to understand the source of their radical decision. From every leader they heard the same response. Robert Wood Johnson, the founder of the company, wrote a company “credo” fifty years earlier and demanded that each member of the organization memorize, live and act on the credo. The first line of the credo reads “We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.” The last paragraph begins with “Our final responsibility is to our stockholders…” There was no question of what our response should be; given this credo that had been instilled in our minds and our hearts.             I use this story from business as an example of accountability. In an age of daily newspaper reports of corporate misconduct, where political unscrupulousness prevails in many of our countries and where even the church’s response to abuse crisis has been questioned. I find this story remarkable. The ending of the story is that the company regained its full market for the Tylenol product having restored trust in the public. It also initiated tamper resistant packaging which we now take for granted.             What is the message for us Missionary Servants?             We are not a business, nor are we about profits but we have a “credo” passed down from our founder that calls us to accountability. Our rule of life should give our leadership and each of us focus and direction. We are missionaries that “meet the pressing needs of the day”. “Our specific mission is the preservation of the faith…among those people who are spiritually neglected and abandoned especially the poor.” “Our chief effort is to develop a missionary spirit in the laity…” “We have an ardent zeal for the poor…” We promote and support the ministries of the laity.  “We ...call apostolic men and women… to become lay associates.” We foster a family spirit.             Our leadership and each of us in community should constantly call each another to this credo. In the corporate story the leadership knew the credo, consulted with one another and was decisive. We in the Cenacle have a practice of taking counsel. What would happen if we regularly took counsel with each other about personal, communal and congregational decisions in relationship to the rule? Would we be as decisive?          One could argue that our rule is not as focused as it could be. What is the first priority; being a missionary, poor and abandoned, promoting laity, or fostering a family spirit? The Missiology Statement from the “Methodology and Evaluation for Mission” from the twelfth General Cenacle I believe helps us be clearer. Missiology Statement: The gift which the Missionary servants of the Most Holy Trinity share with the world and the church is the special relationship with the laity – The People of God. This shared relationship is unique to us because it flows from our roots and our experience of being part of the Missionary Cenacle Family. It is essential because it gives us a common identity and sends us as missionaries. At the heart of this relationship, we choose to make every catholic an apostle to serve the poor and abandoned peoples of our society, fostering a shared ministry in extending the reign of God for the preservation of the faith and for the transformation of society in the daily providence of our lives where we serve. (p 8)         With the call from our General Council to reinstate the practice of counsel in our cenacles I suggest we begin with that statement and see if we can be both accountable and decisive about our future together without counting the cost.