Lead Us in the Way of Salvation

Jesus Continues to Heal through Sacrament

2010-11-01T01:19:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Jesus as Healer is a strong image in the gospels. We know His
image as Teacher through scripture passages like the Sermon on
the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and His image of Good Shepherd in John
10:1-42. But the image of Jesus as Healer can be found in many
parts of the gospels. His healing ministry did not involve only
physical healing; it also involved moral healing - such as the
conversion of Zacchaeus the tax collector.

Jesus heals us through the Sacraments

Jesus continues His healing ministry through the Church by means
of the Sacraments. Sickness and sin are everyday realities in
life we all have to face - personally, or members of our family.
We go to the doctor not only because he specializes in the
science of healing, but because he is also established by God
for this very purpose (Sirach 38:1-14). What completes the
healing process we obtain from the doctor's treatment, is the
healing action of Christ in the Sacraments.

The Sunday Eucharist

The Sunday Eucharist is a source of healing - for body, mind,
spirit and relationships. When the priest begins the communion
rite with the words - "This is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sins of the world...happy are those who are called to His
Supper," all of us respond with, "Lord, I am not worthy to
receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed." This
healing action we receive every Sunday, is also the material by
which we can praise and thank God in the next Sunday Eucharists
- gratefully thanking Him for healing our ills.

Confession

Part of the journey towards healing is a General Confession of
our sins. St. Ignatius of Loyola advises this in his book, "The
Spiritual Exercises", and St. Francis de Sales also advises this
in his book, "Introduction to the Devout Life". What could help
in making a General Confession is to consider this question to
ourselves well: "What serious sins would I need to confess if
I were already at the throes of death?" After this General
Confession, then we can continue to receive the sacrament more
regularly to strengthen us morally against the daily onslaughts
of temptations to evil and sin.

Physical and moral healing

Confession and the Eucharist are the Sacraments we can receive
regularly. The healing power of Christ is present in these
two Sacraments. Christ's healing presence is also found in the
Blessed Sacrament. A visit to the adoration chapel for about
30 minutes can help set things right for anyone who is very
"tired, tempted and troubled" in the daily grind of work.
Very active people are like glass jars with water and soil that
are shaken with violent motion. If these glass jars were made to
be still in one spot, then the soil will eventually settle at
the bottom of the jar, and the water will be clearer. The longer
the glass jar is made still, the clearer the water will be.

Summary

As we read and pray the gospels, we obtain consolations and a
sense of well-being when we believe that Jesus came, and became
Word Incarnate to save us from sickness, sin and eternal death.
But we will derive even more the full benefit of God's healing
word and action through the Sacraments of Confession and the
Eucharist. The image of Jesus as Healer is very important for
our present generation. Because of the deadly stress our
generation is faced with from all directions (political, social,
economic, environmental), we need Jesus in the Sacrament more
for our time.

Inculturating Christian Values in Corporate Cultures

2010-06-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

This reflective-analytical study is meant to be a light
perception of how Christian virtues can abound between corporate
cultures - even when they clash as a result of pursuing the
completion of their end-services or products.

For example, if a corporate developer were to deal with a
financial institution, one of the possible clashes in corporate
cultures would be in the speed at which they process their end-
products or services. Corporate developers would plan slowly and
very carefully so that the end-product (which usually takes years
to complete) is constructed according to what is planned. In
this corporate structure, workers tend to move slow (with the
exception probably of their finance department).

As for financial institutions, the end-product is money. Thus,
the wise-old adage that says, "time is gold", is at the back of
every employee of financial institutions. So, people and workers
in these financial institutions, move very fast and efficiently
(especially those in sales departments of investment departments)
as they have to take into account of immediate deadlines,
maturity dates, and especially interest rates.

A problem scenario is now experienced when one member from a
corporate developer environment were to deal with someone from a
financial institution. Given the corporate cultural "speed" by
which each one "thinks, moves, acts", and by how they were trained
by their companies, the one from a corporate developer culture
would think and act very slowly, while the one from a financial
institution, would think and act very fast. If both workers,
employees, and managers of both these corporations would forget
the values of knowledge and understanding, clashes would be
inevitable. Knowledge and understanding of each one's corporate
culture can help smoothen out the roughness in dealing with each
other.

Here is where the Christian virtues of knowledge and
understanding come into place. And we can add to it also:
patience, prudence (tact and diplomacy), peace, goodness, and
kindness in interpersonal or electronic communications. This is
how we can make the workplace and corporate environment a more
Christian environment. When each corporate member would be looking
not only at the objective of his or her corporation's mission, but
also at the mission and cultural context by which the other
coporation operates, then there would be better harmony and
understanding between corporations. Peace and profits are
difficult to obtain in these hard times. But it is possible.
Goodness always triumphs over evil (in the long-term and
ultimately). Peace and profits for both corporate entities can
be achieved when the right balance of corporate needs/profits and
corporate other-centeredness is imbued with the Christian
virtues.

For more ideas as to this topic of corporate culture, you may
want to refer to Dolores Lynn Torrell's book, "Heart-Business:
Building a Kinder, Gentler Workplace".

Keeping a Small Business Alive Despite Severe Calamity

2009-10-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

When typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines, many Filipinos were
caught unprepared. It was a Saturday morning. The 26th of
September. Rain was light at about 6:00 a.m. Many commuters and
cars were on the road even at that early time. When the rain
started to pour heavily at about 8:00 a.m., little did Manila
city-dwellers know that the rain would cause many rivers to
overflow - with some areas being flooded and engulfing houses up
to their second floor!

The downpour only occured a few hours, but it was intense. About
8-9 hours of very heavy rain. It caused so much damage to lives
and property. Crops and businesses were greatly affected. Ponds
of fish and alligator farms had their enclosures broken. People
on the streets and cars were not only stranded, but had to move
submerged in neck-high water. It was a day that no one expected.
A day that place many individuals and families in grave danger.

In all the reports that came in, what surprised us was a radio
interview of a woman who had a sari-sari store (something like
a small Pop-and-Mom convenience store which sells basic food
commodities needed for a day). When the floods rushed in, this
small business woman immediately acted, obtaining help from her
family members, and placed all her commodities on the top of her
roof. It is quite amazing what she did. When bancas (small boats)
passed by her roof to ferry people away from their flooded area,
she was able to sell a few food stuffs to the hungry passengers
on the bancas. I do not know what to call what she did, but she
really is to be commended for not only saving her small business,
but also helping others regain strength to survive the stress of
the calamity.

The example of this woman can inspire many of us who often are
tempted to panic or feel helpless in times of extreme adversity.
This woman teaches us a lesson in how to overcome adversity not
only for oneself but also for others. Perhaps it was reason that
guided her more than emotions. Her example helps us to see how we
can use our intelligence so that we can survive. In a way, this
small businesswoman was also lucky. It was a good thing that the
floods in her area did not rise any further. Otherwise, her small
food commodities for sale at the top of her roof would also have
been swept away by the surging floods.

This true story (as reported on local radio) can remind us of the
gospel. In many passages of the gospels - especially those
towards the end chapters - we hear Jesus teaching his hearers
always to be vigilant and to be prepared. He even taught parables
on the importance of being watchful. "Watch and pray" were His
important words to His apostles. If we nurture this spirit
within us, perhaps when something like Ketsana suddenly irrupts
and strikes, we may be ready to act like the woman who brought
all her store items to the top of her roof. She continued her
business of serving those who needed even a small morsel of bread
to keep up their strength against the Ketsana calamity.

Pastoral Care to Those Who Can Only Receive Communion in Tongue

2009-08-18T03:29:00.001-07:00

With the outbreak of the influenza A H1N1 virus in the Philippine
population, the local Church authorities made a ruling to prevent
the further spread of the virus also within the celebration of
the Mass: they told the faithful to receive the communion host
not in the tongue, but only in the hand.

As a local communion minister, I realized that certain groups of
people need extra pastoral care in relation to this ruling. These
groups of people who can only receive communion in the tongue
are:

the elderly and disabled who are brought in wheelchair to
the celebration of the Mass
the elderly who are already feeble and often accompanied in
the communion line by their middle-aged son or daughter
the young parents who cannot leave their toddler in the
Church pew, but need to carry the child in both their arms as
they line up for communion (and also parents who have both their
hands full of two children who are not of communion-age)
the sick and elderly in their homes who have always been
used to receive the communion host in the tongue (especially the
sick who have suffered stroke and cannot move their arms)

The best preventive care I personally think which can be done in
general is to wash the hands well with water and soap in the
sacristy of the Church before the Mass, and to wash it with water
again during the Mass before communion time. This is my personal
opinion of what can be done in response to special persons, until
the local Church authorities would deem it necessary to create
specific guidelines on how to take extra pastoral care of persons
who can only receive the communion in the tongue.

Managing Finances Well Helps us Avoid Many Stressors Every Day

2009-06-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

Professional therapists say that the average person can take in at
most two big stressors in a day. The third one can damage the
person in terms of, for example: a sleepless night for that day,
very frayed nerves, irritability, inability to concentrate for a
few days, and many more. In today's present environment, when
stressors can come to us not only through the news, the A H1N1
pandemic, and the recklessness of some drivers on the road, but
also in handling our finances, we need to find means and ways to
manage our finances (personal or small business) so as to avoid
a big stressor for the day.

Here are a few suggestions which can give you ideas of how you can
manage your finances so that you can avoid a stressor that can
damage your health:

always select the cheaper option when purchasing something,
to save on money (except for certain foods or medicines)
buy only things needed: food, medicines, gasoline, and other
basic needs of the family
avoid "snowballing" your financial obligations; once something
is due, if you already have the money, pay it early, so that you
are not stressed to pay many things all at once in the end
as an alternative to a garage sale, you can earn money by
selling bottles, paper, carton, metal, or plastics, to a business
that recycles these things
keep a tight check on your finances; don't lend big, only a
small amount which your borrower can easily repay
anticipate financial obligations three months ahead, and work
to save money for it
go with the flow of the economy; it is bigger than us or our
small business; when money is tight, let us not spend needlessly;
when there is money, buy all essential goods and save what is left
of our money (even though it may be a small amount); in a crisis,
every cent or centavo counts
never forget to trust in the Lord and His Providential Care;
prayer and faith expands our consciousness; it takes away the
financial stress that tightens our breathing into gasps; sitting
quietly and still before the Most Blessed Sacrament for half an
hour, or an hour, links us to God who is the Source of Life; after
such a religious experience, our breathing becomes deep and full,
helping us to slow down and work moderately and wisely, so as
not to damage our health for the long-term
let us not forget to be charitable; the more we give, the more
we receive; it may not be from the person whom we have been
kind and charitable, but it will certainly be from a person
whom God chooses as His means to reward us for the good we
have done
let us live a "bayanihan" spirit in our social network; as
family, friends, and significant persons in our life band and
bond together, support one another, a wealth of resources opens
up for each one in the social network; being good magnifies
a spirit of profit; being bad only leads to ruin and
destruction - both of our means of earning a living, and
our soul

Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Good Shepherd

2009-05-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

If you happen to read the commentary on John 10:1-21, by George W.
MacRae, in his book, "Invitation to John", George presents two
images of Jesus in John's 10th chapter: Jesus as the Gate, and
Jesus as the Good Shepherd. According to the author, the two
images are distinct from one another. The first image dwells on
Jesus as our access to God and to eternal life. The second image
on the other hand, focuses on the very person of Jesus. It is in
this second image that we are very familiar with: Jesus as a model
Shepherd, who shows by His very good example, how He laid down His
life, by obedience to the Father, for the benefit of all us sheep
in His flock.

The background, according to MacRae, of shepherd-sheep imagery, is
found all throughout the Bible, and thus conveys to us the
universal importance given it by the Bible's authors. If we cite
one passage in the Old Testament, that familiar passage of Psalm
23, "The Lord is my Shepherd", this passage alludes to Jesus, who
will really fulfill His role as Shepherd of all Israel and the
world.

Another passage of shepherd-sheep imagery is found in the prophecy
of Ezekiel 34:1-31. This passage tells us of the infidelity of
the shepherds of Israel (the leaders of the people), to Yahweh,
who is always faithful in His role as Shepherd to His people. And
because of this, Yahweh will choose His servant David, whom He
will raise up as a model of responsible "shepherdhood".

In the New Testament, aside from the 10th chapter of John, the
shepherd-sheep imagery is also seen in the parable of the lost
sheep: in LUke 15:4-7, and in Matthew 18:12-14.

If we place all these scriptural meanings within the context of
celebrating the Eucharist, when the priest-presider says in the
words of consecration, "Do this in memory of Me", it is Jesus in
the person of the priest, who is also teaching us to be good
shepherds to each other - to take care and be responsible for the
people entrusted to our care: children, elderly parents or loved
ones, and even clients whom we serve in a particular profession.
Jesus is the model par excellence of a good shepherd - for He
always seeks any sheep that has strayed from the fold, and gathers
all of them to pasture. We too are called to do the same in our
given life-situations.

How Small Businesses Can Survive and Thrive in a Downturn

2009-03-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

After reading a few business books for the operations of our small
family business, I learned that in an economic downturn, it is
often the service industries that survive and thrive, while the
industries related to luxury items are really challenged to
survive and thrive. In the present global economic downturn, it
is quite alarming to see that even the service industries are much
affected. A concrete example are the two fast-food service stalls
I patronize. Both sell inexpensive and very affordable food
items, and the service they give is always accompanied with a
smile. Now both these food stalls have closed down! With the
food service businesses also affected, and food being a very basic
need, also affected by the rising deluge of instability,
pessimism, and falling profits, our local food service industry
is really called to make a quality of difference in these times
to survive and thrive in the downturn.

What quality of difference is the service industry (of which many
small family businesses are part of) challenged to create? Now
this is something that really needs quick but careful study,
research, and analysis. We can source our study from the classic
books on business. If we review the book "In Search of
Excellence" by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., they
list down eight attributes that characterize excellently run
businesses. These eight attributes are:

A bias for action
Close to the customer
Autonomy and entrepreneurship
Productivity through people
Hands-on, value driven
Stick to the knitting
Simple form, lean staff
Simultaneous loose-tight properties

These are eight basic attributes that can spell survive and
thrive or fall and disaster for our small business. We can refer
back to these basics, but if we already apply them and still our
small family business is shaken in their underpinnings and
foundations, then something else probably needs to be added in
our present crisis. Every crisis is unique, and the solutions
to one crisis may not be a solution to another crisis.

Another book that can help us discover solutions that can help
our small family business operations to survive and thrive during
the downturn, is the book of Scott W. Ventrella, "The Power of
Positive Thinking in Business". Scott Ventrella's ten ideas for
positive in business are:

Optimism
Enthusiasm
Belief
Integrity
Courage
Confidence
Determination
Patience
Calmness
Focus

These are very good positive traits and attitudes to have in our
small family business. What we can do to double and strengthen
the positivity of these ideas of Ventrella is to quickly and
roughly find a "Christian" equivalent of these positive traits
and attitudes. This Christian equivalent I can think of are the
following:

Hope
Zeal
Faith
Fear of the Lord
Fortitude
Trust in God
Desire to do God's Will
Longanimity
Equanimity
Single-mindedness

If we use these Christian virtues in combination with the ten
ideas given by Ventrella, then perhaps small family businesses
in the service industries, will have a greater chance to survive
and thrive in the downturn. The reason may be attributed to the
fact that we would not only be relying on our own strength and
life, but also sourcing it from a Higher Being, God. Ideally,
therefore, our small business can employ this strategy of not
only thinking positively on our own, but doubling its strength
by seeking a limitless source of strength and life from God.

Christian Suffering as Seen by Leseur and St. Philip Howard

2009-03-02T20:08:00.001-08:00

Many modern spiritual leaders teach us the meaning of Christian suffering through their own experience and their prayers. One such spiritual leader and writer is Elizabeth Leseur. In her prayer, she sees even passive suffering as one with great use to others, if it is suffered with and for Jesus. She prays:

"Lord, make us realise that simply suffering for Jesus' sake and by bearing about our bodies the dying of Jesus, we can do more for him and for others than we can be being active. It is very hard to understand this, so please make us realise that our very helplessness can be of great use to others, if we suffer it with and for Jesus."

Commonly, we who are not in the state of suffering at present, may forget the value in human suffering. And we might be even adverse at its presence - seeking only what will bring us comfort and ease. But once, like Elizabeth Leseur, we "graft" our own suffering to the "dying of Jesus", it will have much meaning in the Christian sense. In the prayer of St. Philip Howard, it can even have a redemptive use. Philip prays:

"O Christ my Lord, who for my sins did hang upon a tree, grant that your grace in me poor wretch, may still ingrafted be. Grant that your naked hanging there may kill in me all pride, and care of wealth since you did then in such poor state abide. Grant that your crown of prickling thorns, which you for me did wear, may make me willing for your sake all shame and pain to bear. Grant that your pierced hand, which did of nothing all things frame, may move me to lift up my hands and ever praise your name. Grant that your wounded feet, whose steps were perfect evermore, may learn my feet to tread those paths which you have gone before. Grant that your blessed grave wherein your body lay awhile, may bury all such vain delights as may my mind defile. Grant, Lord, that your ascending then may lift my mind to thee, that there my heart and joy rest, though here in flesh I be."

It takes a certain intensity of suffering experienced by both Elizabeth Leseur and St. Philip Howard to pray as they did in the prayers shown above. Most of the time, we view suffering from the outside, like the friends of Job, who present many theories for what Job had experienced in his suffering. That is why our compassion weakens and we are tempted in our pride to moralize (as did the friends of Job) those who are intensely suffering in life.

Elizabeth Leseur, who also suffered much in her Christian life, continue to teach us about suffering in her prayer:

"Our suffering works mysteriously, first in ourselves by a kind of renewal and also in others who are perhaps far away, without ever knowing what we are accomplishing. Christ on the cross has perhaps done more for humanity than Christ speaking and acting in Galilee or Jerusalem. Suffering creates life. It transforms everything it touches. Help us to understand this through Christ, our Lord."

It is perhaps in prayer and a deeper relation with Christ crucified that we will be given the gift to understand more the gift of Christian suffering. Let us therefore take the opportunity in this season of Lent, to look at suffering not from the outside, but within - in our own pain, burdens, and afflictions. Let us try to penetrate the mystery of suffering and see the trials of this life as the passion of Christ in us. Let us like Elizabeth Leseur "bear about our bodies the dying of Jesus". And like St. Philip Howard, let us pray for the grace that will "bury all such vain delights as may [our] mind defile" so that we may be purified of our pride and be permeated by the Spirit, who permeates all of our human suffering.

It Pays to Be Good and Honest

2009-02-17T02:48:00.000-08:00

In times of war, many things happen that are really out of the
usual. There are for sure the heroic deeds of some people. There
are also stories of betrayal, legends of loyal and courageous
soldiers, tales of people who put up a good fight, stories of
abandonment, and so on. In the worst of times, as in adversity
and war, the best and the worst of people come out to the fore.

There are stories that inspire also. And these stories are often
handed down from generation to generation. It may even reach
other countries. For example, let me tell you a story I heard
of which continues to inspire me in how I conduct our small
family business. The story goes like this:

There is an old, about late middle-aged couple living in a small
village, who own and manage a small store for the residents of
their community. There were other business establishments in the
village, but this couple was extraordinary in their goodness and
kindness to their customers. They dealt honestly with them. And
they lived a simple life, fearing God, and was reputed to live
honorably and with integrity. All the people in the village
simply liked them even though they were just a small and simple
enterprise.

But then adversity fell upon the whole country. In fact, it
affected even neighboring countries and far-flung areas. An
offensive occupying force made its way to ransack and plunder the
peoples of these areas. In the village where the old couple
live, all the stores and businesses were pillaged, looted, and
burnt to the ground. Except for the store of the old couple.
What happened? This is what we were told. The people who were
treated very well by this old couple put up a really good fight
to save the store of the old couple. The people saw something
worth fighting for in what the old couple and their store stood
for. And so, the store of the old couple was saved from the
marauding forces that occupied their village.

Many would say that the people wanted to save the store because
it represents the best of the values which the people of the
village believe in. Others would say that the old couple was
just lucky and that the people did not want that last store to
be razed to the ground because that is where they will get their
supplies for their homes. Whatever way people would perceive or
judge the truth behind the saving of the store, if we view it
from more than just a human angle, there is really something more
valuable than gold in the way this old couple lived. They
represented the noblest ideals which the human spirit can reach
out for. And they truly and conretely testify to the truth that
a good reputation is of far greater worth than silver or gold.
In times of adversity and war, that is what will save, rather
than riches.

Imagine if we imitate the spirit in which this old couple run
and managed their business. If we are faithful in being kind and
good to our customers; if we treat them nicely and specially; if
we deal with them honestly and fairly as much as this old couple
did; and if we lived honorably and with integrity even outside
of our business - wouldn't we receive the same protection as the
old couple did? I believe we would, especially if we become God-
fearing like the old couple was. And since the old couple was
God-fearing, it was surely not only the people who were on their
side.

The Enneagram: A Tool for Leading Communities

2009-01-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Understanding Others and Yourself Through the
Enneagram

Being a servant-leader involves getting to know those you
serve. And one way of basically getting to know people is
through the Enneagram personality classification. Although
each person is entirely unique in himself, there are certain
dominant characteristics that typify a certain type of person
to belong to a class of personality traits like those who
function more with the heart, or with the head, or with the
gut. Below is an article that speaks of Enneagram Personality
Types which can be an aid to leaders to help them understand
their companions and how they are to motivate them through
their personality type.

The Enneagram

The Enneagram is an ancient tool for classifying personality
types. This tool classifies people into nine basic personality
types. Some teachers of the Ennegram give names to this nine
personality types. For the purposes of this article, I will
just give the number so that the personality type may not be
typecasted into a one-word or two-word descriptive term. It
is not easy to speak about this way of classifying people into
personality types because in reality, people are distinctively
unique and thus even if many belong to one personality type,
each of those individuals who belong to that one personality
type has characters and traits that are uniquely his or her
own. And moreover, the human being is growing and is always
in flux - he is a dynamic personality that changes as the
situations and circumstances and experiences he gains are added
to his or her person. However, at a certain stage in his life,
a person can at least gauge at what personality type he is in
so that he may understand himself at this present time. As
you know also the other Enneagram personality types, you can
also gain insight into the persons of your family members,
friends, co-workers, and associates. By understanding what
basic personality type number he belongs to, this can help you
understand the person better.

The Enneagram in Catholic circles

During the 1990's, the Enneagram was very much in vogue among
those in formation to religious life. It was important for
those entering the state of religious life to know not only
their personality type but also the personality types of their
companions as they would be living closely together in community.
Understanding why his or her companion acts or behaves that
way will help avoid unnecessary conflicts and frictions and
tensions in the religious community. Many of those who write
about the Enneagram for Catholics usually have a saint
mentioned as belonging to a certain personality type. In
this article, I will try to recall the saint that often gets
mentioned under a certain personality type in the Enneagram.

Enneagram personality type #1

Here is the good boy, good girl-type person who always wants
to do the right and perfect thing. He wants everything perfect
and in place. For him, it is not right to express your anger
because expression of anger is a sign of imperfection. Usually,
this personality type is very serious and very conscientious,
to the point of sometimes lacking in a sense of humor. The
drive to perfection can be all-consuming that this type of
personality can be a reformer of organizations or a moral
teacher. Many writers on the Enneagram say that St. Paul the
Apostle and St. Ignatius of Loyola were Enneagram personality
type #1s. This is indeed evident in the letters of St. Paul
when he exhorts and urges his readers to always strive to
goodness and perfection. As regards St. Ignatius of Loyola,
we can see this in his system of doing the examen - a way of
examining one's self at several times during the day and then
resolving to better oneself in the process.

Enneagram personality type #2

This is a very service-oriented personality type. He or she
sees the world as a place to serve and to care for. Many
people depend on this personality type as he or she is very
sensitive to people's needs. Many writers of the Enneagram say
that Blessed Teresa of Calcutta belong to this personality type.
Those who fall under the category of this personality type
usually enter into professions that are very service-oriented
or people-oriented. If a manager or a religious superior
would fall under this personality type, he or she would make
a very good leader that is loved by his subordinates because
he or she treats each one as a person and as one needing his
or her attention and care. These personality types are the
nurturing types: the father and mother-type personality-image.
In a community or family-type set-up, when people gather, the
personality type #2 would immediately leave the gathering
and bring refreshments and food to the group. Talk about
service-excellence!

Enneagram personality type #3

Success is very important to this personality type. In fact,
they say that this personality type has a successful image
projected in his smile and his handshake. Since success is
important to this personality type, he or she will do everything
in his or her power to achieve his goals and objectives and
attain the ambition of his or her life. People of this
personality type usually gravitate towards the entertainment
industry and always strive for celebrity status. Because of
the successful image they project, these types of personality
are very attractive to many. They can be very good role models
also for the youth - especially if the image they project is
one that espouses good and traditional values. They say that
the USA is a personality #3 country, because of its success-
driven culture. And many Enneagram writers say that Russia is
a personality #1 country because of its emphasis on utopia and
the idealism of its culture.

Enneagram personality type #4

This personality type is unique and indeed special. Artists,
poets, writers, and many of those who are in the field of
humanities fall into this personality category. This people
seek to be unique and to be different. Many Enneagram writers
say that Thomas Merton belongs to this personality type. Thomas
Merton as we know is a very good writer. He was a Trappist
monk who became famous for his book 'The Seven Storey Mountain'.
In that book, you will see the truly unique journey in life
he took - from being a non-Catholic to being converted into the
Catholic faith and then entering the Trappist monastery and
writing books that are indeed unique and very deep to understand.
It really takes a certain depth of perception to understand the
thoughts and reflections he writes in his books. Enneagram
personality type #4 is usually non-conformist. He will do what
is distinct, special and unique.

Enneagram personality type #5

This personality type are the wisdom-lovers. They often are
thinkers and live to gather information, knowledge and facts.
They are a good resource when it comes to getting all the facts
and information needed to make a wise and good decision. These
personality types usually seek solitude a lot and do a lot of
meditation and reflection. They are logical and are more
head-oriented type personalities. Whereas the personality
type #4 is more heart-oriented, this personality type is more
logical and more objective. It is their left brain that
functions more. In the personality type #4, it is their right
brain that functions more. To give you an idea of what
right-brained personalities are and what left-brained
personalities are, all we need to know is that the right
brain is associated with feelings, emotions, dreams, insights,
intuitions, and ideas. The left brain function is associated
with logic, facts, mathematics, science, and objectivity. For
the personality type #5, they are more prone to use their
left brain functions. St. Thomas Aquinas is said to be an
Enneagram personality type #5. His Summa Theologica
truly attests to that fact.

Enneagram personality type #6

These personality type seeks conformity. This is the man
or woman of the institution. It seeks loyalty and obedience to
rules and regulations. Any thing that goes against the norm or
the rule would upset this personality type. Personality type
#6 are usually very good in religious communities because the
rigid structure of the religious community is like second-nature
to him. Those in business organizations that are conservative
in its organizational structure would also find a lot of
personality type #6 in its member ranks. Since this personality
type finds a great need for people to conform to the
institution, it will find those who do not conform a great
threat to him and the institution he serves. Many Enneagram
writers say that the late Bishop Oscar Romero, who was
murdered in church because of his hardline stand against the
political bloc that oppresses the poor of his Church, was a
good example of the personality type #6. Another Church
personality who falls under this category is St. Peter. St.
Peter indeed is a man of the institution. And his Petrine
function always has to see that everybody in the institution
conforms to it.

Enneagram personality type #7

If you want to have fun, then always go with a personality
type #7. This personality type likes to always indulge in fun
and laughter. He or she can be the spice of the group -
bringing the group to heights of humor and fun. This personality
type is very active - running here and there and doing so many
things at the same time. Hyperactivity is probably second
nature to him or her. But even with all the work and activities
this person does, he or she always finds ways to enjoy life
and to make others enjoy life too by cracking jokes, telling
humorous stories, influencing others to gather in parties and
socials. In a corporate set-up or a religious community, if
you want someone to organize your party or your social
gathering, get a personality type #7 and for sure, your social
gathering will be a success in terms of fun, laughter,
merriment and enjoyment.

Enneagram personality type #8

This personality type needs to be in charge of things. He is
a leader and is very conscious of where the power in a group
resides. Many politicians or those in leadership positions
belong to this personality type. These people are strong
personalities. Sometimes they forget how strong they are that
they often overlook that feelings can get trampled upon when
they act or speak. Because of their need to be in charge and
the need to take leadership positions, they are often concerned
with issues of justice and peace. If you get involved in
justice-oriented causes and groups that advocate human rights,
it is most likely that you will find many personality type #8s
in that scene.

Enneagram personality type #9

This personality type is very peaceful and always seeks
harmony in his or her relationships and environment. Those
who belong to this personality type are very stable in the way
they carry themselves. They do not want anything to 'rock
the boat', so to speak. Since this type seeks harmony and
understanding, this personality type usually gravitate to
humanitarian activities. They can be very altruistic and are
often concerned with the state of mankind and the world. World
leaders who have personality type #9 usually make a great and
positive impact in the world policital scene because of the
ideals with which their personality represents. Since the
world in its positive direction always seeks universal harmony,
brotherhood, peace and unity, a world leader having the
personality of this kind will surely espouse what he or she
believes in and this means all the ideals with which he or
she strives for, most especially, world peace.

Additional note:

All these personality types are gifts. Not one is a cut
above the rest. Not one is better than the other. All of
them are gifts when gathered together in a community because
each one brings the gift of his or her personality to the
group setting. Sometimes it would be fun to see how these
personalities act when it comes to a certain situation.
Take for instance an emergency situation like a fire. #1s
would get his list of emergency procedures and act accordingly;
#2s would be aware of the people who may be affected by the
fire; #3s would make themselves appear as calm and in-charge
of the situation, and at the same time attentive to his
companions' needs; #4s would be very emotional and hyper-
sensitive; #5s would stand still and think what is the best
thing to do; #6s would go to the phone directory and call
the fire department; #7s would tell everybody there is
nothing to worry about; #8s would really take charge of the
situation; and #9s would be calm, stable, and confident that
everything will be well.

All these personality elements are in all of us. There is
just one personality type that seems to more dominant among
the rest. There are free Enneagram testing sites in the
Internet. In one Enneagram testing site, you can even see
the percentages of the personality type #s in your composite
personality.

Building Guanxi into Your Small Family Business

2009-01-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

Guanxi, (gwan-shee), is a Chinese term for mutually beneficial
relationships. This business article will offer the concept
of building "guanxi", as a very good investment strategy to
make your business "built to last".

Investing on good books

I have been scouting around our local bookstores to invest on
books that will provide a pool of ideas to implement for my
small business. Before I purchase something though, I take time
to think well about it - how it would affect our family's
finances, and also how it would influence the direction (in the
case of books) of our small business network. I came upon two
books which really interested me:

"Guanxi: The Art of Relationships - Microsoft, China, and
Bill Gate's Plan to Win the Road Ahead", by Robert Buderi and
Gregory T. Huang
"Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies",
by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras

At first I thought, would these books mislead me into thinking
"too big for my breeches"? Or would it help me with a pool of
ideas in which I can use to grow my small business - helping it
to stabilize and be progressive? When I finally analyzed how
I would use the ideas, I saw a positive direction and a good
grounding of where I stand at present with my small business
network.

A Chinese-influenced economy

My small business network is rooted in a Filipino-Chinese and
economic setting. This means that yes, there is a lot of guanxi
built in internally and externally in the network. Also, in
the present global scene, when the political crises around the
world causes the price of oil to rise, there is indeed an
urgent need to find ways to make a small business last. And
so, this is how I also got the idea of buying "Built to Last".
I promised to myself that I would think "small" when I purchase
these books. Thinking "small" can be translated to mean
thinking of the welfare of our Catholic family and our small
business network of Catholic families. Thus confirmed in my
decision to think "small", I was led to purchase the books and
see how I can invest more in this "guanxi" so that our small
business network of Catholic families will be strong and "built
to last".

And so I did. I bought the books. I am not yet into the
middle of the two books and I am already gaining a wealth of
ideas in which to implement for my small business. And yes,
reading the pages also confirms that the investment in these
two books will give an even greater return: for Buderi and
Huang's description of "guanxi" is what we have been doing in
our small business network. And they concretized the concept
even more with this definition. They define guanxi as four
basic principles:

trust (respect and knowledge of others)
favor (loyalty and obligation)
dependence (harmony and reciprocity,
mutual benefit)
adaptation (patience and cultivation)

Of all the four basic principles of guanxi, trust is probably
the most crucial and essential principle that is important to
study. In fact, trust is the groundwork and cornerstone of
all business relationships. When our trust in the goodness of
others (and even ourselves) fail, the business relationship will
be uprooted and its life will eventually be destroyed. This
is serious especially when a business relationship has already
been established. It is thus important that we nurture this
basic principle of trust and combine it with the other elements
of guanxi, so that our small business network will be rooted
well and grounded well in something "built to last".

Add Your Site to a Catholic or Ecumenical WebRing

2009-01-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

Title: Anything Catholic Goes
URL:
http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=anythingcatholic
Description:
This is a WebRing meant to serve you and for you to serve our
Catholic Church. All Catholic websites are welcome. Writings,
stories, poems, graphics, devotions, prayers, links, humour,
entertainment and movies, personal and family homepages, your
parish, your community, your religious organization, your
ministry(ies), your apostolate(s), your mission(s), your anything
Catholic under the sun! Come and jump in...let us keep the
faith strong in this new millenium!

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Catholic Fidelity WebRing
URL:
http://g.webring.com/hub?ring=yourcatholicwebr
Description:
A ring of only sites loyal the Magisterium of the Church. This
webring strives to include only those websites that contain
information that is NOT contradictory to our faith. Our websites
must also contain some information that is of interest to Catholics
around the world. We do not accept sites that are solely interested
in promoting their products or services, unless they are
Catholic-related. Please do not apply if you are promoting any
New Age ideas, as they will not be accepted into the
webring.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Catholic love
URL:
http://a.webring.com/hub?ring=catholicsaintsan
Description:
This Ring is ardently devoted to the Blessed Trinity, the Holy
Spirit, the Catholic Church and its Teachings and Traditions,
the Communion of Saints, the Holy Scriptures and deeply
consecrated to Christ Jesus, the Emmanuel, 'God-is-with-us',
who is protecting and guiding us in the path of love, unity and
peace in this new millenium. St. Paul says, "At present we see
indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present
I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of
these is love." [1 Corinthians 13:12-13] All Catholic websites
who wish to express their love for our Lord Jesus and the
Catholic Church are very much welcome in this ring.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Catholic Web Pages
URL:
http://f.webring.com/hub?ring=catholicwebpages
Description:
Encompassing sites dedicated to helping people answer questions
about the Catholic Faith by offering links to Catholic resources.
Sites in the ring come from a wide gamut of Catholic spirituality
and is thus rich in classic Christian teaching and contemporary
faith-approaches to modern day life-situations.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Christian Excellence
URL:
http://x.webring.com/hub?ring=christianexcelle
Description:
A webring which believes that sanctity is the proclamation of
human and Christian excellence and that sanctity is no more than
the fullness of humanity fully alive. Holiness, John Paul II
reminds us, belongs to the very nature of the Church, to its
DNA. This is why the whole of the Church's pastoral activity
is oriented to inspiring this holiness. (This webring is open
to all Christians: any site on the subject of spirituality,
theology, prayer, Christian philosophy or anthropology, saints,
devotions, scriptures, hagiography and classic Catholic
literature are all welcome).

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Ecumenical Resources WebRing
URL:
http://o.webring.com/hub?ring=ecumenicalresour
Description:
The mission of the Ecumenical Resources WebRing is to provide
informative help, guidance and support to Webmasters of different
churches and communities in terms of: website design and
development; site promotion through links and search engines;
and a forum to use for this purpose. The main objective of the
Ring is to let its members help and support one another in
creating his or her individual or church's "dream" website -
"the" website that totally captures the webmaster's faith which
he wants to share ecumenically. This is a webring where webmasters
collaborate through website design and site promotion.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Christian Leadership training and support
URL:
http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=christianleader1
Description:
The ring is for anyone or any Christian organization interested
in providing or using Christian Leadership training and/or
support. The ring witnesses to Christ as the leader par
excellance, the Good Shepherd, who calls all people to unity and
gathers them into one fold for the mission to build God's kingdom.
This ring seeks to gather all Christian ministers, pastors,
clergy and missionaries, to share their work and service to God's
people in order to find mutual support and a positive environment
that fosters encouragement to everyone in the ring.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Cross The Threshold To A Promise Of Great Breakthroughs
URL:
http://u.webring.com/hub?ring=crossthethreshol
Description:
"Everyone has a calling. Everyone is called to fulfill a purpose.
Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to
fulfill his destiny" (Paul Tillich) "Every blade of grass has
its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'"
(The Talmud) "If we listen for our callings and live the missions
we have been given, we will receive the power, courage and
passion to move mountains that wait for us." (Robert Furey).
Those who wish to discover and to help others discover their
calling in life are very much welcome in this WebRing. This
WebRing is Catholic in origin, conception and direction but all
spiritualities, philosophies of life and beliefs (ancient or
modern) are welcome. We believe much in Christian unity and
interreligious coexistence and dialogue in a world that calls us
to be one in vision for the survival of our humanity and our
physical environment.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Defenders of the Church
URL:
http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=defendersofthech
Description:
A Ring for messageboards and websites that proclaim the good news
of Christ Jesus our Lord, through His Spirit in the Church. The
goal of the webring is to be an ecumenical and interfaith ring.
We invite all Christian churches to join us; non-Christian
religions are also very much welcome to join in peaceful
co-existence. Defenders of the Church takes on Christ's role to
be good shepherds - offering their life daily in self-sacrificing
ways for the benefit of the flock, preserving and protecting them
from death and dangers in all its various forms.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Duc in altum
URL:
http://w.webring.com/hub?ring=ducinaltum
Description:
"Without vision, the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18). The Holy
Spirit is the perfect guide for us to follow God's will in order
to be at the service of all His peoples and all His creation. The
gift of the Pentecost vision is for all of us Christians. This
Webring is for all Catholic sitebuilders and webauthors who wish
to follow the Lord's command to "put out into the deep" -
["duc in altum"] in order to be Christ's fishers of men and
women in the Internet for the sake of the gospel of Christ
Jesus. The Ring was created in response to the call of the Church
through John Paul II, in his 36th World Communications Day Message,
to call men and women to use the medium of the Internet and make
the face of Christ appear and the voice of Christ heard by all
peoples of all cultures. Though Catholic in origin, essence, and
direction, it is nevertheless to other Christian Churches and
individuals who also believe in this same message of Pope John
Paul II and who wish to be part of this new mission at the
beginning of the third millenium. We invite others to share the
richness of their Catholic spirituality; the diversity of their
ethnicity as Christians; their styles of Christian leadership and
influence via website development, and their particular manner of
providing a form of Christian service in the Internet. As the
Pope said in his May 12, 2002 Message, "May the Lord bless all
those who work for this aim."

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: We Remain Catholic To The End
URL:
http://q.webring.com/hub?ring=iremaincatholict
Description:
Those who wish to improve their site pageranks are very much
welcome in this ring. Members must first have a minimum pagerank
of 3/10 to qualify for the ring. This is a ring not so much for
competition but for helping one another make their website gain
a more important status in the Internet through increased
traffic. Sites that are wholesome, promote traditional values
and espouse family-orientedness are all invited.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: In the power of the Holy Spirit
URL:
http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=inthepoweroftheh
Description:
The Holy Spirit is Life, Love and Power at the service of all
His peoples and all His creation. The gift of the Pentecost
vision is for all who seek to achieve it with the help of God's
grace. "... they ...said to Peter and the apostles, 'What must
we do, brothers?' 'You must repent,' Peter answered 'and every
one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you and your
children, and for all those who are far away, for all those
whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.' He spoke to them
for a long time using many arguments, and he urged them, 'Save
yourselves from this perverse generation'. They were convinced
by his arguments, and they accepted what he said and were
baptised. That very day about 3,000 were added to their number."
(Acts 2:37-41). Discover your seven-fold gift and power through
the Holy Spirit's influence in your life: wisdom, counsel,
fortitude, knowledge, understanding, piety and fear of the Lord.
And find out about the extraordinary charisms which the Holy
Spirit gives to many to build up His Church: healings, gift
of tongues, miracle-working, the founding of communities,
discernment of spirits. All things are possible in the power
of the Holy Spirit.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: Tap into a World of Love Unity and Peace
URL:
http://j.webring.com/hub?ring=tapintoaworldofl
Description:
This webring is for all communities who invoke the Holy Spirit
and ask His guidance for the future of their families,
communities, parishes and Churches. This is a WebRing which
belongs thus to all members of the Catholic Communion and to all
Christians in the world who believe in Christian unity of prayer
and action in the Internet. Our WebRing espouses the universal
values of love, unity and peace in all the positive nuances it
may have in each major language and dialect. It also connotes
peaceful coexistence and living in a global context of dialogue,
mutual respect, openness, reconciliation, prayer, optimism and
unity in diversity. If you have a website or webpage which
connects with one or more of the abovementioned values-context
as its theme, come and be a part of our global family, make
this your WebRing too, and "tap into a world of love, unity and
peace." As we link together in this ring, we create a world
which preserves all the traditional values of our civilization
and foster a culture of life for the succeeding generations.

Add your site to this WebRing

Title: The Best Is Yet To Come!
URL:
http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=bestisyettocome
Description:
If you are working on a list, a ring, a site or a blog and came
up with something great, don't sit on your laurels, "your best is
yet to come!" Continuous improvement and constant striving for
excellence is the name of the game. All sites wholesome and
family-safe are welcome to join this ring. It need not be an
award-winner; just simply great and excellent! All sites joining
this ring will be part of the Pentecost Central network - a network
with a vision to achieve the highest and most noble ideals of our
humanity.

Add your site to this WebRing

If you need any help or would want to ask something as regards
the subject material published in this blog post, you may send it
to Email WebRings Network

Suggested Reference Books for the Catholic Web Site Developer

2009-01-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

Four Excellent Reference Books for the Catholic Web
Site Developer

This page suggests four excellent reference books which
Catholic web site owners can really benefit from. The
Dictionary of Saints and Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church [for referring to Catholic matters]; and
Business Style and Usage and The World Almanac [for business
and secular matters].

Dictionary of Saints

This book, written by John J. Delaney, is a very good book to
refer to when you are writing articles on religious life,
spirituality, Catholic Church history, and influential saints
and martyrs in the Church. The main content of this book are
the biographical sketches made on the blesseds and saints of
the Catholic Church, from A to Z. Aside from these, there is
featured an alphabetical listing of the saints as patrons and
intercessors; as patrons of countries and places; and their
symbols in art. After this featured listing, there is also
a chronological chart of popes and world rulers. Then the Roman
Calendar and the Byzantine Calendar of saints are featured.

What is good about this Dictionary of Saints is that it is a
handy book to have. Most dictionaries of Saints are often
presented in two to three volumes. This Dictionary of Saints
by John J. Delaney is brief, but concise, and all important
details are compacted in one book.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

This came out recently and is a very good summmary of the
many social teachings of the Church. Instead of having so many
Church documents to refer to, this book compiles the many
essential teachings of the Church's social doctrine.

The book is organized very well. The table of contents is
patterned in the same way as the Catechism of the Catholic
Church. For specific areas of question, one can refer to the
index, which is well organized into major topics and then
subdivided into specific and particular social concerns. From
the first major topic, "Abortion" to the last major topic,
"Youth", you can find whatever relevant information the Church
teaches about them.

The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Business Style
and Usage

For Catholic web site owners to refer to the business side of
their informational web site, this is a good reference to have.
This book teaches the proper use of business terms according to
The Wall Street Journal chief style editor Paul R. Martin. For
example, we often see the acronym B2B used referring to
business-to-business commerce. This book teaches that the proper
usage and style is b-to-b.

This book is for anyone who writes, and in the context of the
Net, it is certainly for those writing content also from a
internet-business perspective. Here in this book, we will learn
if a hyphen or none is appropriate for a compound business term.
Also, the right plural forms and the proper capitalizations of
terms can also be learned.

The World Almanac and Book of Facts

The World Almanac has always updated information and data that
you will need in order to be uptodate and informed. You need
not have the latest year; one can settle for past editions at
a lower price (the information won't be that much outdated).
It is good to have a copy for writing purposes and then update
it next time as the information in your copy gets too outdated.
When writing content and developing substantial information,
it is good to be aware of world information, as a backgrounder
and context for your writing on the Web. An almanac can help
guide us into very important data and information that we need
to be aware of when writing an article that deals with the
present times. Also, it would help us a great deal in cutting
online costs since we can refer to this book offline. And when
we need to include some information from the Almanac, we can
place the necessary data in our text editors for uploading when
all information in the HTML page is completed.

Aiming for Stability and Growth in a Small Business Enterprise

2008-12-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

This is a business article for small business enterprises
who desire and aim for the stability and growth in their small
business venture.

One gauge by which a small business enterprise can reach its
goal of stability and growth is, after surviving the startup, it
now proceeds with sense of stable governance, self-sustaining
operations, and propagation of the business ideals.

A brief introduction

All small business enterprises, whether operated online, or in
brick and mortar establishments, would want to reach a level of
stability and growth in their business operations. This can be
achieved if the small business enterpreneur works and pursues a
direction for his business that will help survive the startup
stage first and and then proceed towards a stable governance,
self-sustaining operations, and propagation of its small business
ideals.

Stable governance

Small business entreprenuers know that it is wise to place the
governance and leadership of their business not only on their
own knowledge and expertise, but on higher principles of business
ethics, morals, and degrees of honesty, integrity and quality.
Though the small business entrepreneur knows that he will make
business decisions based on actual facts and data gathered from
his own business operations, the wise governance of his business
enterprise will be stable and grow more if he relies not only on
his own strengths, or the intellectual capital of all those
involved in his business, but most of all, on the higher
principles of business [especially through the example of bigger
and more successful corporations], which he follows, and wishes
to achieve for his small business. In this way, his small
business enterprise will not be swayed by the unstable and
changing tides that ebb and rise in the business environment,
but rather be anchored in the founding business vision and
principles [from the example of stable business institutions]
that have governed the small business enterprise ever since its
inception and beginning.

Self-sustaining operations

Another indication by which a small business enterprise would
have reached stability and growth is when it can sustain itself
in its daily operations. This is a goal and a mission which all
small business entrepreneurs would like to achieve. This can be
done and it is possible. It will be that stage beyond the startup
when it begins to gain income and revenue. What is important also
is that the cash flow of the business operations remain stable
and can be controlled. If this would be the aim of a business
entrepreneur, then in about two to three years time, he can make
his small business enterprise sustain itself. Although in reality
we can never predict what the economy will bring, as long as we
keep to the budget we plan for our business, and never be tempted
to overinvest or overspend, then even when the working funds are
low, the business can still sustain itself. But it is wise also
to prepare for such an event in the economy. One way to prepare
is to create a well-padded cash reserve and surplus account that
can be very helpful during times when economic hardships occur.
This will help the small business enterprise sustain itself in
times of recession.

Propagating small business ideals

A small business entrepreneur can aim to be a mentor to others
also. In this way, he can propagate his business to those who
are also interested in starting their own businesses. If he is
serious in propagating his business ideals, he can have his
business franchised by others. Or, if he would just like to
mentor in terms of sharing the wisdom and the knowledge he gained
from experience in running a business, then he can always share
what he knows [in terms of goodwill] to those who like to start
a similar business like his. Sometimes propagating the business
in goodwill has a greater return, that although intangible, is
very fulfilling and meaningful, because you have helped others in
your mentoring in a very noble and generous way. The success of
the businesses you have mentored is enough to see how you have
propagated the small business principles and ideals you have
lived by and which your "mentorees" have also applied in their
own small business enterprises.

The three is a whole and a unity

All the three characteristics of stability and growth mentioned
above in a small business enterprise are a unity and cannot exist
without each other. Thus, if a small business entrepreneur would
really like to grow and stabilize his business towards greater
stability, then he would work to make it all at one time,
governed by classic business principles, make it be able to
sustain its own business operations, and help propagate his small
business ideals with other startups. It will take time before a
small business entrepreneur can see indications of this in his
business entity. But it is possible if the small businessman
never quits and keeps on persevering despite all the odds and
obstacles he will certainly encounter along the way. Whenever
a small businessman experiences failure, he must never stay down,
but lift himself up with the help of God and other people. And
whenever he succeeds, let him not forget the little people who
have helped him, his customers and clients who have patronized
his business, his business associates (both individuals and
employees of corporate entities), and most of all in a God whom
he believes as the ultimate Provider. For God supplies everyone
with the spirit to keep on believing and having faith despite
all trials, difficulties, and hardships.

first published in www.pcentral-online.net, July 2004 to
September 2008

Knowing Others and Ourselves through the MBTI

2008-12-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI

Introduction

Understanding others and ourselves, in order to function
harmoniously as a leader or as a member of a group in the
workplace, in business operations, in religious communities and
in any type of group setting or community project, can have the
Myers-Briggs type indicator or MBTI as a tool for this. The
Myers-Briggs type indicator is a way of indicating what type of
personality we are basically made up. Though this test may vary
when you take it several times and at certain stages of your life,
there is a basic core of personality traits that eventually comes
to the fore. But as all personality tests are dependent on the
answers of the individual, certain factors also go into the accuracy
of the test: like the emotional or physical conditioning of the
person during the test or the degree of honesty and openness in
his or her answering of the questions. Whatever be the results of
the test, it can still give us an inkling of what MBTI personality
type we are so that we understand ourselves better and get an
insight into what makes us "tick". Eventually, as we get to know
of others' MBTI personality types also, we can get to understand
them better and know what really makes them "tick" or what
"drives" them.

The eight indicators of the MBTI personality types

There are eight indicators of the MBTI personality types. These
are the degrees of introversion or extroversion, the degrees of
feeling or thinking, the degrees of sensing or intuiting, and the
degrees of perceiving or of judging.

Introversion as a personality indicator

Those who rate high in this indicator means they are good at
concentration and can work at jobs that require much focusing and
centering. The person who tends more to introversion is usually
aware of the inner world of his thoughts and feelings. Because of
this character trait of concentration, focusing, and interiorization,
people who have high introversion ratings are highly skilled in
jobs and tasks that require detail and accuracy.

Extroversion as a personality indicator

Extroversion is a personality indicator whereby the person focuses
not so much on the inner world of his feelings and thoughts and
ideas but rather on the external stimuli around him - the environment
and the people who he encounters. Whereas the introverted
personality type gets much of his energy from within, the
extroverted type personality gets much of his energy from external
stimuli. An introvert would replenish his energies by relaxing
with a good book or watching a VCD while an extrovert would hang out
with his friends and chat in order to relax.

Feeling as a personality indicator

The feeling personality indicator is a gauge by which a person is
sensitive to the feelings of the people around him. Usually, when
he makes decisions or when he interacts with others, he is very
aware of how his speech or acts can affect the feelings of the people
around him. Those in the sales career would do well to have this
personality indicator as they deal much with people - especially
clients and customers. Managers who rate high with this personality
indicator are also good managers in terms of how they are esteemed
by their subordinates. This is because of their people-orientedness
and their natural skill at gauging how he treats the feelings of the
people he deals with.

Thinking as a personality indicator

Those who use more their thinking function in their personality are
usually more objective in their decision-making and in their actions.
It takes time for them to act as they need to gather all the data and
the facts that are needed to make a decision. Whereas the
feeling-oriented type person would act at once according to the need
of a person, those who are thinking types would stand back, study the
situation, and all the data surrounding the case or the issue and
then make his decision. Managers who are naturally use more their
feeling function usually strengthen the relationships of the business
enterprise. Managers on the other hand who use more their thinking
function are able to strengthen the proper use of assets and
investments in the business enterprise.

Intuition as a personality indicator

A person who uses more his intuition is a person who is
idea-oriented and looks at the possibilities in the situation or
the case. This person is able to see the bigger picture and to come
up with a solution that encompasses this bigger context. If we were
to use an analogy, when an intuitive person is given a sheet of paper
with a dot or a blot, he will not focus his attention on the dot or
on the blot but on the whole sheet of paper which contains the dot
and the blot. For this personality type, problem-solving then means
always being aware of the bigger picture and the entire context in
which the problem is situated.

Sensing as a personality type indicator

Whereas the intuitive person looks at the whole, the sensing type
of person looks at the facts and the details of the situation. He
is aware of what is presently happening at the moment. All his
senses are in functioning to gather all the necessary data for
assessing the situation and for knowing how to come up with a
solution to the problem. Thus, his sight, hearing, touch, smell,
and taste sense functions are all alert to get to know what is
actually happening. This person usually is very fond of the news
and all things related to being 'in the loop'.

Perceiving as a personality type indicator

A person who is of the perceiving type is usually very adaptable
and very adjustable to situations. He is not tied down to a rigid
schedule or a tight system and structure of proceeding or doing
things. Rather, when a certain occasion calls for something to be
acted upon right away, this personality type has all the freedom
to leave what he is presently doing and attend to what should be
done at the present moment. Availability is probably his greatest
personality gift. Those in the service professions would probably
profit from this personality type as the service professions require
a personality type that can always be 'on the move' and 'jumps
right away at any emergency situation'.

Judgement as a personality type indicator

This personality type is more rigid and structured. He thrives on
structure, system and organization. Managers need to have this
personality function in order to be able to manage their work and
their lifestyle. This personality type has lists, schedulers,
organizers and many other things that are already set-up or given
an appointed time and place. And usually, when the time or
appointed place needs to be attended to, he usually complies and
readily and efficiently does what needs to be done. For this
personality type, what is important is that you tell him before
hand what he needs to do in advance. Otherwise, this will disorient
him and he will not know how to deal with the new information in
relation to his context of scheduled work, meetings and
appointments.

Finding out your MBTI

All of these personality type indicators are in us. The only
difference is that one is more dominant or functions more than the
other. With the basic descriptions given above, you can already
have an idea of who you are or who your family members are, who
your co-workers are, or who your business associates are. Given
the eight personality indicators above, you can tell whether you
are more extroverted than introverted, more thinking than feeling,
more intuitive than sensing, or more perceiving than judging. Or
it could be the other way around. To gain a certain bit of
accuracy in knowing the exact percentages of your introversion,
extroversion, feeling, thinking, intuition, sensing, judging or
perceiving, you can take the free Myers-Brigg type test online at
many web sites that offer free testing. www.similarminds.com is
one of these sites so you can take the free test.

Leadership Begins with Discipleship in Four Areas of Christian Life

2008-12-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Following Christ Today - Committed Discipleship

Four Necessary Elements For a Life Committed to Following Christ

The need for balance and wholeness

One necessary element is to live an integrated life - one that is marked by balance and wholeness. Our Christian thinking has been influenced in history by philosophies or mentalities that tend to compartmentalize or put into separate categories, aspects of our persons, professions, careers, family life, economic life, and other spheres of our contemporary lifestyles. This type of thinking, usually influenced by the early Greek philosophiesthat have been adopted by early Christian writers, make us think in a way that what we do in our family life has nothing to do with what we do with our professional life. We now know that this is not true. We realize that our living this way tends to make us disintegrated personalities - with a different self relating to God, another self relating with others, and a different self relating with the world. If we are called to live more in integrity, balance, and wholeness, we can start thinking that whatwe think, decide, and do in one area of our life can be the same thing we would think, decide, and do in another area of our life. The more we let it flow into all areas of our life, the more we can attain integrity, balance and wholeness.

The need for healing and growth

A second element to consider is to be oriented towards healing and growth - both in the personal and social dimension. We are all broken people who are wounded not only by our past experiences but also by our sinfulness and our weakness to resist the temptations of the world. This brokenness in us affects our relationship with God, with others, with the world, and even in relation to our very selves. The solution therefore is to be foundin a way of life that is directed towards healing and growth. Only by this healing and growth can we relate better with God and with others. This direction of healing and growth can be taken by all of us who are willing to frequent the sacraments of reconciliation and the eucharist. The more we frequent these sacraments, the more we become whole and effective in our following of Christ. And as we continue on in this direction, we will soon realize that we are also called to lead others in this same direction: to accept their woundedness and sinfulness and return to Christ through the sacramental life of the Church.

The need for an intense and ardent prayer life

Another element to consider in our following of Christ is to live an intense prayer life that would lead to a stronger commitment to care for others, to care for the earth, and to care for cultures - especially for those which are entirely different from ours. Our prayer life would be a practical benefit for both ourselves and others if it leads us to a greater spirit and energy and zeal in leading virtuous lives - lives that positively influence others to also do the same. In order to live an intense and ardent prayer life, it is important to inculcate a sense ofdiscipline in the spiritual exercises we have committed ourselves to do. The strength of our commitment in following Christ depends so much on how we are able to practically live out a regular, consistent and constant life of dialoguing with God in prayer, meditation and contemplation. One of the best forms of living out this intense and ardent prayer life is by celebrating the Eucharist as often as we could and making adoration and contemplation before the Blessed Sacrament part of our spiritual regimen.

The need for local and global awareness

One last necessary element to consider in our following of Christ is the need for awareness of the local and global situations. In these our times, it is easier to be informed of what is happening because of the great and global reach of the media, especially the Internet. The Internet will help us situate how we are to practice our Christian faith if we know what is happening in our local or national scene and what is also happening in other countries and the world as a whole. Our actions may be limited tothe local situation, but our prayers may expand to include not only the needs of our local or national situation but also the needs, issues and problems that we get to be informed with as regards the other peoples of other countries. There is a saying in theology circles about a way of practicing our Christian faith that encompasses both the local and global scene. This saying, which has now become a modern theological classic is simply stated as, "think globally, act locally".

Catholic Leadership: Following Christ together with the Church

2008-12-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

To Follow Christ and His Gospel

Following Christ and His Gospel with the Church

To follow Christ needs a response

Christ calls us in the many situations of life we see ourselves.
He not only calls us to follow Him, but He wants a response from
us. Our response to His call means that we make a decision to
follow Him. A decision to respond to His call and to follow Him
means undertaking a certain ministry or responsibility in the
Church for those who are able to integrate this in their work
schedule. However, for those who feel the call of Christ and also
decide to respond to Him, but are tied down by responsibilites
and obligations that need to be attended to - like a married life
and a family - undertake their Christian ministry and
responsibility by taking care of their family and their household
and working to earn a living for their daily needs. For we are
taught by the Church that the family is also in itself a domestic
Church.

To follow Christ needs an involvement

Christ calls us to follow Him through the many situations of life
we are in. We respond by deciding to do so in prayer or in action -
by undertaking our Christian ministry in the family, in the
parish, in the workplace, or in the community. As we go on and
perform our ministry, we find ourselves getting involved in
people's lives. We learn of their sorrows. We learn of their
problems. We see the need to be more of service, to be more
available, attentive to their suffering. The call of Christ
invites us to respond in generous service to others and to involve
ourselves in bettering their condition or help in some way ease
their suffering. This involvement need not be a great network of
activity after activity and ministry after ministry or apostolate
after apostolate. It can mean just simply doing what is already
being done but putting more of Christ's spirit in our actions.
As we respond and involve ourselves more generously in Christ's
service, we shall discover that the initial call of Christ for us
to follow Him is really just repeated every day and more intensely
as we get to know Christ more in prayer, in ourselves, and in
others. Thus, the call of Christ happens every moment, and every
moment also invites us to respond and to be involved.

To follow Christ is to live for Him in our service of
others

Sometimes, when we hear the phrase "the call of Christ", we often
get ideas that bring our heads so high up in the clouds that we
forget that our feet are really standing on the ground. The call
of Christ is really very simple. It is to see the need in a
situation and to respond and involve ourselves in a manner that
follows the spirit of Christ's action. And this we can do right
where we are. We need not all be flocking to the mission lands and
leave everything behind. There are those whom Christ has chosen
for that kind of mission. We hear the call of Christ in our lives
right where we are at the moment and when we respond and get
involved in His mission, we simply put more of His mind and His
heart in our actions. And this we can only do through a life of
intense prayer and contemplation whereby we develop a very close
and intimate relationship with Him. We must remember that in our
commitment to follow Him, we shall hear His call every moment of our
life until He shall call us to Himself forever where He is. So as
long as we live and have committed ourselves to Him in the service
of His Church the call shall forever ring always in our ears, make
its presence felt in our hearts, occupy our very thoughts, bring
life to our souls, and generate strength and energy that we may
serve continually and regularly in His service. As we respond and
involve ourselves all the more, we finally realize that doing it
more in Christ's spirit each time around makes us more mature and
more like unto Him. Simply doing the service better each time
around will bring us more and more in step with the way Christ and
His apostles preached the gospel. We may not do so in word but we
can surely preach it in deeds of generous service. So next time
we hear the call of Christ, let us not hesitate to respond and be
involved in the building of His Church and to do it more in His
spirit each time around.

Hints and Helps in Stabilizing a Small Business

2008-11-30T20:12:00.001-08:00

Business Tip: Importance of Business Stability

Some ways that can help stabilize a business

Business stability depends on updated technology

We know how much life changes rapidly. Though there are systems
that are by nature very traditional and rooted in centuries old
wisdom and customs - like many religious institutions and
political systems, in the business sector, life is always on the
fast lane. To arrive at business stability depends a lot on how
we can keep up with these fast changes. But as business owners,
if we update the technology of our business, then we can be able
to cope up with the changes and insure the life of our business
for the next business cycles to come.

The purpose of technology is to provide solutions for clients,
other businesses and institutions, in order for them to be able
to operate their systems. When we constantly update our
technology, then we will be certainly "riding the wave of change"
instead of finding ourselves and our businesses "under the wave
of change".

Business stability depends on handling financial
risks

Many business owners are often attracted to high risk investments
that give high returns. This is good, but when we have to take
into consideration the stability of our business, this move might
be detrimental to our business. The ideal combination of
investment and returns is one wherein we can combine low risk
investment and high returns. This is possible and there are
financial instruments which do indeed combine these two, in
order to help the business owner gain business stability.
Although handling risks are not only in financial investments,
it could also be in other areas of our business. What is
important though in handling our risks, is to take on a low risk
move in view of producing stability for the long term life of
our business. We have always known that the higher the risk, the
higher we will also put at risk the stability of our business.
But the lower the risk, if anything unforeseen happens beyond
our control, there will only be a minimal effect on the stability
of our business.

Business stability is rooted in its original vision

Do you remember what was it that fired your imagination or your
desire to start your business? This vision will keep you on
track and not be swayed by the many influences that can be
detrimental to your business stability. A business vision is
usually the "cornerstone" of the business. It may be intangible
but it is significant nonetheless, because that is where the
business derives its life, its impetus, its momentum, its desire,
its direction, and its growth. Business stability therefore
depends very much on how we, as business owners, are very much
rooted in that original vision that called us to be entrepreneurs
and to venture out into business. If we veer away from the
original business vision in which our business is founded, then
it is most likely that our business stability will be very much
affected. Therefore, for business stability to really be strong
and very well rooted in ethical business practices, let us keep
to our original business vision.

Business stability depends on how we always find means,
ways, and solutions

Our business will always be beset with problems and difficulties.
Therefore, it is vital that we always find means and ways to
cope, and to find good and right solutions, to the problems and
difficulties in the operations of our business. The moment we
procrastinate with one problem or with one difficulty, then
this could snowball the problems into a mountain of
difficulties, maybe even leading to a dilemma. What is
important therefore is to always find means and ways to cope
and to solve problems.

In terms of the income and costs of the business, business
stability depends on how much we can earn more and spend less.
Thus, a very important task for the stability of our businesses
is always to find new ways to earn more. Perhaps adding a
related service or product. And we also have to find ways of
reducing our business costs. Perhaps finding a less expensive
supplier. Or finding less expensive fixed costs and reducing
what we can reduce with our variable costs.

Business stability depends on us and our faith

It is inevitable that we may experience something like a
"tsunami" in our life and in our business. In times like this,
it takes more than just business wisdom and experience to come
into the picture. Something greater than business is involved
here. And so this is where the area of faith comes into the
picture. It may sound corny to some, but it is true: faith
indeed leads to strong and great business stability. Faith
in ourselves, faith in all of what our business involves, and
faith especially in God. In insurance, there is a term
called "acts of God". "Acts of God" are those extraordinary
events - like earthquakes, tsunamis, great floods, and other
disasters, which some insurance companies do not give insurance
coverage because it is beyond the scope of their business.
And it is true in the life of every business. There are
realities beyond its reach and its scope. And as always,
faith is the answer. And perhaps faith is really what
contributes to business stability. "In God we trust"

Long-Term Business Relationships: Clients for Life et. al.

2008-11-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

Small Business Tip: "Don't Cut the Roots!"

Committing ourselves to our core business

Most often, a small business owner starts a business with his
family, a small core group of friends and associates, and some
small town business contacts. To those business owners who see
the wisdom of keeping and committing his business still intact
with these roots, most often than not, their business grows
and bears much fruit. The growth of the business certainly
depends also on other factors, but if this one factor is kept
intact, then it is likely that a small business will grow and
expand more than what it was when it started. It may not grow
into a full-blown corporation, but it will nevertheless grow
into something that would serve more people and be of
substantial service to the small town community or to society
in general.

* * * He who is faithful in small things will be faithful
in big things * * *

True story

This is the story of a Chinese businessman who came to the
Philippines to start his own business. Since he did not know
the native language, which was Tagalog, he wanted to study it
in order to run his business. He soon met a Tagalog woman
who was selling some wares, and made a business deal with her.
He told her that he would give her some place in his business
if she on her part would teach him Tagalog. The woman agreed.
The businessman soon learned Tagalog, and he always let the
woman sell her wares in his main business establishment. This
Chinese business owner soon started a small company in which
my father was one of the pioneers. My father was a hard-working
man who was very faithful in all things. He stuck and
committed himself to this company that this Chinese
businessman was building. Soon, the department my father was
in was divided into many more departments, and the company
steadily grew. It was like a biological cell that kept on
dividing and multiplying. Now, this Chinese businessman is the
owner of a big corporation that extends its business to many
nations in Southeast Asia.

A commitment to build

In general, there is the temptation to burn bridges - to cut
off relationships that could otherwise have been rejuvenated,
revived and saved. But this story of the Chinese businessman
teaches us that keeping our core and root relationships in the
business will help the business to grow (among other factors),
be productive, and bear much fruit. What if the Chinese
businessman suddenly severed the ties with the woman who was
teaching him Tagalog? What if he suddenly dissolved the whole
department in which my father was working and laid off everyone
in it? What may probably resulted is not what we see today:
that woman who taught him Tagalog still lives and is given high
privileges in the main building of the corporation. And that
big Chinese businessman also rewarded and gave honor to my
father with a 30-year service Bayanihan award (Bayanihan
is the Tagalog term for "helping one another" - the image of
bayanihan is people carrying a small nipa house and
transferring it to another place in the village)
and the retirement money which my father used to start his own
business. And much more than this, his business is not only a
national business but became a multi-national corporation in
Southeast Asia.

Everything starts small. Growth takes time. We need to prune
prudently. And there is a need to stick to the end

Everything starts small

Growth takes time

We need to prune prudently

There is a need to stick to the end

Quickly Responding to Your Client's Need Equals Good Service

2008-11-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Solve Problems ASAP

Quick Responses to Solve Problems Will Increase
Customer and Client Confidence

The scenario

In the business process, or sometimes while business
operations are moving on, something may happen unexpectedly
that can hamper the flow of your operations. It can be in
relation to the sudden resignation, or a sick leave of one of
your employees, a sudden machinery breakdown, or most often,
something vital to business operations that suddenly does not
work. We know that the life of a business depends on the
business flow, process, and operations systems. If anything
within this system does not function, the whole system is
affected. Being business owners, we may be tempted to
procrastinate a bit and take it easy, telling ourselves that
we will soon get around with the problem. However, if we do
not act immediately to solve the problem, further difficulties
may compound the difficulty and before we know it, we are
snowballed with a lot of problems. So the best, thing is
not to procrastinate and to solve the problem ASAP.

Emergency solutions

It is good to have some ready-made solutions to scenarios
such as this one. First of all, we can operate the business
so that it can function even when one of its employees leave
suddenly. Second, as regards sudden machinery breakdown,
we can have an emergency cash fund or a ready-credit
facility by which we can avail and buy a new one. Or, if
what it needs is only a repair, then the problem is easy: we
can just have it repaired. Third, it is important to think
fast, decide at once, and act immediately when solving
problems that affect vital business operations. And fourth,
if a permanent solution cannot be obtained, then a creative
and alternative one could be used for the meantime. We may
not know it but the temporary solution we may come up with
might even prove to be a cost-effective procedure which we
can adopt permanently and make an official part of the
business process.

Saving the business

In scenarios like this, saving the business is like saving
the confidence that people have in your business service.
They know they can count on your service whenever they need
something of vital importance to them. When we slacken our
pace and smugly rest assuring ourselves that we will not
lose customer loyalty or client confidence, we should think
again. We are not the only ones in our business and our
field of expertise: there are many others who can present
themselves in a way that our clients and customers can
depend on them rather than in you. So what is important is
always to be prepared. Let the Boy Scout motto be a motto
of our business. Always be prepared: for anything that
needs immediate solutions or fast responses. Let our minds
always be alert and our physical conditioning always be in
top form so that we may deliver the service the customer and
client needs in a way that not only pleases them but makes
them realize that you are always there for them.

Never give up and never lose momentum

Our businesses won't be exempt from the many sudden mishaps
or stoppages or occurences that may hamper its operations.
It is part of being in business. We can insure some aspects
of our business but the best form of insuring our business
against unforeseen delays or problems is to have an attitude
of perseverance: never giving up and never losing our momentum
to continue on despite whatever economic downturn or
depression that may affect our business environment. Business
is not only about capital, labor, or working fund. It's life
depends on a vision, a mission, and a spirit that drives the
business to fulfill that vision and mission and live its
spirit. Faith in the vision, mission and goal of our
business is what will eventually continue to perk our spirit
and never lose our momentum in fulfilling the vision that
guides our business.

The Wisdom of Thinking and Deciding for the Long-Term

2008-11-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Wise Long-Term Decisions

A Long Lasting Business Needs to be Directed by Wise
Long-Term Decisions

The short-term versus the long-term

When we speak of the short-term, we usually mean what would
benefit the business in a short span of time. It could mean
getting a huge amount of profit for a short-period of time or
it could mean a big expansion within just a little period of
time. On the other hand, when we speak of the long-term, we
usually mean what would affect or benefit a business if it
were to survive the start-up years, sail through the stability
years and move forward to the future. Sometimes, when a
business owner or a corporation where to make decisions that
would affect their business, they have to think first how the
decision will affect the business in the short-term and also
how the decision will affect the business in the long-term.
Often, businesses cannot accommodate benefits that would
equally be good in the short-term and in the long-term at the
same time. What likely happens in reality is that we need to
sacrifice the short-term benefit in favor of the long-term, or
we need to sacrifice the long-term benefit in favor of the
short-term. Whatever be the decision of management or the
corporate owners, the decision will eventually have effects
that will carry on over to the long-term. The ideal decision
is one that provides benefits for both the short-term and the
long-term.

Decision-making depends on how long you want to run
your business

If you want to make huge profits in a short span of time
without really intending to make your business last for a long
time, then short-term decisions which favor such would be what
the business needs. If however, you want your business to last
for a long time and thereby provide for you a source of income
way up to your retirement years, then decisions that favor the
long-term is what your business needs. Even if the business
for instance needs to sacrifice profits in the short-term but
will eventually gain better and larger profits in the future
for the long-term, then better to wisely take on the decision
that will benefit the long-term. Wise long-term decisions are
what will make your business grow steadily and be founded on
solidly-based and highly-principled decisions that not only
benefit you, your partners, or co-owners and your employees, but
most of all, the society and industry in which your business
operates. Money, income and revenue that is gained through
long-term decisions are often not easily lost and spent
unwisely. Rather, it is money, income and revenue that is
gained through short-term decisions that look only at the
present and the ripeness of a single opportunity that is easily
lost and spent unwisely.

The wisdom of deciding more for the long-term

Although we may at times need to really make a short-term
decision for our business, when we focus more on the long-term
decision and what it can do and benefit our business for the
long-run, this is what will really make the business an asset
not only for the immediate people involved in the business,
but also for the society and industry in which it operates in.
If our business minds are trained to think in terms of the
long-run, the long-term, what will benefit its immediate
business environment, and how it should be handled by
succeeding generations, then for sure, our business minds will
be geared to obtain a certain business wisdom that sees the
bigger picture, the larger context, and the long-stretch of
time that it will have to live through if it is to survive the
many business doldrums, depressions, economic downturns, and
financial crises. What is important therefore is not to be
too focused in getting a profit as soon as we can or "all the
time". We can sacrifice the profit in the near term for a
better one and for larger incomes to come in the future - if
we really are serious about building a solid and long lasting
business. What we can focus on in the short-term in building
our business is giving as much service excellence as we can
for our clients and customers and developing greater
credibility and trust within the social milieu of our business.
This will create the goodwill necessary to expand the business
and create that intangible assets that cannot be bought by any
huge amount of money. These intangible assets, like quality
customer relations management and many repeat business, are
the assets that would prove to be the most important and
precious nontangible asset for many, many generations.

Addressing Your Client's Concerns and Problems

2008-11-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Provide a Solution

Solving the Client's and Customer's Problem

The basics

Many businesses are put up and founded for the basic purpose
of finding a solution to a problem, making things easier,
simplifying complicated situations, providing a service or
product needed and giving customers and clients a sense of
being attended to. From this list of business purposes and
missions and objectives, probably the most basic is the one
that provides a solution to a problem.

The customer's and client's dilemma

Often, the client's or customer's dilemma appears big and
feels as if it there is a big obstacle or challenge to tackle.
But if we focus not on our self-interests or the business in
general but rather be more objective and really concentrate
on what problem the customer or client wants to be solved,
then we can find a solution. Often the solution is not
obtained by ourself alone but also through the help of other
people - either connected with the business, directly or
indirectly. But to find solutions to problems, we have to be
creative and persistent in our solving. In the process of
finding the solution, we also learn so many things and we
often feel surprised that there are really many resources to
be tapped. The important thing is persistence, and a strong
will to solve the problem. Once we find the solution we are
searching for, we have continued the life of our business,
and in so doing, raise it a level and degree higher in terms
of its ability to look for solutions to the problems of our
clients and customers.

Simplify the search for a solution

Sometimes we compound the difficulty of finding a solution
by having too complicated motives and intentions included
in what we want to accomplish. For instance, when we want
to find the solution to our client's problem, we usually opt
for the perfect and total solution. This will truly indeed
be a big challenge and a big account to fill. Since many
business owners have already a lot to do, they can either do
two things: either delegate it to an employee who can find
the perfect solution, or if the solution needs an emergent
and urgent response, then opting for a simple but not
'perfect' solution, can be considered the 'perfect solution'.
Simple solutions are really what most clients and customers
want. Those who want the perfect solution often run into
complications. And these clients often need more attention
and expect a level of service excellence from the business.

When persistence fails, humility succeeds

We have to be realistic at times also. If by our persistence
and strong-willed desire to succeed and solve the problem, we
have arrived at an impasse, then we have to be humble and accept
the fact that we are limited. That is why we are not the only
business around. Other businesses are there to provide what
we cannot provide. In the business world, we are also a
community - with each business entity contributing its share
of servicing the society. And if there is no other business
that can seem to provide the solution, then usually there are
people who God gifts with the intuition and the intelligence
to invent or innovate a product or system that can provide a
new solution. The Lord gives us the gift of knowledge and
intelligence to progress our human civilization. He wills
that we create and build, for this is His power that He shares
with us.

Low-Cost Strategies for Your Small Business

2008-11-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Keeping Business Costs Low

Low Business Costs Increases Business Profits

What are business costs?

Much of business cost can be categorized into fixed costs,
variable costs, and capital expenditures. Fixed costs are
those expenses that are incurred regularly: either daily,
weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Variable costs are
those costs businesses incur but not on a regular basis.
Capital expenditures are those costs that are incurred when
a capital acquisition is made. An example of fixed costs
are utility expenses. An example of of variable costs are
company outings or celebrations. And an example of capital
expenditures are the acquisition of a set of new upgraded
computers for the business enterprise.

Keep more to variable costs than to fixed costs

Whenever one is contemplating to make an expense so that
the business will improve its operations, it is best to
opt for making a variable cost rather than adding a fixed
cost. The reason behind this is that fixed costs are harder
to regulate and to change because they are incurred regularly
and at a fixed rate. However, if the expense would be a
variable cost, it is easier to control and to find
alternatives for changing the expense account. One good
reason behind this financial strategy is when prices
suddenly rise due to inflation or devaluation, and if your
fixed costs are at its minimum, you can even lessen your
variable costs and also have the opportunity to find
alternative ways to lower it, by looking for another
company that provides a lower cost for the supplies or
materials you need.

Whenever possible, find a way to lower your fixed
costs

When prices begin to soar, and your business is again
strapped with many expense accounts, not only can you lessen
your variable costs, but you can also find a way to lower
the rate of your fixed costs. Whenever you find a company
that services or supplies a product that gives a lower rate
for your fixed costs, then do so. This will help the
business enterprise survive the sudden financial downturn.

Be conservative in your capital acquisitions and
expenditures

Capital acquisitions and expenditures take a lot out of the
cash reserves of the business enterprise. So, whenever there
is something new to the market and your present technology
is still usable, then do not make a capital acquisition or
expense. Usually, we are tempted to buy what is new and what
is fashionable at the time that it is released in the market.
If the purpose of a capital expense is always to keep up with
what is new, then our cash reserves may be depleted very fast
and before we know it, our fixed costs will be a burden to
us. This does not mean that we must not make capital
acquisitions or expenditures to progress our business and to
improve our operations. It only means that we need to be
practical and to use what can still be used and to avoid the
temptation of 'keeping up with the Joneses'. There is a
right time to update our systems, procedures, operations and
programs. We only need to make the capital expenditure at
the proper time in relation to what the financial situation
of our business tells us, and not according to the dictates
of newness and modernity.

Goodwill: Important Element of Intellectual Capital

2008-11-30T02:01:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Protecting the Goodwill of Your Business

Goodwill is a Greater Value than All Your Assets
Combined

What is the goodwill of a business?

The goodwill of a business is the value of a business as a result
of patronage, reputation, and service beyond its tangible assets.
Goodwill is something that is not built up overnight. Rather, it
is something that is founded on the very vision, mission, and
objectives of the business enterprise. Though the value of
goodwill cannot be measured, it is nevertheless seen and evident
in the way the company or business deals with other companies and
businesses and in how they treat clients and customers. Since
goodwill is rooted in the very foundation upon which the business
enterprise is built, if properly used, it can give not only a
good image to all those connected with the business enterprise,
but it can also contribute well to the benefit of society
through the type of industry the business enterprise operates.

Concrete applications of goodwill in a business

The following is just a few examples of how you can practice
goodwill in your business industry:

Going the extra mile for the client or customer
Service with a smile
Returning money when customers are accidentally
overcharged
Giving back the extra money the customers paid
unknowingly
Responding 'as soon as possible' - the ASAP principle
Giving the business associate or the client and customer
the benefit of the doubt
Remembering clients and business associates during
Christmas and during their birthdays - an occasional greeting
card is 'pure gold' to them
Attending well to the customer or client - this fills their
need to feel important
Making a formal apology when a business error has been
committed
Always using polite and formal language in business
communications
Keeping one's word to the client or business associate
Keeping faithful to the small details of servicing the
customer and client

Goodwill is like the Christian faith inculturated in
the business

Goodwill is like the Christian faith inculturated in the
business enterprise. By inculturation, this means that the
values and principles associated with the Christian faith are
integrated into the very system of the business enterprise:
in its management systems, its operations in sales and
production, its management-employee relationship structure,
and in the many other systems and structures of the company
or business enterprise. There are certain elements that
seem to conflict with Christian principles such as the
reality of stiff competition in business. However, if you
really study this reality, it can still be 'Christianized'
and be made to be a part of the business enterprise's
goodwill. If the focus of competing in business is to be
the best that the enterprise can be without destroying the
competition, then that is goodwill. And if, as a result
of day to day business operations, the competition falls and
fails - when a business makes a gesture to the competition
that encourages them to get 'back into the game', and to be
the best that they can be again, then the goodwill that will
be produced for your competitor is what will make the
company or business you are managing solidly rooted in the
values of its business industry.

Giving Your Clients and Customers Special Treatment

2008-11-29T23:03:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Make Your Client the VIP of the Moment

Treatment of Clients is Very Vital in the Service
Industry

Negative experiences of how we are treated as
customers

Have you entered a store or a fast food and then the attendant
knew you were waiting there and did not even budge to attend to
what you need. How did you feel? Sometimes we need to call the
sales attendant so that they will serve us. But even when we
call them, they reluctantly approach you as if you were not
important. How did you feel? Now, let us look at ourselves.
Are we in some way the same as that business? Do we at times
neglect to attend to the client or customer in a way that they
don't feel important? Let us explore and examine this element
of customer and client servicing.

Sales become alive when you treat clients with VIP
treatment

If we were to reverse the above scenario with sales personnel
who treated their customers and clients with a VIP-like treatment,
imagine the delight that would be felt by the client. This
assures you of more repeat business. And not only that, your
referrals will multiply and the good word will do the work for
you.

Who do you prioritize?

Sometimes, because of our business and profit-orientation, we
tend to discriminate our clients. We put them in categories
like: these are the ones that are bringing in the profits more
and these are the ones that are not as profitable. We sometimes
forget that both categories of customers are not isolated from
one another. They are within the social milieu and within the
network of your business. If you discriminate one client and
she feels so bad that she shares her experience with the client
you treated better, imagine what damage that can do for your
business - especially if that client you treated better were
more compassionate of her than you. The client you treated
better may eventually decide that you are not the service
excellence business you really represent to her.

The lessons of treating people as subjects

The ideal thus is to practice our VIP-treatment business
strategy to all our clients and customers. And if in case, they
come all together to you, make a first come, first serve rule
so that they will not feel as if they were overlooked or made
to feel less important. This is a difficult job, but it can
be done. It only needs practice. And practice makes perfect.
I guess one golden rule is to treat the client and customer
as you yourself would like to be treated. There are exceptions
to this rule for certain, because of the distinct differences
and unique traits that go with each particular client or
customer, but in general, we as humans want to be treated as
subjects and not as objects.

For client-centered businesses and one-on-one
encounters

This is where the VIP of the moment strategy will be most
effective. In a one-on-one encounter with the client, usually
you can customize your service according to the needs of the
client. And when you are able to customize your service, that
is when the client feels that he or she is the VIP of the
moment. Many of those in sales feel that he should be the
center of the encounter - giving all the input, the sales
spiel, and making the sales presentation. We forget that the
center of gravity must rather be on the client. Focusing our
attention on the client makes us listen more and find out what
his needs are. It lessens our desire to be the know-it-all-type
of salesman. And we must have the discipline to not hurry up
and get the client call as short as possible because we have
other things to do. Yes, we indeed have others things to do,
and we are in a business world, but when we at times take time
with the client and share "small talk" with him or her and find
out how he or she is personally, then he or she will feel that
you are really treating him or her as a subject and not just for
his or her money. We are not perfect. Indeed, there are times
we think self-centeredly and are guilty of thinking only in
terms of the money we can get. Money is important. Indeed it
is. It is what fuels the business operations. But if we lose
clients because they feel as if they are not really serviced
well as people, then there would be no money to fuel our
business.

Focusing on the person

When meeting with a client, when our mind is focused on money,
usually the the encounter is "tense" and "nervous" and
"anxious". Especially when economic times are hard and people
are all burdened financially, since we are in the lead and in
control of the encounter, we will all the more make the client
feel tense, nervous and anxious by our own focusing on money
matters. The ideal is to focus on service and to do it well -
service excellence that has impact. If we are able to do this,
then our faith lies in a spirit and an ideal and not on money.
Money is limited, but the spirit of service excellence is
unlimited. And what is unlimited brings on unlimited richness
- both material and in values. If we practice generosity of
spirit with our clients, then for certain our client will do
the same and be generous with his or her compensation to your
service.

The Christian perspective

If we look at the Gospel and examine how Jesus treated the
sick, the lame, the blind, the sinners, the outcasts, the
widows, the orphaned, and the mute. Instead of discriminating,
he gave his full service to them and focused on solving their
problems and making life less burdensome for them. Imagine
the delight of the people who were cured. The ten lepers who
were cured were so happy that they forgot to thank Jesus. Only
one came back to thank Jesus. And that is why the good
reputation of Jesus spread. People spread the good news.
"He does all things well", they say. And people flocked to
Jesus that Jesus had sometimes to escape the crowds out of
sheer numbers. And remember when a crowd of 4,000 to 5,000
gathered before Him whom he now had the problem of feeding.
Just think of such a great increase in "clients"! We can learn
from this Christian perspective that treating everyone well
is important - even the least in our business hierarchy.

An Investment Strategy for Your Small Business

2008-11-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: Spread Your Investment

Spread Your Investment, Don't Risk on One

Don't place your eggs all in one basket

This is a wisdom we have known that has been handed down from
generation to generation. And it is also applied in business.
If investors were to place all their assets on one particular
investment, that would involve a high risk because when the
investment fails, everything is lost. However, when you spread
your investment over two or three instruments, then if one fails,
the rest are saved and can earn for you. Those who favor the
high-risk type of investing, usually reap in a lot of profits
when the investment succeeds because of the high interest that
is attached to the investment. Those who take the more
conservative style towards investing, are more secure in their
investment, although the profit they receive is not as high.
The latter is certain to bring your business to endure in the
long term while the former style of investing - the high-risk
type, will likely make your business short-lived. What is
important in any business venture is to always decide what is
best not only for the short-term, but most of all what its effect
would be in the long-term. It is the long-term effect that we
must put our eyes on if we want our business to be solid and
stable.

The benefit of insurance

Insurance instructors always tell the story of a wise old
merchant who had the strategy of delivering his goods to a
far-away country in three big ships. He knew that if he put
all of his goods in one really big ship, when a storm comes and
sinks the ship, everything of his goods and merchandise go down
with the ship. And so, he always sends his merchandise in
three ships. And true indeed, when one of his ships went down
when a violent storm blew in the ocean, he still had two ships
which were able to deliver the rest of his goods to its
destination.

Insurance can even make this situation more secure and stable.
If for instance, that old merchant were to insure all three
ships, then when even one ship of his goes down, he shall not
lose everything but rather can get an amount to compensate for
the loss of everything in that ship. Insurance helps the
business owner and secures him against big and devastating
losses.

Tip for those extending credit to customers

In the same direction as the principle we are exploring about,
it is wiser to extend smaller amounts of credit to those with
good credit-standing. It would be indeed a higher risk if you
lend big to one customer at a high interest. When that
customer or client is unable to pay, your loss is big. But for
the style of lending small, to many good customers or clients,
when one of them suffers from anything that will bring down
his or her financial standing low because of unforseen and
unfortunate circumstances, though he may once have been in good
credit standing, his nonpayment of the loan would not be such
a great loss to your business, and your business can move on
for another term.

Tip for those with savings and investments in
banks

As with the style of not putting all your investment in one
financial instrument, so it is with your savings. Deposits
are insured up to a certain amount of money. It is wise to
place your savings up to the amount of the insurance stated by
your government insurance. It need not be exactly at the same
amount but at least more or less within the range of the
amount that is covered by insurance. And what is best is to
place all of your money in banks that are conservative in
giving interest income. Usually, banks who do this are more
stable and much more established for the long-run. Banks who
give too high an offer of interest, tend to be also liberal in
their investments. Being conservative in our style of
investing, we should also find banks and other business entities
who are also conservative in their style of investing. Otherwise,
when one goes down, then everything in our business network
falls down. If we opt for more stable, lasting and conservative
business systems, structures and institutions, then we will be
more assured of a long-term investment that will continually
reap in enough income to give us a good quality of life.

Working on Customer Relationship Management

2008-11-29T02:06:00.000-08:00

Business Tip: "Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds You"

The Importance of Kindness in Customer Relationship Management

Introduction

When we hear in the business world that old business adage,
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you", we often think of those
who are a level above us in business - our creditors and big
corporations, that we transact business with, and which we need
to be in good relationship with when doing business. However
true this is, we can improve our business when we apply this
business wisdom also in customer relationship management. If
we "bite the hand" of our client or customer, or treat them
unkindly, then for sure, they may not want to have to do
anything with us anymore since they will certainly get very
displeased. And what is worse, their displeasure can spread
like wildfire among our other business prospects, customers,
or clients, who also patronize our business. This business
wisdom teaches us to be kind to everyone in our business circle
and never forget that kindness creates a positive atmosphere
in business, especially if it is applied to customer
relationship management.

"No system is perfect"

Though we know that institutions and corporation carry the
ideals of "service with a smile", service excellence, the #1
leader in quality, or the 'delivered right at your doorstep'
classic service, in reality this ideal does not always work
all the time. Even corporate or business systems are
imperfect. At times their computer system may slow down
transactions or one of their employees has a bad attitude
one day. Whatever it is that irks us in getting a move on in
our business, we have to accept the truth in humility: "nothing
is perfect". If we know this as a fact and become more aware
of it, it will make our business dealings more human, we can
be more understanding in our transactions, and we will put
less pressure on others and ourselves. We can apply this human
touch both ways: towards the those who hold positions in
corporations and those below us in our business relationships.
Sometimes we may be caught in between trying to please both
the people at the top and the people at the bottom. The ideal
is to balance our attitude of kindness both ways - though it
may be difficult in certain situations and circumstances. We
cannot "bite the hand" of those at the top to please those
we serve as clients and customers. And we cannot "bite the
hand" of our clients and customers to please only the people
at the top. We are called to balance ourselves between both
sides of the business relationship and environment.

"All things to all people"

If we find support from Christian tradition on how we are to
deal with people, whether those at the top or those at the
bottom, we can look to a principle which St. Paul teaches in
one of his epistles. St. Paul mentions how "he had to become
all things to all people for the sake of the gospel of Christ".
If we apply this Christian or Pauline principle as a way of
being kind to people in the business environment, then we
will be spared from the temptation to really "bite the hand
that feeds you". We will be taught greater humility and will
learn to be more generous in our atttitude of service towards
all levels in our business environment. It is also to be
understood that there may be times that we might reach our
breaking points - especially when the rubber band of our
patience breaks and snaps! However, it is possible if we commit
ourselves to Paul's principle: "all things to all people for
the sake of the gospel". With faith, nothing is impossible.
We can live in a way that makes us more pleasing to others
and we don't snap in anger for small things. Even though we
have character imperfections, bringing a Christian spirit in
the marketplace or the marketspace will truly make a quality
of difference. Just living a life of balance and moderation
and being serviceable to the best of our ability will make our
business grow and prosper naturally and in its proper time.

We learn from our mistakes and experiences

We better understand in time how our business must grow and
prosper from our own mistakes and negative experiences.
Perhaps there was a time that our temper took a big toll on
people involved in a certain business issue - causing problems
and disorder in the business deal. This often happens when
our vision narrows and we forget to broaden our understanding
of life in business. If we always think of every angle or
perspective in dealing with business problems, then we will
be in a better position to discern what is needed in the
situation and apply the prudent action necessary to solve it.
When we focus so much on details, we forget the whole picture
and the entire context in which the small problem is
experienced. This is where we need to change our attitudes
and our ways of perceiving, thinking and judging. Learning
to be more patient and more understanding can help us think
more of people's situations and circumstances in life and help
us to be calm in our approach to solving problems in business
deals. If we focus only on what we want and want done now
and perfectly, then for sure, the other party will be
aggrieved and someone's hand might get "bitten". It is good
if after a "biting experience-event" happens, everything gets
smoothened up again and the usual business is restored. But
if it so happens that something breaks up that can never be
patched up again, then this can surely start to destroy not
only our business image, but more gravely, the erosion of the
very core and foundation on what our business ideals are
built upon. Let us not forget that when everything
goes-out-of-hand we right away go back to the "drawing board"
and remind ourselves what the core values of our business is
about: people above things, service above self-interest, and
carefully balancing these two in a way that is practical for
the business to not only thrive but prosper in the long run.
From a Christian persepctive, if we place in the core of our
business according to the spirit of Christ's service to others,
then for certain many will really believe in what we and our
business stands for. Putting Christ into our business life
will help it an excellence of service that is distinctively
a quality better than business on the same par as ours. The
unique Christian spirit of our service will not only sustain
the business we are building, but it will make it grow and
prosper into a business that is stable and solidly built on
the core value of Christian ideals - one that is as stable as
the gospels many generations have read since the time of
Christ Himself.

Your Small Online Business: Three Strategies for Success

2008-11-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

This article shares three success strategies for
your small online business.

Using RSS Feeds

With rss feeds, you are able to build a subscriber base
that will help you promote your online business to a select
few at first but builds over time. It is often this select
few that makes the difference for your small online business.
It will benefit your business very much if you get a
subscriber base that is loyal and will stick to their
subscription. Another advantage is to get subscribers who
will provide good word-of-mouth referrals to their friends,
associates and contacts. When getting these type of
subscribers for your rss feeds, and these people find your
content as a very useful pool of ideas to implement in their
own small online business - more particularly their own Catholic
articles web site and Catholic blogs, they will naturally refer
you to others who would also like to benefit. This way, you
bring more visitors through your rss feeds through the good
word-of-mouth advertising. What is therefore important is to
always update one's rss feeds with useful information for that
subscriber base of readers - ideally on a daily basis. If we
keep our subscriber base happy by constantly feeding them with
fresh content that will help them in searching for ways to
get ideas and to earn more with their small online business,
then we can obtain the opportunity to expand our small online
business and service more readers and visitors and subscribers.

There is much to be gained from using rss feeds because
it is easier for those seeking useful ideas and information
to access useful content from which they can apply to
their own small online businesses. For those who are not
yet familiar with rss feeds, you can also provide a "subscribe
by email" link so that they can receive the content by email.
If you burn your rss feed through Feedburner.com, they can help
you with both options: through the provision of many rss feed
buttons and an email subscription facility for your web site
visitors. With a "burned rss feed", Feedburner.com will provide
you a landing page where your potential subscribers will find
it easy to subscribe to the feed reader or rss aggregator which
they personally prefer.

Discovering An Adage that "Connects" with Your
Business

The odds of finding a unique selling proposition for a small
online business, to present as a message that would stick in
the minds and hearts of those who visit our web site, is really
very small compared to big businesses. These big corporations
often are able to use their advertising message effectively
because of the many minds that work for them. In the case of a
small online business, what can be done is to discover a popular
adage that is often searched in the leading search engines. And
if we are able to connect this popular adage with the concept of
our small online business, then we will be able to get more visits
from those who search the adage - which will certainly come from
many sectors and markets in the internet. This will naturally
increase visits to our web site and increase our potential for
profit and revenue. To discover what adage would be successful,
we need to find the core mission of our small online business
and link its meaning to this adage. When we use this adage as a
key phrase in writing our content, and then analyze our web
statistics analyzer to find out if it is becoming popular, then
we can capitalize on this adage for the writing of future content.

Finding a New Context for our Business

When we are writing content for our small online business,
sometimes we discover that we are not getting anywhere because of
the old and familiar key phrases we are accustomed to use. If
however, we use a key phrase that will place our web site in a
different context, then we will succeed if that key phrase
connects us to searchers online who seek also what we seek and
search for in a small online business. What is important is that
we discover what that key phrase is, through our web statistics
analyzer. As we discover that the use of that key phrase brings
more visitors and profit from our web site, then the writing of
content will be based on that new key phrase we discover. It would
also benefit our small online business if we use variations of
that key phrase in writing our content. Doing so also widens the
possibilities of getting not only more visits from those who use
the search engines, but also more subscribers for our rss feeds.
We can therefore build a small online business that is rooted in
that particular niche and serve all people who work in that niche.
Our business to business service model, or B2B in internet
language, will then serve those with small online business with
ideas and information from which they can profit from their
venture.

Three Success Strategies

The three success strategies above are based on the book of
Malcolm Gladwell, "The Tipping Point". If one purchases this book,
he can gain a lot of information and ideas to implement in his
small online business. Since a small online business relies so
much on search engine optimization in marketing its products and
services, Gladwell's book is very much a veritable and limitless
source, from which one can brainstorm for strategies in writing
content for both its readers and for the search engines. This
book is an international bestseller. It is very positive in its
approach and gives a concrete direction for small online business
owners to grow their venture given the present resources and
circumstances from which they operate.

Other related articles in this blog:

10 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty
8 Books That Make a Big Difference for Your Small Business

This article on small online business is part of the Catholic
family business series of articles which are published in this
blog site to help you start your own small online business
enterprise. If you wish assistance or need additional information,
or any matter specifically that you may want to start your own
small online business, you can email me through this blog.

Moving Towards the Tipping Point of our Catholic Family Business

2008-11-27T02:13:00.000-08:00

This article gives ideas and suggestions as to how we
can "tip" our Catholic business to profit. The term "tip"
comes from Malcolm Gladwell's book, which speak of "The
Tipping Point": that magical moment when a business idea
becomes a social epidemic and spreads with exponential
statistics.

Profit, "yes", but still with the real end in
mind

Although we know that the real end of a Catholic business
is to provide Catholic information through the medium of
a Net business culture, we still need to work hard and well,
in order to profit from what we do. This depends certainly
on how we market our Catholic business services successfully,
and gain the confidence of our visitors, readers and
subscribers. To do this, our main task is to slightly change
our Catholic business presentation and direct our Catholic
business to those target markets who will value not only the
concept we sell, but more specifically, the excellent
information resources which our Catholic business target
market can derive from:

Catholic articles and Catholic blogs
Catholic information provided by Google AdSense
Suggested Books from Ignatius Press & Amazon.com
Studying to build a Catholic web site through a Web Host

Discovering target markets to increase our profit
margin

In order to reach many target markets, we have to be creative
and innovative in writing our Catholic articles. When we produce
Catholic articles that presents our Catholic business in
different contexts, it may well "tip" our Catholic business to
traffic and sales statistics that will be more than we even
thought possible. All we need to do is to apply the "Power of
Context" which Malcolm Gladwell speaks of in his book, "The
Tipping Point". This concept of "Context" translated to Net
business and SEO language, is really just the production of
many key phrases in our Catholic articles, so that our Catholic
business reaches many internet niches and is presented to those
who have the power and the influence to spread greatly our
Catholic business services online.

How do we reach "tipping point" in profits?

To reach "the tipping point", we only need to make slight
changes in the way we market and sell our Catholic business
services. For the Web Developer Methods web site, we
do this through our advertising program with Google Adsense.
Our advertising program define the business side of our
informational web site, as it earns revenue from the info
gathered by those who search for information on our web
site. Discovering then, that little change necessary in
our marketing of web developer methods and resources, can
make the big difference needed in earning profits for our
Catholic business web site.

Optimizing Google AdSense in a Catholic Business

One technique that we employ to "tip" our Catholic business
is to optimize the use of Google AdSense ads on our high
traffic pages. Placing Google AdSense ads on high traffic
pages can become very advantageous. Google permits the
publisher with at most three ad units in a web page. So,
as more Catholic articles on the topic of web developer
methods and resources are produced, there are even greater
opportunities to earn the profits from that work. We see
this potential as really enormous and promising. Because
the more we make our Catholic information articles include
specific concerns, the greater the opportunity to earn profits
from publishing AdSense in those pages. Profits are in
proportion to the volume of specific Catholic articles that
publish Google AdSense - in both the web site and the blog
site.

Amazon.com and Ignatius Press affiliate programs

We used to have associate and affiliate programs with
Amazon.com and Ignatius Press in our previous pcentral-
online.net domain. If you so wish, you can also do the
same by placing their logos on your web or blog site and
earning commissions from these affiliate programs. The
earnings depend on how well we market the Catholic info
and web developer methods on our web site. To realize
this, and to view it also as an actual internet service,
we started to write book reviews of selected books that
can help our readers learn of excellent books in Catholic
education, internet and business - which they can also
purchase through the Amazon.com and Ignatius Press affiliate
logos. The Catholic business of promoting these books
through Amazon.com and Ignatius Press will surely "tip"
to profit, when an international bestseller that is
Catholic-related, is reviewed well in the web site and
speedily promoted by high quality optimization for
the search engines.

Earning while learning by affiliating with your
web host

The Catholic business of providing Catholic information
in business and internet is profitable in two ways: as
you build a Catholic articles web site and market your
Catholic business on the Net, you both "earn and learn".
Although growing a Catholic business is really about
"learning to earn", it is nevertheless still a noble
task, because the "learning" is obtained through
building a Catholic articles web site through partnering
with your web hosting service. We thus get the benefit
and advantage of knowing deeper the Catholic faith, side
by side with the latest internet technology from our Web
Hosting service. Moreover, this Catholic business of
"learning to earn" also benefits both our own Catholic
family and the other Catholic families on the Net.
Catholic families on the Net will profit materially, and
in terms of Catholic education, when they learn how to
build well the Catholic business of a Catholic articles
web site through a chosen Web Hosting service. Our
Catholic business will "tip" to profit when Catholic
families see one's web host as the best web hosting
service to host one's Catholic articles web site.

Moving to really "tip" our Catholic business

Once we have reached the 1st "tipping point" in our
Catholic business, this does not give us the license
to "rest on our laurels". If we really want to be
of service to Catholic families, then we need to
persistently work, to continually "tip" our Catholic
business, so as to progress the level of sales
confidence we have started in publishing Google
AdSense, and marketing the affiliate services of
Amazon.com, Ignatius Press, and your web host.
We will always succeed in doing more than we ever
thought possible, if we continually present our
Catholic business as an opportunity to profit not
only in the sense of obtaining a Catholic education,
but also in the sense of "earning while learning."
The more we believe in our Catholic business, the
more it will be valuable in the eyes of those who
learn about it. The greater our belief, the greater
in value it will also have on our readers. In
summary then, moving to "tip" our Catholic business
to profits, really involves just discovering how
to make that small significant change in our Catholic
business presentation and always seeing value in
everything we do in our Catholic articles web site.
Profits will always be obtained when we always have
and never lose a built-in sense of value in the way
we develop this Catholic business on the Net.

Other related articles in this blog:

Family Business Development - Small Business
Development
Catholic Business: A Business of Charity
Family Business Organization - Small Business
Organization
Building Intellectual Capital for a Catholic Family
Business
10 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty
Catholic Family Business Principle: "Charity Begins
at Home"
Discovering Ways to Tip Your Catholic Business

A Catholic Family Business from the Context of the Catholic Filipino Culture

2008-11-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

This article will help inform readers how developing a family
business from an Asian Catholic cultural perspective can
prosper the family and help the industries in which they
operate their small business.

What does family business development from an Asian Catholic
cultural perspective involve? Before we list down some point
as regards this, let us examine in more detail what being Asian
and Catholic really mean. For purposes of our study, we
consider Asian to mean Chinese-Filipino - meaning the merging of
Chinese business influence on Filipino entrepreneural families.
And also for the purpose of our study, let us consider Catholic
to mean the use of the Roman Catholic religion, especially
popular devotions, as a means of obtaining financial favors
from God.

The economic context of this article takes into reality the
phenomenon of Chinese-Filipino tycoons and taipans who came
from mainland China and migrated to the Philippines in order
to find opportunities for livelihood. Many of these
Chinese-Filipino business tycoons and taipans started their
big corporations from virtually very little capital. It was
their style of integrating business, the Catholic religion,
and what is popularly known as the ancient Chinese science
of feng shui, that help develop their business
enterprises into the well-known corporations, that serve a
big part of the Philippine economy.

Many Filipinos became employees of these Chinese-Filipino
entrepreneurs. Those who became loyal in their service,
learned well the business practices of their employers and
eventually applied what they learned when they went on their
own in doing business. And following the pattern of their
Chinese-Filipino employers, they built their businesses on
the foundation of the Catholic Filipino family - which is
an extended family structure.

Although each particular Chinese-Filipino corporation have
their own specific styles of doing business and operating
in Catholic Philippines, there are common traits which the
Catholic Filipinos have learned to assimilate in their own
styles of doing business. Listed below are some of these
styles which have been applied in many different ways by
Catholic Filipinos who have embarked on their own family
business development.

One very traditional way of proceeding in family
business development is to operate the small business
enterprise through conservative and traditional financial
strategies: targetting to obtain income through small
investments. The ideal in this financial strategy is to
obtain for big financial returns on small investments by
selling inexpensive items in bulk.
In line with the traditional and conservative method
of investing cited above, capitalization is therefore low,
capital expenditures is not big, and working fund requirements
are thus kept to a minimum. The head of the family can thus
start with a car, a computer system, a fax machine, landline
and mobile phones.
As regards utilities expense of both office and store, they
are integrated into the household's and family's expenses.
As starters, in founding the family business, part of the
house is converted into office space and store space, in order
to save on rental fees.
The prospecting of clients and customers, and the use of
banks, are focused within the area of the house/office to save
on gasoline expense. Also, if the family lives near the
Catholic parish, the family business can also have business
contacts and customers from among the Catholic population of
the parish.
Employees and working personnel are members of the family.
This saves a lot on salaries and wages. Also, the clannish
and extended family setting of Asians, most especially the
Chinese and Filipinos, can be used to obtain more help from
relatives. In this set-up, any member of this extended
family business system can have his or her own small business
and share the benefits of the connections of the extended
family system. The Chinese call this network,
guanx hi.
For starters, in order to gain income and reduce income
tax expense, the family business can be initially known as
part of the informal business sector in order to gain the
benefits of tax exemptions from the government.
This family business will be developed and built well,
and have an increase in initial growth when the working hours
are made flexible. The extra added services gain more loyal
customers, the stabilization of a client base, and lots of
repeat sales and business.
As the family business develops more its technological
knowhow and constantly upgrades its communication systems and
computers, operating costs in running the business are lessened
in the long run. A good communication and computer system can
lessen the need to make trips and thus lessen gasoline
expenses.

What is the advantage of Catholic culture in family business
development? Although the family business enterprise can serve
not only Catholics, doing business with Catholics as a majority,
ensures that everyone involved in the family's small business
enterprise, have a basic grounding on shared values and ethics
in business, as taught by the Church. Aside from being governed
by secular ideals, this family business is also conscious of its
conscience in all its business operations. Moreover, the spirit
of family, which also is strong in the Catholic faith, is very
much supportive of anything that strengthens the institution of
the traditional family set-up.

Good Business Books to Help Manage a Catholic Family Business

2008-11-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

Good business books to purchase and obtain ideas for
managing a Catholic family business

Managing and operating a Catholic online business for the
Catholic family will not only be profitable, but also
meaningful, and with significance, if the ideal of service
is ingrained in the vision and philosophy vision of the small
business. The following list given below are titles of
business books which one can purchase and read to gain the
necessary business wisdom and insight that is important for
the operation of one's Catholic online business.

Service as a business mission is exciting and builds
positivity and enthusiasm. Even when the economy is
experiencing hard times, if one's Catholic family business
is rooted well in the ideal of service excellence to people,
then the business will surely not only survive and thrive,
but also be at its best, in its desire to serve others.

The Catholic sector of business still has to produce much
business books to guide all who want to operate a Catholic
family business. There are however, Church documents which
give guidelines on how Catholics are to operate their
business ventures. To give a sample of these documents and
also other business books that are Catholic in perspective,
a list of titles is given here below which you can search
and purchase online or in bookstores:

Gaudium et Spes, Chapter Three, "Economic
and Social Life
"Heart-Business: Building a Kinder, Gentler Workplace"
by Dolores Lynn Torrell
"The Hundredth Year" by Pope John Paul II
"Bringing Spirituality to your Daily Work", by John C.
Haughey
"The Holy Use of Money", by John C. Haughey

Aside from the business books written from a Catholic
perspective, there are also great books that are rooted in
the service ideal which we can also apply to the Catholic
family business. Below is a list of these business books
and also a brief review of selected books from the list to
help you know more about the content of the books and make
a good purchase online or from the bookstore nearest you.

List of good business books to purchase to manage
and operate our Catholic online business

12 Steps To Success Through Service by Barrie
Hopson and Mike Scally
138 Quick Ideas to Get More Clients by Howard
L. Shenson and Jerry R. Wilson
Good Service is Good Business: 7 Simple
Strategies For Success by Catherine DeVrye
Service, Service, Service: A Secret
Weapon for Your Growing Business by Steve
Albrecht
What Losing Taught Me About Winning:
The Ultimate Guide for Success in Small
and Home-Based Business by Fran Tarkenton
with Wes Smith
101 Ways to Make Profits by Steve Pipe
101 Ways to Promote Your Business by Godfrey Harris and
Gregrey Harris
The Direct Selling Entrepreneurial Mindset: Learn the
7 keys towards attaining financial independence and personal
freedom as a direct sales entrepreneur by Josiah Go
101 Ways to Get More Business by Timothy R. V. Foster
Samurai Selling: The Ancient Art of Service in Sales
by Chuck Laughlin and Karen Sage, with
Marc Bockmon
Sell Successfully by Herbert N. Casson
How to Start and Build a Business by Herbert N. Casson
The Chinese Art of Excellence: Timeless Wisdom from
Chinese Classics by Adam Sia
In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's
Best-Run Companies
Clients for Life: Evolving From An Expert For
Hire to an Extraordinary Advisor by Jagdish Sheth and
Andrew Sobel
The Power of Positive Thinking in Business by
Scott W. Ventrella
My Father's Business: Guidelines for Ministry in
the Marketplace by Peter Tsukahira

Brief Reviews of some the books

Although most of these business books have been written with
businesses that are not yet well computerized or highly
technological, the same principles hold true for online
businesses that still have strong interpersonal contacts and
relationships with customers and clients (click and mortar
businesses). All the business wisdom and insights written
in these business books and resources can easily be
translated to the culture of the internet and the way of
servicing clients and customers online.

In Search of Excellence is a business book so
classic that all business people can not but read if they
wish their Catholic family business to succeed in the online
marketspace. The very basics and rudiments of a successful
business enterprise are given here through the examples of
America's great corporations. These business principles can
be easily translated to the way we operate our online
business.

Clients for Life is very valuable for business people
who wish to commit themselves to the service profession. This
business book will fully establish one's Catholic online
business so that one can have a permanent, faithful and loyal
clientele and customer base. This customer base will compose
the core or bulk of our repeat sales and business - one that
will call us to serve "clients for life".

Samurai Selling is by far the best business book on
service in sales that all can read and translate for our modern
context. Though the business wisdom and insight are taken from
ancient principles of the samurai in service of his lord, it
can be well translated to our small online business context.
The values and ideals of the samurai is best seen in what the
term really means. "Samurai" means one who serves.

The Power of Positive Thinking in Business is a very
vital and significant business book that can truly help us
build the Catholic family business. The book gives 10 traits to
help us develop a positive attitude in building and operating
our business. For those experiencing difficulty in finding
means and ways to obtain a positive attitude and outlook in
business, because of the negative circumstances that happen in
our business environment, this business book is indeed a great
help to brighten our outlook. It gives 10 solutions to help us
fight anxiety and worry in operating our small online business.

Optimism
Enthusiasm
Belief
Integrity
Courage
Confidence
Determination
Patience
Calmness
Focus

My Father's Business is perhaps the business book that
truly encapsulates the Christian principles of ministry. It is
to be remembered that before Catholicism and Protestantism, Paul
the apostle, earned his keep in ministering to the Gentiles. His
business and profession was tentmaking. So as not to burden the
Christian households to whom he ministers and preaches the gospel,
he engaged in the tent making business. This business book,
"My Father's Business", tells us that even though we are engaged
in business in the online marketspace, we can, like Paul the
Apostle, also witness to others as a Christian, and make our
small online business a venue and context for ministry and
mission.

A Catholic Business is A Business of Charity

2008-11-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

This article will seek to explore how the Catholic faith
can be inculturated in a business enterprise on the Net and
thus identify the business as a Catholic business. The article
will attempt to describe how this can be done on three levels:

On the level of social responsibility
On the level of governance by Catholic ideals
On the level of Net business practices

Many would probably wonder, can we ever identify a business
as a Catholic business? Also asked is, do we have the right to
call our business a Catholic business? And, another question
that may arise is: is it possible to institutionalize the
Christian ideal of charity in a business enterprise on the Net?

These and other questions may probably come up to mind for those
who have started or are starting a "Catholic business" on the
Net as a form of propagating the faith and at the same time
living up to one's Catholic responsiblity to sanctify the Net
business world with the values of the gospel.

A Catholic business is socially responsible

Starting a Catholic business on the Net involves a form of
social responsibility. By social responsibility, we mean that
entrepreneurs are called to be responsible in how they
communicate their business on the Net. Since the Net is a very
globalized social communications medium, then presenting our
enterprise as a Catholic business, entails that we always be
aware of those who may read our content and those who are
availing of our services. Thus for a Catholic business on the
Net, we are thus called to portray Catholic values in our
advertising and ethics in marketing and business transactions.
Another way of practicing our social responsibility is in view
of our being leaders on the Net. There is a recent directive
from the Vatican that requires all those who have web sites not
to publish official Vatican documents. This was because the
Vatican started already to copyright them. As Catholic business
leaders on the Net, we are thus required to lead a good example
by obeying this directive of the Church so that our Catholic
business enterprise will gain not only credibility but the
integrity required of it. This will also make it clear to those
who are deciding to put up Catholic business ventures on the
Net that, although we may have the privilege of taking
initiatives to promote the Catholic faith on the Net, we still
are socially responsible for everything we communicate and
everything that goes in the content of our Catholic business
web sites.

What then is our basis for calling our business a Catholic
business?

Perhaps we can answer this question on three points:

by virtue of our being Catholics and how we live out our
baptismal consecration
through the articles that contain Catholic content in our
Catholic business web sites and blogs
through the images that portray traditional and devout
Catholic imagery
and through a Catholic spirituality of prayer and
sacramental life integrated in the work and operations of
the business

Other than these four simple identifying marks, our business
enterprise on the Net is just the same as any other web site
or blog. What identifies our enterprise as a Catholic business
venture is not according to a Vatican authorization but simply
as an independent Catholic lay business mission and charitable
venture that joins the universal Catholic lay evangelical
movement on the Net - made on our own initiative. And
practicing social responsibility and moral integrity for the
use of the Net in our business enterprise will help as merit
the use of the name Catholic in our web site or blog.

A Catholic business is governed by Catholic ideals

All of us Catholics live according to a certain spirituality or
way of life in living the Catholic faith. It is this
spirituality that we carry with us as we venture on the Net with
a Catholic business idea. Through this spirituality, we are
governed by Catholic ideals and principles which guide us in
the building of our Catholic business web site or blog. For
instance, some of us may have been influenced by the Franciscan
or Dominican spirit and ideals. Or others may have been brought
up in educational institutions led by the Jesuits, Augustinians,
or Benedictines. Whatever Catholic way of life we have been
brought up with, the ideals and principles of that way of life
naturally govern how we are building our Catholic business web
site and blog on the Net.

A second thing to consider, is that we are also governed by
whatever teaching the Vatican puts out, in regard to the use of
the Net by Catholics. Since we are building a Catholic business
web site, we need to listen to what the Church is officially
teaching, when it comes to the use of the Net by Catholics.
The most recent teaching so far that the Vatican has put out,
in relation to this, is "Rapid Development". This and other
previous documents will help to guide us in developing our
Catholic business web site and blogs.

A Catholic business practices charity in all its operations

What is good about building a Catholic business on the Net is
that we will realize how noble it is to really engage in
something "without counting the cost". Though we may not
experience receiving profit, gain, benefits and advantages in
our Catholic business on the Net in the manner that we have
expected, in other areas of our lives, we will receive them
nonetheless. For it is in living out the spirit of Christian
charity in everything that we do that we receive more than we
have ever imagined and have dreamed of. We would really benefit
from this business enterprise when we sincerely seek what would
be good in the development of the Catholic faith on the Net. With
this as our primary inspiration, we will in due time receive our
reward from many people in our lives: not only from our Catholic
business on the Net. If we practice charity online in our
Catholic business communications, then we shall reap the spiritual
and material rewards that go along with living a life of charity in
all areas of our lives.

We should take note that it is important not to make money the
sole aim of our Catholic business venture. If we make money as
the sole aim of our Catholic business venture, then we will not
make our enterprise survive for the long term. Money and profits
should always be seen as a short term goal and not as a long term
objective. It must be seen only as a means to offset or break even
with our expenses on the Net. What we should aim for is the
realization through our Catholic business venture, of the
proclamation of the Gospel on the Net through Catholic articles
and blogs. And this we exercise in a spirit of Christian charity.
As long as we pursue this ideal and not "count the cost", we will
be provided with everything we need to help the mission of the
Catholic Church. Through our independent efforts and initiatives
as committed Catholics, engaging in a Catholic business
enterprise with all peoples on the Net, we will eventually
understand that a Catholic business really involves the
institutionalization and inculturation of the spirit of
Christian charity.

A Way of Organizing a Family Business

2008-11-24T05:20:00.000-08:00

Family Business Organization - Small Business
Organization

This article will help inform readers on one way of
starting and organizing a family business.

One way of starting a family business is by organizing a
garage sale. Every member of the family can contribute whatever
item they want sold. As organization of the prices and items
are being made, promotion can be done all over the neighborhood
for the day(s) of the garage sale. Promotion can be made through
flyers or posters announcing the date of the garage sale. This
is a way of getting the neighborhood to know that the family is
in "business".
Rebuilding the house can be done so that it can accommodate
office space and store space. It is good not to go for appearance,
as being practical can help cut the costs of building the office
and store. However, the store can have more decorative elements
while the office should be constructed so as to facilitate the
work systems of the family business.
Keeping track of the customer's and clients can be done by
organizing an index box with the necessary information needed for
every customer or client. Basic and important information are:
the customer's complete name, address, and telephone number.
For important business records, it is good to reserve a
special shelf or storage place in the office, so that files are
fixed accordingly. This organization will help keep bills up
to date in payment. It also helps in knowing what important
transactions are to be made for the working week of the family
business.
It is important to purchase a cash box where the money of
the family business is kept safe. A cash box which separates
the coins individually and stashes up the bills neatly is very
good for cashiering purposes. Whenever possible, or as the
time permits, it is good to count the money at the end of the
day, to learn about the amount of sales, and to discover if
there were errors in the transactions [giving more or less of
the necessary change]. Whenever there is an error found,
correct the mistake as promptly as possible, so as to maintain
goodwill with the customers and clients of the family
business.
If feasible, let every member of the family have their own
mobile phone. This way, whenever anyone needs to contact
another because of an important business matter, he can do so
speedily. Use the mobile phones only as needed. If the
landline can be used, use this instead.
Hire extra help only when necessary. If the family business
can operate on its own personnel, let it do so. Only when the
family business builds up volume in its business can additional
personnel be considered. Otherwise, it is good to always keep
business costs to a minimum. The ideal family business and small
business organization is to keep the extended family members
as the core working personnel and decision-making body.
To see if the business is progressing financially, it is
good to keep track of the financial status of the family
business. You can download from the Net a simple and free
accounting software. http://www.wings2000.com/ is a good
sample.

All the above suggestions can apply to any form of business.
Also, because of the extended family system, each member of
this family organization can have his or her own business, and
share in the pooled resources and tangible assets of the
family organization. What is also good about this business
set-up is that the family builds up its know how on business
processes and systems. This resource pool of "intellectual
capital" is very important also for small business enterprises
in our contemporary times. By intellectual capital, we
understand to mean: the building of customer loyalty, the
development of computer infrastructures and systems, the
individual know how of every member of the business(es), and
maintaining good relationships with banks and financial
institutions.

It is to the advantage of the family to have a family business
enterprise that is highly developed in intellectual capital.
Because of our highly technological society and the information
age that is looming big in our eyes, there is less and less
attention being focused on the tangible assets of the
enterprise, and more and more interest being riveted on the
intangible assets of the small business enterprise: intellectual
capital.

Other related articles in this blog:

Family Business Development - Small Business Development
Catholic Business: A Business of Charity

Breaking Through: "Tip" Your Family Business

2008-11-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

Discovering Ways to "Tip" Your Catholic Business

This article will help inform web site owners and bloggers
on discovering ways to "tip" their Catholic business on the
Net.

The "tipping point"

Malcolm Gladwell wrote an international bestseller entitled
"The Tipping Point". In this book, he speaks about how the
"tipping point" phenomenon of epidemics can be applied to one's
ideas and business venture to achieve breakthroughs. He first
explains that the "tipping point" is that small incremental
change made on the number of those who carry an infectious
disease, that can cause a big explosion of sickness of epidemic
proportions in a very wide area. If this incremental change
were applied to business or to the selling of one's ideas, then
a social epidemic may occur: causing a fashion or trend that
would literally boost one's business to exponential highs.
Similarly, if this small change is introduced to one's Catholic
business on the Net, wherein one present's the ideas or
business in a slightly different way, it can truly make a big
difference in one's hits, visits, pageviews and sales.

What factor may help the Catholic business to "tip"?

Following Gladwell's example of writing something that became
a bestseller, those of us who started a Catholic business on
the Net, can write an article or post in our blog, to present
our ideas and Catholic business in a slightly different way:
one that would create an impact on our readers and, in the
words of Gladwell, become "sticky" in their minds. How can we
do this? One way is to discover a two keyword phrase that
would be used for our "sticky" article. A good key phrase
would be one that would reach potential connectors, mavens and
salespeople. [Gladwell describes these people as those who are
connected with so many people ("connectors"), those who know
so much information and are willing to help others ("mavens"),
and those who have persuasive power to convince others
("salespeople")]. For those of us who have ventured into a
Catholic business, the best two keyword phrase that we can use
to reach these classes of people is the key phrase, "catholic
business". It is just up to us to come up with a "sticky"
article to present our Catholic business so that it ranks well
in the search engines in the "catholic business" industry.
This article then captures the attention of the "catholic
business" connectors, mavens, and salespeople, who will in
turn, spread online the information to their network of
contacts.

Developing and refining our Catholic business

Once we discover that our traffic dramatically changes, we
just take note of our "sticky" article. It is from this
"sticky" article that our Catholic business on the Net has to
start developing articles and blog posts into more substantial
ones relevant to our "tipping" article. Also, we need to refine
our writing so that our Catholic business can be diversified
according to this "tipping point". The diversification of our
Catholic business can then be promoted through three keyword
phrases that still incorporate the basic "catholic business"
keyphrase that help our web site traffic "tip" on the Net in
the first place.

Charity: Catholic Family Business Principle

2008-11-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

This article gives ideas and suggestions as to how the
Catholic teaching, "charity begins at home", can be practiced
and extended to the setting of a Catholic family business.

Charity is of God's Spirit
The advantage of everyone being Catholic
Charity expressed in generosity of help
Charity expressed in generosity of goods
Charity expressed in generosity of service
Charity expressed in self-sacrifice
Charity expressed in listening
Charity expressed in service to the parish
Charity expressed in acts of mercy
Charity expressed in "denying oneself, taking up one's
cross, and following Christ"

Charity is of God's Spirit

Since charity has its source in God, then the way to obtain this
spiritual fruit is through a life of prayer. Fr. Peyton always
tells us through his Family Rosary Crusade that "the family that
prays together, stays together." And true to our experience as
Catholics, when we place God and prayer above everything we do,
charity shall be the spirit that will lead the family more and
more towards faith and hope in God. When the family embarks on
its work as a Catholic family business, it is not really the
money that will bind them together, nor the ties of blood that
they share with one another; rather, it is the spirit of charity
that they share in their common faith as a Catholic family,
journeying together in laughter and tears, in fights and
peace-making, in sorrow and joy, in hard times and prosperity,
in problems and good times, and in sickness and health, that will
eventually help the family progress and develop, both in
spiritual and material terms.

The advantage of everyone being Catholic

It is an established fact, although it does not always apply
to all, that when a family is totally Catholic, there is a
greater direction for it to become "of one mind and of one
heart". This reality helps the family to know how they are to
be governed by a common morality, a common set of values, and
an ethic which they can apply to their Catholic family
business. When members of the family need to make decisions
with regard to anything within the home or as regards the
Catholic family business, having a set of norms from the
Church to guide them in decision-making is important. Even
if they disagree with certain points of a problem or issue
that needs their attention, what eventually would be the
common ground for arriving at a common solution is often
rooted in the very morality in which the family was born,
brought up, developed and continuously taught: Catholic
ethics.

Charity expressed in generosity of help

When there is a spirit of mutual help in the home or
household, it is likely that this spirit shall also extend
itself to the Catholic family business. Problems usually
occur in the home, and in the family business, when the
spirit of mutual help decreases, or is undermined by the
thinking: "what will it cost me?" When members of the
family always think of helping "without counting the cost",
then this spirit will give life to the spirit of charity
that has really given birth to the family in the first
place. It is especially the elders of the family, who have
the responsibility, as it were, to keep the "fire of charity"
burning in the home. And when the "fire of charity" dwells
in the home, this extends very much into the services done
to customers and clients of the Catholic family business.

Charity expressed in a generous giving of goods

This is perhaps the best expression of charity that everyone
understands: generosity in giving and in sharing material
goods. In the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that the
first community of Christians were made "one in heart and one
in mind" through their common prayer (Acts 2:1). As they
were praying and living as one, the Spirit came down upon
them and inspired them to an even greater charity: that of
faith in Christ and the willingness to give their very lives
to witness to his teaching and truth. Also, they had so much
trust in God that they saw their possessions in light of those
who had less or none. Eventually, they gave of their many
possessions, to those who had less, until everyone in the
community was not in want. It is this spirit practiced by
that first Christian community in the Acts of the Apostles
that we are called to imitate in the family and in the
operations of the Catholic family business. Its practical
application in the family business, must not of course, be to
the extent of "giving away the business" or "making the
business a losing proposition". One must also be aware of
the accounts of the business and the demands of a business
venture.

Charity expressed in generosity of service

This is perhaps the expression of generosity that anyone can
do, as it involves our health and strength. What is important
though, is that we do not compromise our health or strength
for the long-run or the long-term. We can give of ourselves
so totally to each other in the family, and to the customers
and clients of our Catholic family business, but we should
do so if we know that we will not be damaging ourselves - in
a way that will not make us serve longer years! Let us not
exert ourselves so much in the short-term, if in our doing so
will only cost us little money. What is more important is to
decide always to extend our generosity in a way that will
stabilize the family and its business enterprise for the longer
term. If we do so, we will be providing not only a legacy of
service to the younger generations of the family, but also to
our customers and clients, who eventually may be interested
to "franchise" our Catholic family business style and continue
that legacy of service in their own families.

Charity expressed in self-sacrifice

This is perhaps the hardest expression of charity to be
practiced in the family. Usually, everyone in the family is
tempted to seek his or her own good. When this happens, the
foundation of love from which the family is built, is very
much undermined. This direction will not also make the
Catholic family business work. However, when the direction of
family members is towards the good of the other, then the
family's situation and its business enterprise will be
directed always towards the solution. Self-seeking activities
will always lead the family to degeneration, ruin, and
eventually, to disintegration. If every one will seek what
is good not only for himself, but also what is good for the
other, then this direction of charity will help bond family
members together and make the Catholic family business more
cohesive in spite of hard times or despite downward financial
trends.

Charity is expressed in listening

One cause of problems in the family and in the family
business is when family members stop listening to each other.
When this happens, the communication process is often only
one-way: each one talks and wants to have his word said.
This is very dangerous. In reality, it is a volatile
situation. It can lead to great conflict and strife within
the family. And if the family nucleus is in itself burdened
with conflicts and strife, then its Catholic family business
extension will suffer also much from this. The Catholic
family business has its branches rooted in the family members.
If family members do not listen to one another, then what
would prevent them from not listening also to their clients
and customers? The solution then is to always be open and
have an attitude of listening to the other. In this frame of
mind and heart, we are more attuned to the pains, the aches,
and the problems of the other: both in the family and in the
Catholic family business. So, it is always good to check on
our ability to listen. Listening solves many, many problems:
others, clients and customers, and also our own.

Charity is expressed in service to the parish

A family is bonded well by its connection to the Catholic
Church. For a family to gain the understanding that true
service and true generosity lies in that which "seeks nothing
in return", it needs to volunteer its services to a Catholic
parish. This is the kind of service and generosity that will
truly purify all the services and generosity that is being
practiced in the family and in the Catholic family business.
Although not all members may be inclined to such service, if
just a few of the family members readily give their services
in utter generosity and charity, then this is enough for the
family to gain that right spirit of charity and generosity
that is needed to build and develop itself and its Catholic
family business. Giving oneself to God in this service to
the Catholic parish may take many forms. It is up to those
family members who take up this parish service, to balance
their time with the parish obligations, the family obligations,
and the obligations and responsibilities of the Catholic
family business they operate.

Charity is expressed in acts of mercy

There is a saying that says: "Love is never having to say
you're sorry". This works for families who express more their
actions through deeds of service and acts of generosity. It
is a reality that not all the time, every one is in good stead
with each other. Communication sometimes, and often times,
breaks down. When this happens, feelings get hurt, actions
are misunderstood, words are misinterpreted, and many, many
more things that create communication gaps and lack of
understanding. The way to revert this of course is to talk it
out. But the best way of communicating, is to perform acts of
mercy and of charity in the family. Actions, in a way, speak
louder than words. Now, this is also true for the Catholic
family business. And this is more important, because family
members do not have as much contact and interaction with
customers as they do with each other. It is thus very
important to express, in a strong way, but very sincerely and
humbly, acts of mercy and kindness to our customers: especially
when we have wronged them or feel that they may have been
slighted by our word or action in the business transaction.

Charity expressed in "denying oneself, taking up one's
cross, and following Christ"

This is perhaps the epitome of what has all been said above.
It is the perfect charity by which all of us are called to
practice and do. It is not easy, but it is possible. What
makes it possible is our attitude. Let us always take up that
Catholic attitude that will strengthen our family bonds and
stabilize our Catholic family business for the younger
generations. When we follow this spirit and ideal, we need
to translate it also into the practical world and business
way of thinking. It does not mean that we have to follow it
until our business is bled dry by too much generosity and
charity. We also have to admit that there is a limitation to
the business system that makes charity stunted in its spirit
when applied to our Catholic family business. We have to be
humble to accept that a business is not only spirit but also
a system that engages tangible assets. But we need both:
the spirit and the tangible assets. What we can do, is to
operate and lead the business in a way that institutionalizes
the spirit of charity, but also safeguards the tangible assets
so as not to lead the business towards a downward financial
loss. Let us not forget that old Catholic maxim and adage,
"It is in giving that we receive." And this holds true also
for our Catholic family business, when the right mix of
charitable spirit and tangible assets are blended well
together. And beyond our expectations, we will reap rewards
of income we have never really thought possible.

Other related articles in this blog:

Family Business Development - Small Business Development
Catholic Business: A Business of Charity
Family Business Organization - Small Business Organization
Building Intellectual Capital for a Catholic Family Business
10 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty

10 Tips to Maintain Customer Loyalty

2008-11-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

This article gives 10 suggestions and ideas to maintain,
improve and increase customer loyalty for your Catholic
family business.

Customer loyalty defined

Customer loyalty can be defined as: the long-term business
relationship customers have with your business because they
benefit from the good service that you give them. Customer
loyalty does not happen overnight: rather, it is built by a lot
of repeat business and repeat sales from the services you provide
them. The more customers come back to you and patronize your
business regularly on a long-term basis, the more customer
loyalty is built in the business relationship. The ideal
situation which customer loyalty can then be directed to, is
towards lifelong business relationships. In this scenario, our
customers and our Catholic business, are engaged in a lifelong
business relationship.

10 ways to increase customer loyalty

Prompt action
Honesty
"The customer is always right"
"More than just the money"
Mutual trust
"Giving the benefit of the doubt"
"Walking the extra mile"
Generosity of service
Patience
Good will

Prompt action

Have you seen how great is the service being done by service
industries such as fast food chains? When a customer orders
food from the sales person at the cashier's stand, he sees the
young man or young woman immediately responding to the order.
Although we cannot equal the physical energy of the young
sales personnel of the fast food chain, we can translate that
spirit of immediate response through many other ways: through
our responses in our mobile phones and our emailing. An ideal
situation though, is to employ younger personnel who have the
energy to meet the demands of customer requests. They would
really have the physical energy to respond immediately to what
the customer needs. On our part, as owners of our Catholic
family business, we can simply place immediate attention with
customer demands, and respond to it when we can, either in
terms of decision or communication, or delegate it to younger
members of the family business who have the physical energy to
literally "run" to respond to customer demand.

Honesty

This is one of the hardest things to do in any form of business.
However, it is possible, especially if we value much our
Catholic faith and how we integrate it to our family business.
Indeed, one of the really important intellectual assets, is
the principle of honesty, built-in within the transactions and
business deals of our Catholic family business. It is this
quality which will really endear us to our clients and customers,
and also accentuate our business with a trademark of honesty
and integrity. One way of practicing this principle of honesty
is to make it a point to count all the money at the end of a
business day and then see if we have shortchanged anybody. When
we see that we have did so, then we make it a point to correct
the transaction.

"The customer is always right"

In business, we are often tempted to do what pleases us. However,
to really have a customer-driven business, we need to focus on
the customer. This means following that old business adage:
"The customer is always right". When we practice this, it is for
certain that customers will always come back for more. If they
get what they want and are pleased with it, then we really have
done our best in serving the customer. There may be times when we
need to balance between what is right for the customer and what
is right for the business. If situations like these arise, let
us not forget that our Catholic family business exists only
because of the patronization of our services by people: without
them, we won't have a business. So, let us not place ourselves
in situations where we may be at loggerheads with them. When
this is about to erupt, we must remember that they sought our
business, because they need our services or have a problem that
needs to be addressed. Quality service means doing the best we
can, given all the limitations and present resources that exists
on both sides of the business equation: on the side of our
business and on the side of the customer.

"More than just the money"

If we build our Catholic family business to mean "something
greater than just the money", then our customers and clients
will really discover and sense that there is a vision, a mission
to what we do. In this sense, you not only get customers, but
you have reaped people who believe and are loyal to "something
greater than just the money". And you will find that they not
only patronize your services, but in a way, help and support
your business with their money, time and resources. Therefore,
what is really important is that we be rooted well in our
vision and mission to serve the people we seek to serve: people
who believe in the institution of the family and who work and
earn a living in order to build and support their family.

Mutual trust

Trust is the basic and underlying truth that must exist in the
business-customer relationship. If we work and build our
business in a way that supports this trust, then our Catholic
family business will be built on rock. If we operate the
business that is built on the loyalty of customers, then
building understanding between business and customers is really
a must. It is true that there may be times when mistrust can
enter in our business relationship. If this happens, then we
must not place the blame on the customer. The responsibility
of building trust lies on us: the Catholic family business. It
is us who are called to a vision and a mission of serving the
Catholic family and families in general. Therefore, it is our
responsibility to lead people to trust in this vision and this
mission.

"Giving the benefit of the doubt"

In our business operations, it is a reality that we have to
face certain situations where an element of doubt enters. If
this doubt is in relation to a temptation to judge the
intention of the customer or client, then it is best to "give
the benefit of the doubt" to this situation. Otherwise, we may
compromise the business transaction and lead it into a
direction of misjudgment and error. Since, as owners of the
Catholic family business, we are in leadership responsibility,
then it is up to us to lead the customer in areas where
understanding, trust, and honesty abound. If we are faithful
in this, then whenever doubtful situations arise and test us,
all we need to do is to root back ourselves on the basic
principles that maintain all human relationships:
understanding.

"Walking the extra mile"

Sometimes, when the Catholic family business is in that stage
when it needs to gain the loyalty of a new customer, "walking
the extra mile" for him or her will truly build that loyal
business relationship with them. At this stage of the
relationship, the customer needs to feel that he or she is a
special person. If they are treated in this manner, and they
indeed feel it when you "walk that extra mile" for them, this
will assure you of subsequent business from them. Moreover,
"walking the extra mile" for customers assures us that we are
in the right spirit of doing business: the spirit of service
excellence that will endure the tests of time.

Generosity of service

This is a customer loyalty tip that must always permeate the
transactions of the Catholic family business. If "walking
the extra mile" is best at the first stages of the business
relationship with the customer, generosity of service is the
business spirit that will truly give life to the Catholic
family business. If every member of the Catholic family
business where to render his service "without counting the
cost", then truly, the family business will be surprised at
the income and the profit they will receive even when
economic times are hard and difficult. For when economies
are feeling the pinch of downward financial trends, it is
the service industries that thrive and prosper. It is because
service derives its strength and resources from a spirit of
generosity: that Catholic spirit of "not counting the cost".

Patience

A very important attitude when dealing with customers and
clients is patience. Serving customers, especially when
they have problems, calls for a kind of patience that can
be said to be "saintly". It is not easy solving problems and
responding to requests that bear upon our strengths and
energies. The problems, the difficulties, and the snags that
happen in our business operations can really test our temper
and our equanimity. If we don't take time to find inner
sources and strengths to develop patience, then it is likely
that the Catholic family business will be snarled with
conflicts and adversarial situations. The best way to
maintain a patient attitude towards our loyal customers is
to treat them as persons and to make a commitment to really
serve them "with a smile in our hearts".

Goodwill

This is perhaps one of the classic intellectual assets of
service industries that is proven to maintain harmony and
good relationship between business and customers. Goodwill
is both an attitude and a frame of mind that intends the
good for the customer and the client. In any business
relationship, this is perhaps the most important
intellectual asset that must be safeguarded in order for
the business to continue to thrive and to prosper. When
ill-intentioned thoughts and ill-intentioned feelings sneak
in, if these are not thwarted through discipline, then it
is likely that all the goodwill that has been built in the
business will slowly go downhill. The best way to
safeguard the goodwill of a Catholic family business is to
always go back to the roots and the original vision that
has spurred the creation and development of the family
enterprise in the first place. When everyone in the
Catholic family business has returned to that original
spirit of the enterprise and has imbibed the very reason
and principles by which the business has been founded and
built, then goodwill will surely flourish again, and the
Catholic business will again tread the course that was
originally intended by the founding members of the family.

Summary

These 10 suggestions for building customer loyalty are not
the only principles which can work for our Catholic family
business. However, we can build from these core principles,
and add more as we take our Catholic family business to
greater acts of service. The 10 "service" principles by which
customer loyalty is built, is best exercised by all in the
business: both employers and employed. However, it is the
responsibility of the employers to lead in the spirit of
these service principles. Also, when the Catholic family
business develops, and goes on to work at a higher level,
it must not forget these 10 service principles that has helped
it survive, thrive and prosper in the initial stages of its
growth and development. And too often, when economic times
really experience a downward trend, going back to these 10
service principles will help steer it again towards the
course of stability and long-term service that it is really
intended for, and which will last for the next generation
of family members.

Other related articles in this blog:

Family Business Development - Small Business Development
Catholic Business: A Business of Charity
Family Business Organization - Small Business Organization
Building Intellectual Capital for a Catholic Family Business

Building Intellectual Capital for a Family Business

2008-11-23T23:28:00.000-08:00

Building Intellectual Capital for a Catholic Family
Business

This article will help inform readers on a method of
building the intellectual capital of a Catholic family
business.

Intellectual capital defined

Annie Brooking wrote a book entitled, "Intellectual Capital:
Core Asset for the Third Millenium Enterprise". In this book,
she defines intellectual capital to mean: customer loyalty, the
ability to collaborate with business partners, intellectual
property, electronic infrastructures and the innovative potential
and know-how of employees.

This definition of intellectual capital has been made from the
context of big enterprises and corporations. For the Catholic
family business, this can be simplified and translated in terms
that Catholic family enterprises can be able to operate on. Even
if the Catholic family business is a small business enterprise,
there is a flexible advantage and greater freedom to the way these
family enterprises can build their intellectual capital. This
dimension is positively accentuated even more, especially if
the Catholic value-system were incorporated into the ethics
of the family business.

Intellectual capital for a Catholic family business

If we were to translate the elements of intellectual capital
given above for a small business enterprise such as a Catholic
family business, we can simplify it to mean:

Building greater customer loyalty
Maintaining and improving good relationships with banks and
financial institutions
Constantly organizing and updating better computer
systems
Increasing the innovative know-how of every member of the
extended Catholic family system

We will be exploring these four aspects of intellectual capital
and see how they can greatly improve the financial situation of
the Catholic family. Let us remember that the concept of Catholic
family discussed here is one that incorporates the cultural
meaning of being Catholic in a Chinese-Filipino entrepreneural
set-up. This concept of Catholic family and the Catholic family
business is given more detail in the article, "Family Business
Development".

Building customer loyalty in the Catholic family
business

A Catholic family business need not serve only Catholics,
although there is an advantage if the customers are from the
same parish as the family business members and shares also
the same faith-experiences as they do. But whether the Catholic
family business serves Catholics and/or non-Catholics, the key
to building customer loyalty is uniquely based in making the
family as the context of serving the individual customer or
client. What is therefore unique in making customers loyal
to the Catholic family business is to treat them not only as
individuals, but also as a vital part and element of his or her
family. Most especially for every Catholic, what matters a lot
to his or her heart, is their family. Therefore, if the Catholic
family business shows concern not only for the needs of its
clients individually, but also sees them in view of their
relationship and their key role and service to their families,
the family business enterprise will definitely win their hearts
and their loyalty.

Maintaining and improving good relationships with banks
and financial institutions for the Catholic family
business

Catholics, in general, have a formal attitude of respect towards
institutions such as banks and financial corporations. Because
Catholicism has the tradition of instilling the noble desire
to exude excellence in every action and deed, there is indeed
a great advantage if members of the Catholic family business
always work and act to improve and maintain good relationships
with the banks and financial institutions, who help them in the
operations of the Catholic family business. And the way this
can be accomplished, is by continuously being up-to-date in all
obligations and in whatever needs to be done, to fulfill the
requirements and deadlines that are part of the family business
operations. If all financial records with these institutions
are always in order, then this will ensure goodwill on both
sides of the financial relationship and help the Catholic
family enterprise in its long-term operations.

Constantly organizing and updating better computer
systems for a Catholic family business

We are really in the age of information and technology.
Information and technology are objectively good, especially if
they are used for progressing the economic situation and
financial condition of the Catholic family business. And one
way to do this is to continuously upgrade the computer systems
of the family enterprise. Also, having a web site is very
advantageous, because the enterprise can create more
opportunities for communication, marketing, and advertising.
Aside from this, the family business can also create an
internal electronic infrastructure which can facilitate
business communications and transactions. This internal
electronic infrastructure can simply mean a network of pages
in the web site that incorporates all contacts, addresses,
email accounts, web sites and link resources that will help
family members operate the Catholic family business. Or it
could also mean creating a workgroup for two or more computer
systems.

Increasing the innovative know-how of every member of
the extended family in the Catholic family business

Building the innovative know-how of everyone in the Catholic
family business is potentially expansive, because of the
flexibility and generally open structure of the family
enterprise. On an ideal scenario, if everyone in the extended
family system were to even have his or her own business, then
the information that each one accumulates is enough to create
a pool of intellectual capital - big enough so that each
member of the extended family system can draw the needed
information in order to solve the problems of each one's
business. Usually, this pool of intellectual capital already
has its roots in the tradition of the family's Catholic value
system and the family's traditional business ethics,
especially if the Catholic family has a history of business in
their clan, heritage and ancestry. This "wisdom" in the
intellectual pool of the family's business heritage often is
being handed down from generation to generation. In corporate
language, they would call these "trade secrets" in the
company's historical tradition. In Catholic family business
language, these are just the wisdom the family has gained
through the years of running their family enterprise. It is
this original pool of intellectual capital that is constantly
building up more and more information, as every member of
the extended Catholic family adds on his current and new
knowledge or expertise to the business know-how of the entire
family business network. Because members of the younger
generation in the Catholic family business have the advantage
of drawing greater sources of information through computer
technology, the contemporary Catholic family business is able
to progress greatly in building its pool of intellectual
capital. The younger members of the family business, who
often have graduated from excellent and well-established
Catholic universities that provide good business programs and
incorporate a lot of technological know-how, are able to
invigorate and bring more vitality and dynamism to the
building up of the intellectual capital of the family
business. This excellent education is needed in order for the
Catholic family business to not only thrive, but prosper, in
the very competitive and difficult globalized economic forces
and environments. What is good about this Catholic education
is that it is able to guide Catholic families into building
their family enterprises according to the teachings of the
Catholic Church.

Growing your Family Business with 5 Strategies

2008-11-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

This article gives five strategies in which to grow your
Catholic family business.

Introduction

Like any enterprise in our information society, a Catholic
family business is composed also of both intellectual capital
and tangible assets. To grow our Catholic business involves
taking into account some strategies that we can implement,
so that we can grow both intangible and tangible assets
of the business. The basic principle though, by which these
strategies are rooted, is the service-orientedness and
and customer-orientedness character in which the Catholic
family business is stamped with.

A people-oriented enterprise

When we make our Catholic family business a people-oriented
enterprise, then we can truly focus on those classic and
traditional values of our Catholic faith: generosity of service,
and charity - especially in the sense of the gift of our
entire selves to the vision of the Catholic family business.
As we give all of ourselves and also the best of ourselves
to the customers and clients we serve, they will truly value
our business because of the benefits, advantages, and privileges
we incorporate in our customer-focused services. Although we
should not also forget to balance our business to include
being good and faithful stewards of the tangible assets we manage,
what is really primary is to take very good care of our customers
and clients. When our customers and clients feel this, then we
are directing our family business towards sure growth: growth in
terms of its intellectual capital, and also growth in terms of
the tangible assets we need in order to make the operations of
the family business excellent in its services.

A commitment to growth

One very important assumption that we must take into serious
consideration is the decision to grow our Catholic family
business. Often, what really prevents a family business from
growing, is because we ourselves are not convinced of the value
of growing it. If however, we have seen the value of the
services we are providing, then we can make a decision and a
commitment to grow the Catholic family business. What is
important though, is that in tending and managing the business
for growth, we must always be aware that growth really takes
time. And the fruits of all our labor will come, but in due
time. To save ourselves from the error of wanting immediate
results, we must be more process-oriented rather than
results-oriented. This way, we will work hard and also enjoy
doing business. And as we go on through our business
processes, we may suddenly be surprised and realize one day
how far our Catholic family business has grown from all the
business processes we have used and applied.

The five strategies to grow our Catholic family
business

#1 Keep in strict confidence the customer's
information

One strategy to grow our Catholic family business is to keep
close to the customer. Being close to our clients makes them
feel at ease with us and makes them also feel as if they are
part of the family business. As they give information with
regard to themselves or their families, it is to the advantage
of the Catholic family business if this information is always
kept in strict confidentiality. Doing so wins and increases
the trust and loyalty of our customers and clients. This
manner of treating our customers and clients will help us
maintain a core clientele loyal to us. It is this core
clientele who will refer our Catholic family business to their
relatives, friends or associates.

#2 Make B2B relationships profitable

Although our Catholic family business espouses the value
of generosity of service and charity, it also needs to aim for
profit if we want our operations to continue for the long-term.
In dealing then with banks, financial institutions, and other
businesses that help us in our operations, we must also present
ourselves to them as a business, which like them, also aim for
profit. When we grow our business with this in mind, then we
are assured that the Catholic family business will be firmly
anchored and rooted in a business network that engages in
profitable relationships. As our business enlarges this
network to include other businesses, then we must also continue
to aim for profitable relationships with these new businesses so
that our Catholic family business will not only survive and
thrive but also prosper in a way that its services will benefit
more people.

#3 Create a page in your web site specifically for your
customers

Another strategy to grow your Catholic family business is to
dedicate one page in your web site for the information needs of
your customers and clients. In this page specifically meant for
them, you can place the links that help them access information
related to your business. Also, to increase their ability to
obtain vital information related to their family life, you can
place a Google search box and Google AdSense in that page.
Dedicating a page like this for them will help them gain not
only the information services of our Catholic family business
but also direct them to the mainstream economic life and business
network of the internet.

#4 Investing in books and material to update our know-how
related to our Catholic family business

Since our information age emphasizes on the value of information,
it is vital that we update ourselves as regards anything that
has to do with our Catholic family business. First and primary
is certainly what relates to our Catholic faith: in terms of the
use of the internet, the teachings in relation to the family,
and everything that is related to how we function as a Catholic
socio-economic unit. Constantly investing in know-how will help
us be up-to-date with what is currently the mainstream thinking
of the Catholic Church, the business sector, and the internet
world.

Below is a starter list of books and material that can help you
grow your Catholic family business:

"Rapid Development", Apostolic Letter of the Holy Father
John Paul II to those Responsible for Communications
"The Holy Use of Money: Personal Finances in Light of
Christian Faith", by John C. Haughey
"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big
Difference", by Malcolm Gladwell
"Profitable Customer Relationships", by various authors [Top
CRM Experts Reveal the Secrets of Creating Customers for
Life]
"HyperWars: 11 Essential Strategies for Survival and Profit
in the Era of Online Business", by Bruce Judson with Kate
Kelly
"Intellectual Capital: Core Asset for the Third Millenium
Enterprise", by Annie Brooking
Merriam-Webster's "Guide to International Business
Communications", by Toby D. Atkinson
Windows IT Pro magazine, especially the volume II no. II
copy

#5 Attracting investors by sharing the trade secrets of
our Catholic family business

Another strategy to grow our Catholic family business is to
share our trade secrets. Whenever we find someone we know, and
someone who knows our family well, and we also feel he or she is
trustworthy and responsible in the manner of conducting
business, then we can share the trade secrets of our Catholic
family business. At the first stages of growth, we should
practice generosity and charity in our sharing, since we would
like others to benefit also in the way our Catholic family
business conducts its services and business processes. This act
of generosity and charity will reap a return of profit beyond
our expectation, because those whom we have shared our trade
secrets will also feel the call to be generous and charitable
in return. The good that we do, always returns to us. And it
is precisely in our generosity and charity as a family business
unit that identifies us as specifically a Catholic family
business.

On St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer and "The Forge"

2008-11-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer was born on January 9,
1902, in Barbastro, Spain. By divine inspiration, he founded
Opus Dei. This prelature has grown to about 60,000 members
and has spread to five continents. The spirit that led Opus
Dei is a spirit of holy involvement in the world: one in which
all peoples of all walks of life can help in the sanctification
of the world. For more information about St. Josemaria Escriva
and Opus Dei, you may wish to visit:

www.escrivaworks.org

"The Forge"

This is a book written by St. Josemaria Escriva that is of the
same style and manner as "The Way" and "Furrow". The book is
very inspiring and very encouraging in spirit. It is divided
into short paragraphs of about three to six sentences each, and
are identified and marked by numbers. At the back, there is
an index which you can use to search for a particular subject
that you are interested in and which St. Josemaria Escriva
writes about.

Titles in the book

To get an idea of what St. Josemaria Escriva writes about that
is encouraging and inspiring, the following are the titles of
the chapters in the book, "The Forge":

Dazzled
Struggle
Defeat
Pessimism
You can!
To fight once more
Recovery
Victory
Work
Crucible
Selection
Fruitfulness
Eternity

"Loyalty to the Church"

This work by St. Josemaria Escriva is a booklet that comes
from the original book of homilies written by him called, "In
God's Household". He speaks with great love about the Catholic
Church and calls her "Mother" in his writing. He develops
wells why the Church as "Mother" is also a mystery: She is
the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. Knowing that
She is assailed by many in the world, he defends her well by
his teaching. Below is an excerpt of what he writes about
the Church being attacked by many in the world and him being
in her defense:

"If by chance you hear words or shouts of offense to the
Church, show these loveless individuals, with humanity and
with charity, that one cannot mistreat a Mother in that way.
They attack her now with impunity, because her kingdom, which
is that of her Master and Founder, is not of this world."

Eight Reference Books to Help Grow Your Small Business

2008-11-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

Books That Make a Big Difference for Your Small
Business

This article gives 8 brief reviews of books that certainly
builds the intellectual capital of your Catholic family
business.

Intellectual capital is the key

For a Catholic family business or small business enterprise
to survive, thrive and be successful in today's information
age, it is important always to build the intellectual capital
of the business. This need not be big investments and entail
much expenditure. Books and magazines are inexpensive,
especially when they are bought on sale, or are reduced in prices.
In today's highly competitive small business environment, we need
to truly and solidly build the intellectual capital of our
Catholic family business, in order for it to not only thrive, but
to also excel in its rankings. Below are 8 brief reviews of books
that will certainly enhance, grow, and help your Catholic family
business rank well and succeed together with others of its
genre.

Rapid Development, Apostolic Letter of John Paul II
to those Responsible for Communications

The Catholic Church teaches us that we are called to integrate
the message of salvation into the "new culture". This "new culture"
she speaks of, is the internet and its information and business
services. One way of inculturating the Catholic faith into this
"new culture" is through our Catholic family business web site
or blog. The Church teaches that the responsible use of the
internet involves giving religious information, catechesis and
evangelization, formation of pastoral workers, and the education
to a mature responsibility of its users. Although we are
restrained by the limitations of our authority, and cannot
encompass all four means, our Catholic family business blog or
small business web site can therefore integrate one or two of the
four means, in order to do our part as Catholics who use the
internet.

The Holy Use of Money, by John C. Haughey

John C. Haughey is a Jesuit priest who ministers to people
in the business world. In his ministry, he has discovered how to
inculturate the Catholic faith in the world of business. This
book gives many scriptural references by which anybody in the
Catholic family business sector can find spiritual answers and
solutions to the dilemmas and problems they encounter in their
financial life. In the book, Haughey simply summarizes the
solution to our financial woes as the placing of our trust on God
and the sharing of goods as in the early Pentecost community. For
those who wish to find Christian solutions to their financial
woes, the Catholic perspective given by John C. Haughey in this
book is well-presented and can be understood well not only by
those who have attained high education in religion or business,
but by anyone in the family business community, most of all to
us, who venture into a Catholic family business.

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

This book is what anyone needs if they want to "tip" their
Catholic family business to growth. The book is not only an
international bestseller good for corporations, but also for us,
as it can have a very positive impact on how we chart the
direction of our small business enterprise. Gladwell uses the
"tipping point" phenomenon of epidemics as a reference point to
help anyone who has an idea or a business. He mentions three
means by which they can "tip" their business into a social
phenomenon with 'epidemic' proportions. These three means are:
the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of
Context. These ideas are truly effective. When we especially
use them for our Catholic family business network on the
internet, we truly will get remarkable results and great
successes in growth.

HyperWars, by Bruce Judson with Kate Kelly

It is not easy maintaining a Catholic family business online.
There is a great need to survive, thrive and be successful
if we want our small business venture to endure for the long
term. This book gives great suggestions on how we can do this.
What is great about the 11 ideas in this book is that it has
its roots in customer service. It takes note of the
difficulties of being a small business in a hypercompetitive
environment such as the Net, and it also helps root our
strategies in excellent customer services, that can make our
Catholic family business be the best it can be in the internet
mainstream. Though the situations given in the book are quite
dated, as late as 1999, the strategies are still applicable up
to this day. Given the 11 strategies listed in the book, we
can customize our own, and take our Catholic family business
to heights we never have thought possible.

Profitable Customer Relationships, by the CEO
Speak Series, Various authors

There are 13 authors in this book; business leaders who write
about customer relationship management from their years of
experience in established corporations. For our Catholic family
business to really gain headway in its progress, this book will
surely give the proper attitude when it comes to acquiring and
retaining customers and clients. All the means and strategies
the writers of the book present, as the "blue ribbon" of
customer success is: customer loyalty - an important factor in
the building of our intellectual capital. The basic and
underlying cornerstone for all their teaching is the goal of
pursuing profitable customer relationships: a win-win situation
where both sides of the business relationship profit from the
relationship and all the transactions thereafter.

Intellectual Capital, by Annie Brooking

This is perhaps one book that will revolutionize our way of
thinking in doing business in the information age. It is
truly a book which will make us aware that the trend of business
today is to depart from "brick and mortar" businesses
[businesses that rely much on buildings and tangible assets],
and to enter into businesses that invest heavily on intellectual
capital. In this book, Annie Brooking defines intellectual
capital as the intangible side of business that includes:
customer loyalty, good business to business relationships,
intellectual property, electronic infrastructure, and innovative
know-how. The book is very educational and can give us many
ideas on how we can manage and build the intellectual capital
of our own Catholic family business. For us in the information
age and who venture into the media of the internet, this book
is very vital to our business thinking and operations.

Merriam Webster's Guide to International Business
Communications, by Toby D. Atkinson

The internet is such a global communications medium that we
encounter so many cultures who can communicate with us in
English. However, each culture and each country often have
different forms and standards of addresses and contact
information. The book gives ways of addressing people from
47 countries. Also, it helps in making our English more
understandable to people who use English only as a second
language. This is a very practical book which will surely be
needed whenever we are called to communicate in a understandable
way with business contacts in the 47 countries listed in the
Guide.

Windows IT Pro Magazine, Volume II No. II, by
Penton Publications

One good technology magazine to buy in order for us to update
on what is current in the internet is Windows IT Pro magazine.
Their November 2005 issue is very good because it tells us about
the four main browsers that we can use for our Catholic family
business: Opera, Firefox, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. For
those of us who have already gone quite far in using the internet,
we know that depending on only one browser is not enough. It is
to our advantage that we can use other browsers to help us in
our Catholic business. Those who do not yet know of the other
broswers available in the internet market will also find in this
issue the latest features provided by the four browsers reviewed.
This particular issue of Windows IT Pro details the excellent
features of each browser and reviews what makes them very
popular.

Summary

One, more, or all of the 8 books above can really help your
Catholic family business get well grounded in information, that
will build the intellectual capital needed, to boost the
enterprise towards growth and success. It is indeed difficult
and hard to find the right books, and the proper combination of
excellent material, that will provide us with means and ways to
make our business succeed. Instead of searching and searching
for the right combination of books that you need to develop, grow
and achieve success for your Catholic family business, the
abovementioned list of reviews is given to you here for your
convenience. If really interested in the books, you can search
for them at

On the Ideal of Service for Small Business Enterprises

2008-11-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

"Service, Service, Service: A Secret Weapon for Your
Growing Business", by Steve Albrecht, is a book of expert
advice for small business.

Inculturating the Catholic faith in the culture of the business
world is very difficult. However, there is a tradition in the
Church that can serve as an entry point for placing the Catholic
spirit in business culture: service. And this is the aspect that
is tackled by many in the business world: that of being customer
oriented and being of service excellence to one's business clients.

What does service mean?

In Catholic tradition, the concept of service is realized in many
religious institutions: like schools which give education,
orphanages which serves parents who want to adopt children, houses
of refuge for those who have been disgraced by a sexual
relationship, and hospitals which serve the sick and the wounded.
Blessed Mother of Teresa is even greater in her ideal of service
when she even places the element of charity in her service: that
of being with the poorest of the poor so that they may have
dignity in their life and in their death. And John Paul II always
reminds the people of his title as being "servant of the servants
of God".

The ideal of service can be lived out also in business. This ideal
can be made more practical when thinking in terms also of serving
in a way that will still make the business profit. As we serve our
customers and clients, we are rewarded for our work by the
generosity of our selves and the commitment we give to helping
them get what they need and what they want. This direction will
reap in much more than what you really expect out of the business.
And many business institutions thrive from the service ideal in
business. This service ideal is very successful and profitable
that even when the times get difficult and the economy feels a
recession, it is the service industries that continue to survive
and to thrive despite the bad times because they live according to
an ideal, a vision, a mission: service, service, service.

This book review on the writing of Steve Albrecht will help you
with suggestions on how to live out this service ideal in growing
your small business. It is a very good book filled with practical
ideas to help you find what would work for your own small business.
It is effective and will truly work if you yourself believe in
the ideal of service.

Titles of the Chapters in the Book

Chapter 1 - The Customer Obsession: The Mission
Statement
Chapter 2 - Success Obstacles: Why Even the Big Guys
Fail
Chapter 3 - The Service Triangle: Centering on the
Customer
Chapter 4 - Understanding Your Customers: New Maps and
New Meanings
Chapter 5 - Building Your Strategy: A Formula for Service
Chapter 6 - Instilling Spirit: Employee Service Empowerment
Chapter 7 - The Added Value of Customer-Friendly Systems:
Empowering the Service Organization
Chapter 8 - Creating Your Service Surrogate: Selling the
Message
Chapter 9 - Ten Critical Success Factors: Doing the Right
Things with the Right People
Chapter 10 - Bending the Envelope: New Business
Relationships You'll Need to Create to Survive
Chapter 11 - Getting Back to You: The Service Leader

Faith in the ideal

What is important for a service institution to survive, thrive
and prosper, is to continue to have faith in its ideal of wanting
to serve its constituents: both the employees and its customers
and clients. And when the faith is great in the vision and
mission of serving, there is an assurance that the business will
continue.

For it is in the spirit of service that the business derives one
of its sources of life. Money and profit are good things. And
they are very rewarding and fulfilling if we continue to obtain
them. But it is the spirit of service, especially a service with
a quality of excellence, that will really make the grade. When we
focus on the ideal, the ideal takes us into avenues and highways
that will reap in much more, so much more, than we ever have
imagined that our business can do.

On the "Holy Use of Money"

2008-11-17T02:24:00.000-08:00

Book Review

A book review on "The Holy Use of Money: Personal Finances
in Light of Christian Faith", by John C. Haughey, author of
"Converting Nine to Five"

This book is very good, because it brings light on how we are
"infected" with "mammon illness", and how the ideals given by
the vision of Pentecost, is one cure to ease our financial woes.

A Brief Overview

Although the book is excellently written, it is written within a
context of theology, laden with much jargon and terms, that may
be quite heavy for those who may have no background on theology.
But if really interested to understand the substance in the book,
one can read the book as a form of study. A theological or
specialized dictionary on hand will be very helpful and handy.
The book need not be read cover to cover in order to get the gist
of the message. Although the chapters flow from one another from
the start, it need not be read thoroughly. Paragraphs may be
scanned, especially paragraphs that are really too heavy to read.

The basic message and content of the book is that it makes us
aware that we have what the author calls, "mammon illness". He
says this illness is more of the spirit. It is where we put our
trust. When, the author says, that trust is put on other things
rather than on God, then we have the illness. It makes us run
after things, and be so anxious about so many concerns, that
would not be so, if we had placed our trust in God.

After the author has named the illness many of us have, he goes
on to show that there is a "cure" to this illness. The author
tells us that the Pentecost symbol event can be a cure to this
"mammon illness". He says that it has "the effect of giving the
economic/financial/possessional components of our lives a
meaning that conjoins them to the "spiritual" in the hearts of
believers." "...To live in time and the Spirit, to live within
the experience of transcendence and immanence simultaneously, to
assign a spiritual worth to material possessions, to bring to
material expression a spiritual experience, to transform money
and property into fellowship and community - any or all of these
give evidence that polarities have been bridged and that paradoxes
have been integrated..." The Pentecost symbol "generate(s) a
unitary vision that combines opposites - the Spirit and the
economic order."

The chapters of the book

The book has only nine chapters. Below is a list of the titles
of the chapters to give one an idea of the content in the book.

Naming and Healing the Illness
The Sublation of the Economy
Inclusion, the Second Function of Faith
Is Tithing a Holy Use of Money?
Obedient Hearing - The Third Function of Faith
Extending the Tent Poles
Discipleship and Today's Economy
Hope and Economic Activity
That Christ May Be My Wealth

Suggestion as to what chapters to focus on

To get the core of the message of the book, and the gist of
what the author wants to say, one can read the first chapter
and the eighth and ninth chapters for starters. Once we get
the gist of what the book really wants to convey, then we can
read on the other chapters to dig in more into the details of
this spiritual treatise on the Pentecost symbol as a cure to
our mammon illness. However, if one is to pressed for time
with one's professional work or with one's business, all one
really needs to read to obtain light into one's financial
situation, is the first, the eighth, and the ninth chapters.
With that, you already understand that all material things
and possessions gain its proper place when we put our trust
in God - in the Spirit that inspired the first Christian
community to share and help one another not only in prayer
but also in material things.

A Book on Positive Thinking in Business

2008-11-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

Business Book Review

This is a business book review on The Power of Positive
Thinking in Business, authored by Scott W. Ventrella and based
on Norman Vincent Peale's classic bestseller, in cooperation
with the Peale Center.

Many of us in business, whether it be on the level of a
small business enterprise or on the level of big corporate
business, are sometimes caught in the doldrums and the
depressing scenario of the financial scene. This book will
change this attitude of ours during these times and create in
us a renewed sense of positivity - one that will revitalize
not only our energies as entrepreneurs but bring the spirit
of the vision and mission of our enterprise with the fire of
a positive future and a renewed look at the horizons we have
set our sights upon.

A brief introduction

This book trains us to be positive thinkers in business.
Norman Vincent Peale's books teaches us to be positive
thinkers in life in general. It is with his principles
in mind that this book was specifically written to have
a more specific focus for our positive thinking: business.

Ten traits of a positive thinker in business

Scott W. Ventrella teaches us how to make ourselves better
positive thinkers in business by inculcating in ourselves
ten traits that would help our business succeed and pull
through, even through the most difficult times. These traits
are the following:

Optimism
Enthusiasm
Belief
Integrity
Courage
Confidence
Determination
Patience
Calmness
Focus

The structure of the book

Below is a list of how the book is structured and wherein the
ten above traits are mentioned in more detail:

Part One: The Case for Positive Thinking

A Winning Program
The Meaning of Positive Thinking

Part Two: From Destructive Thoughts to Positive Goals

How the Mind Works
Getting to the Source of Negative Thoughts
Setting Positive Business Goals, Affirmation,

and Visualization

Part Three: The Energizing Power

The Ten Traits of a Positive Thinker
Centering Power
Uplifting Power
Driving Power
Holding Power

A book that brings light and hope

Oftentimes, when we manage our businesses, we sometimes fail
to slow down, sit down, reflect and analyze what it is that
it lacks so that it will proceed as we want it to proceed,
and to go where we want it to be directed. This book will
help us see and analyze, that part of the answer lies in
transforming our own thought patterns, which are often negative
and destructive, lacking in its life-giving character and
hopeful attitudes. The book is a real gem when it comes to
helping us see how we can make a turn around in our venture
and business enterprise. The combination of ten traits
suggested in this book is simple and can be applied in the
way that we can in our venture and business enterprise.
Reading the book will give us that "eureka", experience -
the experience that brings an image of a light bulb "lighting"
up in our head and imagination. Then, suddenly, we realize
what it was, in the one or two of the traits described by Scott
Ventrella, which we are not really practicing as we should
when making decisions in our business.

Like all business books which has one of its purpose - to
encourage and to inspire, this is another modern classic which
one cannot but have in one's own library, office or den. Reading
it not only once but many times along the life of one's business
venture and as a business person or entrepreneur making the best
of what the Lord God has given him to steward, will be very
helpful in improving all the aspects of the business: it both
its tangible and intangible assets, especially intellectual
capital.

"Go in Peace" - On John Paul II's Spirituality

2008-11-13T23:15:00.001-08:00

A book review on John Paul II: Go In Peace - A Gift
of Enduring Love, edited by Joseph Durepos.

If ever you want to have a book that speaks on the spirituality
of John Paul II, this book, edited by Joseph Durepos, is a
good book to read. Here in this book you will find John Paul
II's thoughts on many subjects and topics. The title of the
book is an apt summary of all the teachings of John Paul II as
he has made known to us before his passing away.

Good spiritual reading

This book is a good book for spiritual reading. The title
itself, "Go in Peace", will tell us that the context of all
that John Paul II stands for and went on mission for, is a
work and mission of peace. In the very first pages of the book,
there is already a quote from him that says, "Peace is not a
utopia, nor an inaccessible ideal, nor an unrealizable dream
...Peace is possible". This is true. When you start reading
the first pages of the book, the words John Paul II uses, are
words that come from a soul who brings forth peace - the peace
which he could only received from his personal relationship
with Christ.

Prayers and Quotations

At the end of each chapter in the book, there are prayers and
quotations from John Paul II. These prayers and quotations
are concrete expressions of his thoughts and feelings on the
subject and theme discussed in the chapter. Each chapter is
not difficult to read and can pass as light and easy reading
material. However, though it is light and easy reading, one
must read it slowly in order to fully grasp and comprehend
the rich meaning behind what he wrote.

Titles of the Chapters

On Prayer
On Forgiveness and Reconciliation
On Jesus
On Faith and Belief
On Living in the World
On Morality and the Christian Conscience
On the Church
On the Eucharist and the Mass
On the Family
On Suffering
On Christian Vocation and Working in the

World
On God the Father

Be Not Afraid, Go in Peace

At the beginning of John Paul II's pontificate, his message
of "Be Not Afraid", taken from Scripture, encourages the
Church to witness to the world with the message of the gospel.
This message also is highlighted in the book, "Crossing the
Threshold of Hope". Now that the Holy Father has passed
away, we are given more sources of his spiritual message.
And the book "Go in Peace" is the final message he he gives
to us. In the book, you will again feel that same spirit
that pervades through all his teaching - the spirit of the
Gospel.

A spirituality that will continue to encourage and
inspire

Never before has the Church been gifted with such a leader
in the stature of John Paul II. He has touched the lives
of so many people that many who encountered him personally,
truly believe that the man is of God. And people are now
wanting to have the title, the Great, after his name. So
far only two popes have this title: Gregory the Great and
Leo the Great. If the Lord so wills, then we can have
another pope with the Great added to his name. We, who are
interested to know John Paul's teaching, truly believe that
there is something great in it. It is great because what he
teaches is rooted in the gospel and his relationship with
God. In the final prayer published in the book, we truly
sense the greatness of his spiritual message:

I leave you now with this prayer:

that the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to each one of you,
that He will give you the strength to go out and profess
that you are Christian, that He will show you that He alone
can fill your hearts. Accept His freedom and embrace His
truth, and be messengers of the certainty that you have
been truly liberated through the death and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus. This will be the new experience, the
powerful experience, that will generate, through you, a
more just society and a better world. God bless you, and
may the joy of Jesus be always with you. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger)

2008-10-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI

Before he became Pope Benedict XVI last April 19, 2005, he
was known as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. As Cardinal, he was
in charge of preserving the truths and doctrines of the
Catholic faith. It was his task to have all theologians teach
the Catholic faith according to the official Vatican stand.

As Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, he wrote many books and other
writings. Now, as Pope Benedict XVI, he produces two official
Church documents and a published book called, "Jesus of
Nazareth". The two official Church documents he produced are:
Deus Caritas Est, An Encyclical On Christian Love,
and Sacramentum Caritatis, a post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the
Church's Life and Mission.

Deus Caritas Est

Being known to be a theologian of high-caliber intelligence,
when it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI would write an
encyclical, everyone expected the encyclical to be according
to the theologically high standards he was known to have.
However, he surprised many when the encyclical he came out
with was very basic: "God is Love" [1 Jn 4:16], or "Deus
Caritas Est". This encyclical establishes an important
foundation in our Catholic faith: love or charity. Pope
Benedict XVI explains in quite a detailed manner the many
ramifications and meanings love is conceived of in the world
and in the context of our Christian faith.

Below is an outline of the main sections of this
document:

Part I: The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation
History

A problem of language

"Eros" and "Agape" - difference and unity

The newness of biblical faith

Jesus Christ - the incarnate love of God

Love of God and love of neighbor

Part II: Caritas - The Practice of Love by the Church
as a "Community of Love"

The Church's charitable activity as a manifestation
of Trinitarian love

Charity as a responsibility of the Church

Justice and charity

The multiple structures of charitable service in the
social context of the present day

The distinctiveness of the Church's charitable
activity

Those responsible for the Church's charitable
activity

Conclusion

Sacramentum Caritatis

This document is about the Eucharist as "Sacramentum Caritatis"
or sacrament of charity, as termed by St. Thomas Aquinas in his
written work, Summa Theologiae. This document was
recently published and is a very informative writing on the
mystery of the Eucharist. Composed in three parts, it is
divided into 97 brief paragraphs, with each paragraph
explaining a certain aspect of the Eucharist.

There was a recent misunderstanding about the celebration of
the Eucharistic liturgy in Latin. This was reported in the
news. But paragraph #62 of this document with the title "The
Latin language" helps explain how the use of Latin and the
vernacular is to be reconciled in the celebration of the
Eucharist.

This document is a good detailed informative writing on what
every Catholic needs to know about the Eucharist and its
celebration. Below are the main sections of the document
that can help give an idea what the document and its content
tells about the Eucharist:

Introduction

The blessed Trinity and the Eucharist

The Eucharist: Jesus the true Sacrificial Lamb

The Holy Spirit and the Eucharist

The Eucharist and the Church

The Eucharist and the Sacraments

The Eucharist and Christian initiation

The Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation

The Eucharist and the anointing of the sick

The Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders

The Eucharist and matrimony

The Eucharist and Eschatology

The Eucharist and the Virgin Mary

The Eucharistic celebration, the work of "Christus
Totus"

Ars celebrandi

The Structure of the Eucharistic Celebration

Actuosa participatio

Interior participation in the celebration

Adoration and Eucharistic devotion

The Eucharistic form of the Christian life

The Eucharist, a mystery to be proclaimed

The Eucharist, a mystery to be offered to the world

Summary:

Pope Benedict writes these two documents, Deus Caritas
Est, and Sacramentum Caritatis, in a style that is
understood by many: bishops, clergy, consecrated persons and
the lay faithful. For any Catholic, especially those who write
Catholic articles online and who post in blogs, these two
documents are very essential in order to keep updated of the
important matters of faith to consider in the Catholic Church
today.

Called by Name - Discovering God's Specific Call for Us

2008-10-20T02:48:00.000-07:00

"Called by Name" by Robert J. Furey

Introduction:

Of the many books on the theme of vocation or calling,
this is one book that personally speaks to the reader's
heart. Author Robert J. Furey, a psychotherapist by
profession, speaks sincerely in this book with a
counselor's heart, and guides the reader into seeing
the wisdom of how God personally asks each one of us
to do something that only we can do. Furey encourages
the reader to discover for himself that unique call
or mission, that defines him and makes him more aware
of God who calls him by name.

Callings equip us with courage and abilities

According to Furey, the mystery of God's call equips
each one with the miracle of having the perfect
combination of abilities to meet the challenges inherent
in his specific call. Initially, as is usual in anything
unknown or part of God's mystery, fear is present and
much felt. But Furey writes that once a leap of faith
is made, courage miraculously materializes and our
particular path in life becomes clearer, and a specific
direction emerges. And as we try to discover the
calling's origin, we eventually realize that it comes
from God.

The book is sourced from many materials

This book by Furey comes from a number of sources. Although
the concept of calling is often associated with our
Christian faith, Furey draws also on other materials from
other fields: psychology, philosophy, literature, medicine,
anthropology, management studies, political science,
biology, and history. However, with all these materials
and sources, he humbly states that the book is an
explanation of the nature of calling, and does not
presume to be the explanation. He further writes that
the book is more of an introduction to the nature of
calling rather than a conclusion. According to him, the
final word on the mystery of God's call really belongs to
the reader himself and to God.

The chapters of the book

Below is an outline of the chapters of the book. The
book is very easy reading, light and brief, spanning
only 166 pages. For those privileged with the time, it
can be read in one sitting:

Callings

A Well-Known Secret

Callings Denied

Callings Found

Hearing Your Calling, Seeing Your Vision, Finding
Your Mission

Conclusion

Final words by the author

Towards the end of the book, Furey writes very
inspiringly:

"There are no small callings. Each one of us is called to
make a great contribution. Each calling invites us to do
wonderful things in our lives. Some visions lead to fame
and fortune; others do not. But each calling is equally
significant and necessary.

If we listen for our callings and live the missions we
have been given, we will receive the power, courage,
awareness, and passion to move the mountains that wait
for us. All the while we will be moving closer to the
force that calls us by name, closer to the force that
sends the breeze."

Heroic Leadership, by Chris Lowney

2008-10-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

A book review on "Heroic Leadership: Best Practices From
A 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World", by Chris
Lowney

This book speaks about the Jesuit Order, an organization
which follows a four-pillar success principle which the author
explains in the book. This four-pillar success principle can
be applied to corporations as well. It has contributed much
to the longevity and the life of this very influential
religious order.

The Four Pillars of Success

One strong thread that binds the content of the
book is the description of the leadership substance
and principles which have made the Jesuit order a
unique organization that have changed and influenced
the world. These four pillars of leadership success
are:

self-awareness

ingenuity

love

heroism

The formation of their recruits centered around
these four ideals.

each Jesuit understood what each one's strengths,
weaknesses, values and worldview are

each one was formed to confidently innovate
and adapt to a changing world

each one engaged others with a positive,
and loving attitude

and each one energized himself and others
through heroic ambitions

The author speaks also of the organization as one
wherein all are leaders. His view of the organization
as a community of leaders is not far from what M. Scott
Peck speaks of in "The Different Drum: The Creation of
True Community". M. Scott Peck speaks of a true
community as one which is "leaderless", because all of
the members of the community, are leaders themselves.
Chris Lowney makes a distinction with the leadership
style of the Jesuits, as a leadership that begins with
self-leadership. Whereas M. Scott Peck speaks more
of community in the style of an experience, that binds
the members, and helps them grow and mature as a
community, in the context of freedom and individuality,
Chris Lowney speaks more along the lines of a
well-structured community - one that can be organized
into a well-ordered corporation and built on strong-valued
principles.

Chapters of the book

The book is very interesting because it gives stories
of individual Jesuits in the history of the Order that
in one way or another, made the Jesuit stand out among
many religious orders of their time. And these examples
of heroic men have truly embodied the four pillars of
success that Chris Lowney mentions at the very
beginning of the book.

Of Jesuits and J. P. Morgan

What Leaders Do

The Jesuits: An Accidental Company With a
Purposeful Vision

Leadership Role Models: Three Unlikely
Case Studies

"To Order One's Life"
Self-Awareness As the Foundation of Leadership

The Spiritual Exercises: A Lifelong Development
Tool

"The Whole World Becomes Our House"
How Ingenuity Sparks Innovation, Creativity,
and a Global Mindset

"Refuse No Talent, Nor Any Man of Quality"
How Love Uncovers Talent and Unites Teams

"An Uninterrupted Life of Heroic Deeds"
How Heroic Leaders Envision the Impossible -
and Do It

"Exceptional Daring Was Essential"
How the End of Risk Taking Almost Ended the
Jesuits

"The Way We Do Things"
Four Core Values, but One Integrated Life

Leadership insights and wisdom

For one who heads an organization or a business
and even at corporate levels, the book is a
good source of leadership insights and wisdom
that one can apply to one's organization.
Though the book is structured more along the
lines of a free-flowing story, of the formation
and the growth of the Jesuit Order, in terms
of selected invididuals, who dotted their history,
and made a great impact on the world at the
time, corporate leaders will also find in this book
a fresh look at an old organization, that has
survived the test of an ever-changing world
and environment. The book is not a strict
guide, or a training manual on the formation of
leaders, but it tells a story and brings the
truth and message, that for something to last
450 years, means that it has a unique formula
that was God-inspired, and truly built on a
vision, that was solid and based on ideals
that are rooted in the very fabric of
our human spirit.

Crossing the Threshold of Hope

2008-10-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

A book review on Crossing the Threshold of Hope, a
compiled text of the interview made with John Paul II by
Vittorio Messori.

This book is a very good book for both Catholics and
non-Catholics. It gives clarification on certain truths
of the Catholic faith. The responses of John Paul II to
the interview by Vittorio Messori are classic and well
expressed.

Crossing the Threshold of Hope

If one embarks on reading this book, a better grasp
and a clearer understanding will be given on knowing
the Catholic faith. There are many issues that are
brought to attention in the book, especially issues
that are relevant to our times and needs to be
addressed to by the competent authority of the pope.
This book may be well placed among the modern classics
as it describes how the Catholic truths are really
based on the Scriptures and the Tradition inherited
from the apostles.

A John Paul II legacy

We must give much credit for John Paul II for
this production, through the skill of Vittorio
Messori as interviewer. If not for the leadership
of the late John Paul II, the Church would have
been led to a direction in which she should not
have gone. John Paul II kept very much to the
conservative tradition of the Church's teaching,
and at the same time extending the boundaries
of the Catholic faith with a missionary spirituality
that globally unites many faiths - working with
an ecumenical spirit.

The contents of the book

The contents of the book does not only bring
light to the many gray areas in which the
Catholic faith needs to make clear, but it
is also an interesting piece of literature
to take up for casual and easy reading. It
is also a good resource book for those who
are undertaking the RCIA program. Much of
the concerns and moral issues that are plaguing
the Church at present, and making it difficult
for those who are committed to bring many
members to its fold are the scandals - which
are discussed in this book and made more plain
to understand by the late Holy Father. To get
an idea what the book speaks about, the titles
of the book are listed here:

"The Pope": A Scandal and a Mystery

Praying: How and Why

How Does the Pope Pray?

Does God Really Exist?

"Proof": Is it Still Valid?

If God Exists Why Is He Hiding

Is Jesus the Son of God

What Has Become of the "History of

Salvation"?

The Centrality of Salvation

Why is There So Much Evil in the

World?

Why Does God Tolerate Suffering?

What Does "To Save" Mean?

Why So Many Religions?

Buddha?

Muhammad?

Judaism?

A Minority by the Year 2000

What is the "New Evangelization"?

Is there Really Hope in the Young?

Was God at Work in the Fall of

Communism

Is Only Rome Right?

In Search of Lost Unity

Why Divided?

The Church and the Council

A "Dialogue of Salvation"

A Qualitative Renewal

The Reaction of the "World"

Does "Eternal Life" Exist?

What is the Use of Believing?

Human Rights

The Defense of Every Life

The Mother of God

"Be Not Afraid"

Crossing the Threshold of Hope

The responses and answers

The responses and the answers of John Paul II to
the many questions given to him by Vittorio are
answered well. Some may require a bit of basic
theological background in order to understand them
in their totality, but as long as one has a
dictionary for Catholic terms, or a specialized
theological dictionary, you can easily understand
what the Pope wants to convey and express.
The book basically was written and phrased in a
manner that many can understand. It is given to
us so that we can get a better grasp of the value
of Christianity as it is brought to us through
the Catholic tradition.

The Pope as Bishop of Rome

2008-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Pope

The Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter

Definition and Latin origin

The pope is the bishop of Rome and the principal spiritual
leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The ancient title of
pope comes from the Latin papa - a term of affection
for father. Originally referring to bishops in the West and
to priests in the East, after the sixth century papa
began to be applied to the bishop of Rome. It was only by
the eight century in the West that the usage of the title
was restricted solely to the bishop of Rome.

Peter's successor

When Christ gave the keys of His Church to Peter, He
instituted Peter to be the chief shepherd of the Church.
This institution belongs to the very foundation of the
Church and is continued by the bishops under the
leadership of the pope. The pope therefore "is the
perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity
both of the bishops and of the whole company of the
faithful." (Catechism #881-882).

Other papal titles

According to the Annuario pontifico, the other
titles of the pope are: Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus
Christ, Successor of the Chief of the Apostles, Supreme
Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West,
Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman
Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City, and
Servant of the Servants of God. The last title was made
popular by the late John Paul II. But the most significant
of these titles is that which refer to the pope as the
Successor of Peter (the Chief of the Apostles).

Important role of the pope

The most important role of the pope is the preservation of
unity within the Universal Church. He is the point of
unity among all the local churches. As a shepherd is
important to his flock of sheep so they will not scatter,
so is the pope important to the Catholic Church. He
serves as the bishop of all bishops and the pastor of all
the faithful.

Papal succession

The early Christians recognized the importance of having a
leader in each local Church. Also, the universal Church
gradually came to see the value and necessity of recognizing
the authority of one of the bishops. Increasingly, the other
bishops and the Christians looked up to the bishop of Rome
for guidance and direction. It was St. Irenaeus of Lyons who
attested to this in history and traced the successors of
Peter as bishop of Rome: Linus, Anacletus, Clement,
Evaristus, Alexander Evarestos, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus,
Pius, Anicetus, Soter and Eleutherius (12th successor of
Peter). These successors of Peter have special authority or
pre-eminence because of their direct linkage to Peter.

A majority of Italian popes

Many are asking if the pope must be an Italian. The answer
is negative. In Church history, there have been Syrian,
Greek, Dutch, English and French popes (Pope John Paul II
was Polish and now Pope Benedict XVI is German). The reason
why most of the popes in history were Italians was because
the pope is Bishop of Rome and must live in Italy.
Therefore, the Italian cardinals have many natural
qualifications for the papacy.

Conclave and consistory

Conclave refers to the meeting of the cardinals and to the
place where they gather to elect a new pope. In the conclave
small cells were constructed for the accommodations of the
cardinals participating in the conclave. The history of the
conclave can be traced to Pope Gregory X in 1274 A.D. He
created the conclave in such a way so that there would be no
interfering communication between the cardinals and the
outside world. In our modern times, the conclave takes
place at the Sistine Chapel. One of the known customs is
the burning of the ballots that produces white smoke to
signify that a new pope has been elected.

Consistory, on the other hand, refers to a church count.
Before the consistories were governing bodies of the church,
meeting regularly, to tackle topics such as discipline,
faith, and policy. Presently, these governing bodies have
been replaced by the Sacred Congregation of the Roman Curia.
Today, when the pope calls an assembly of cardinals to
discuss very important Church matters, this is called a
private consistory.

Papal letters

The encyclical is a papal document sent by the
pope to the bishops. The content of this document deals
with matters related to the general welfare of the Church.

The bull is the most solemn and weighty form of
papal letter. This is used by the pope in appointing a
bishop and defining a dogma.

All documents issued by the pope are, generally speaking,
apostolic letters. But more specifically, apostolic
letters are used for lesser appointments, establishing or
dividing mission territories, designating basilicas, and
approving religious congregations.

The papal instruction is a papal document that
tells the faithful how they are to carry out or put into
practice some directives in worship or spirituality - example
is infant baptism or children's Masses.

The apostolic constitution is a papal document that
deals with matters of faith and affairs of the universal
Church - example are On the Sacrament of Penance and On the
Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

The apostolic exhortation is a papal document
which enjoins everyone to put into living pastoral practice
the indications, suggestions, and directives contained in the
document itself.

The papal blessing is given by the pope on certain
occasions such as the Urbi et Orbi blessing during Easter and
Christmas, and at the end of liturgical or even non-liturgical
functions. A papal blessing is accompanied by a plenary
indulgence.

References used in this article

Questions and Answers on the Pope and
the Papacy, by Rev. Fr. Ruperto C. Santos

The New Dictionary of Theology, by editors Komonchak,
Collins and Lane

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Biography on John Paul II, by John Cornwell

2008-10-11T18:10:00.001-07:00

The Pontiff in Winter, by John Cornwell

Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II

John Paul II

John Paul II has made such a great impact as a Pope for the
generation living within the turn to the Third Millenium, that he
has influenced many with his spirituality of mission and holiness.
He has created a personal stamp to the papacy and was very active
in the political scene - working for peace in the world and for the
unity of Christians and dialogue among world religions. Many books
have been written about his person and his papal administration.
One book that is very good in giving much detail about his person
and his papacy is the book written by John Cornwell, "The Pontiff
in Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II".

Highlights of the book

The book highlights how John Paul had firmly set his stamp on the
billion-member-strong Catholic Church for future generations, and
how he has become one of the most influential political figures
in the world. It tells about his key role in the downfall of
communism in Europe, and his apologies for the Catholic Church's
treatment of Jews and to victims of the Inquisition, racism, and
religious wars. Because of this, he has won worldwide admiration.
The book however sets a balance to John Paul II's image and also
gives those aspects of his papal administration that are
"negative" in the eyes of his critics. So the book tells also
about his papacy which was perceived as marked also with
misogyny, homophobia, and ecclesiastical tyranny. Those who
criticize him say that John Paul's perpetuation of the Church's
traditional hierarchical paternalism contributed to the cases of
sexual misconduct among the clergy and encouraged secrecy of
these "crimes".

John Paul II's character brought into sharp focus

The book achieves a great presentation of John Paul II's complex
character. Author John Cornwell states that John Paul's mystical
view of history and conviction that his mission has been divinely
established are central to the understanding of his person and
his pontificate. This developed in John Paul an increasing sense
of "providential rightness" that influenced his reactions to
the problems of his pontificate: turbulence in the secular world,
turbulence within the Church also, the September 11, 2001 attacks,
the sexual scandals in the United States, the clash between Islam
and Christianity, the ongoing debate over the Church's policies
regarding women And their desire for ordination, and big social
issues such as same sex unions, abortion, and AIDS.

A book still respectful of John Paul's prodigious spirit

Though the book combines Eyewitness reporting with information
from the best sources in and outside the pope's inner circle and
tells of both positive and negative aspects of John Paul's
pontificate, the book is still basically very respectful of John
Paul's person - his prodigious spirit and unrelenting battles for
human rights and religious freedom. The book thus produced gives
a moving, elegaiC portrait of John Paul in the winter of his life
and a thoughtful, incisive assessment of his legacy to the Church.

Author John Cornwell

John Cornwelh is the author of the international bestseller
"Hitler's Pope", as well as an afard-winning journalist with
a lifelong interest in Vatican affairs. He has reported on the
pope for "Vanity Fair" and "The Sunday Times" (London), and `as
written on the Catholic Church for "Commonweal" and the
international Catholic weekly "The Tablet". He attended Roman
Catholic seminaries in England for seven years, followed by
studies in literature and philosophy at Oxford and Cambriadge
universities. He was elected a Fellow of Jesus College,
Cambridge.

Chapters in dhe book

To get a more detailed idea of what the book contains, given
below is a listing of the chapters in the book:

Prologue: John Paul the Great

Part One: Holy Theatre 1920-1999

Close Encounters

Stagestruck

The Eternal City

Professor and Pastor

Bishop and Cardinal

Combatting Communism

Signs of Contradiction

"Be Not Afraid"

The Universal Pastor

Assassination and Fatima

Back on the Road

Poland and the Fall of Communism

John Paul, Saints, and Scientists

John Paul's Conflict with Democracy

Pluralism and the Pope

Women

Sexology and Life

Part Two: In Pursuit of the Millenium 2000-2004

Millenium Fever

"Ufficioso" and "Ufficiale"

The Patient Pope

To the Holy Land

Third Secret of Fatima

Jubilee Theatricals

Contrition and the Jews

Are You Saved?

Who Runs the Church?

9/11

The Sexual Abuse Scandal

John Paul and AIDS

Founding Fathers

John Paul and the Iraq War

John Paul's Decline

Mel Gibson's "The Passion"

George W. Bush and John Paul

John Paul's Grand Design

Epilogue: The Legacy of John Paul II

John Paul II and World Youth Day

2008-10-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

World Youth Day

Introduction

The international Catholic event "World Youth Day" has
its origins in the International Jubilee of Youth which
was celebrated in Rome in 1984. Pope John Paul II asked
the youth of the world to meet him in Rome for that event,
and 300,000 youths did respond from all over the world -
gathering there on Palm Sunday, April 15, 1984. After
this gathering, there was another similar event in connection
to the International Year of the Youth declared by the United
Nations in 1985. Pope John Paul II had another gathering of
youths with him during that event. The first time the term
"World Youth Day" was coined was in 1985, when the Pope
announced a "World Youth Day" to be held in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, on April 11 and 12, 1987.

First official "World Youth Day"

The first official international World Youth Day celebrated
outside of Rome was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The
Pope travelled to Argentina for such a world event. From
this initial official gathering a tradition of holding World
Youth Day every two to three years was created. The holy
father would then travel to a foreign land for this purpose.
Between the "World Youth Days" in foreign lands, there
would be local gatherings of youths in Rome to allow the
bishops of the other parts of the world to have their
celebration also.

World Youth Days celebrated so far

Below is a list of World Youth Days celebrated so far
with an approximate number of those who attended the
event.

1987: Buenos Aires, Argentina; 900,000 attended

1989: Santiago de Compostela, Spain; 400,000 attended

1991: Czestochowa, Poland; 1.54 million attended

1993: Denver, Colorado, USA; 500,000 attended

1995: Manila, Philippines; 5 million attended

1997: Paris, France; 1.2 million attended

2000: Rome, Italy; 2 million attended

2002: Toronto, Canada; 800,000 attended

2005: Cologne, Germany; 1.2 million attended

2008: scheduled for Sydney, Australia on July 15-20

An event for the pope to gather the youth

Pope Benedict led his first World Youth Day in 2005, at
Cologne, Germany. World Youth Days are international
Catholic events that gather the youths from all over the
world. During these events, the youths from all over
the world meet other youths of different cultures and
nationalities. It is a time for the sharing of the
Catholic faith with one another and to create ties of
friendship and peace between Catholic youths of many
different cultures.

Building a Kinder Workplace

2008-10-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

Heart-Business: Building a Kinder, Gentler Workplace,
by Dolores Lynn Torrell

Introduction

Many people know the corporate environment as a "mean
environment" where 'dog eats dog' and competition is as
stiff as the gladiators fighting in the colosseums of Ancient
Rome. Though this may appear as a normal stereotype of
corporations during the Industrial Revolution, Dolores or Dee
Dee Torrell offers a different view of this corporate
marketplace. Instead of looking at the marketplace as one
of fierce competition, she focuses on an aspect of corporate
environment that is present but has been neglected: its
humanity. Eventually, she says that a corporation is a company
of people, linked together in success or failure. It is our
ability to understand, to support and to care about one
another that is critical to the success of the corporate
business.

A special and heartwarming book

This book written by Dee Dee Torrell is not only special
and heartwarming, it is a very important contribution to a
better understanding of the business environment. It reminds
us that our personal commitments to treating people with
respect is not in conflict with our success; on the contrary,
treating people with respect is essential to business success.
AT&T Vice President William V. Catucci writes in the foreword
of Dee Dee's book:

"At AT&T, we are proud of the way we treat one another, in
good times or bad. And we are proud of people like Dee Dee
Torrell, who are living proof that even in a large
organization, one individual can make an enormous difference.

The chapters in the book

Dee Dee outlines her writing into six brief chapters:

Chapter 1 - A marketplace devoid of spirituality

Chapter 2 - The marketplace: its culture and
philosophy

Chapter 3 - A personal journey into the marketplace

Chapter 4 - Representing God in the marketplace

Chapter 5 - The dignity of work

Chapter 6 - The seventh principle: diakonia

Seven principles

Dee Dee shares many things about her bringing humanity
and spirituality to the corporate environment and the
marketplace. All this can be summarized in the seven
principles she outlines in Chapter five of her book - The
dignity of work. These seven principles are:

Do business with a heart

Trust and be trusting

Be compassionate

Be kind, be honest, be kind

Listen with a "third ear"

Be supportive

Be of loving service to others

Dolores (Dee Dee) Torrell

Dee Dee, called by others as the "ministry lady at AT&T"
is an Executive Assistant to the Director of Service Plans
Support/Federal Government Affairs at AT&T Headquarters,
Basking Ridge, New Jersey, USA. She holds a Masters of
Arts degrees in English Literature and Communications
and in Pastoral Ministry and Counselling. At the
printing of this book, she is a Ph.D. candidate in
Psychology and Religion at Drew University. Dee Dee's
assessment of the modern work environment tells us that
meanness is not necessarily "in", competition does not
necessarily rule supreme, and that spirituality and
compassion in business often help the "bottom line".
William J. Toth, Asst. Professor of Moral Theology at
Seton Hall University recommends this book very much and
says: "I commend this book to all the prophetic realists
in our midst, especially those who seek to extend the
justice, joy and peace of God's reign to our workplaces."

The Light of the World, by Fr. John Catoir

2008-10-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

You are the Light of the World

A Christopher Book by Father John Catoir

Introduction

All of us want to feel good about ourselves. We want to
be rid of a lot of negativity: worries, anxieties, depressive
or manic mood swings, dwelling on a painful past or an
experienced loss, thinking about our inabilities or lack of
talent, telling ourself over and over again "I am not able",
and many, many more "broken record" thoughts in our mind.
But, there is a way out of this negativity. The Catholic
faith gives us hope through many inspirational books which
give a bright outlook and helps develop an "I am okay"
attitude in our life. One of these books is the book
authored by Father John Catoir of the Christophers. Father
John Catoir particularly helps bring back people's
self-esteem after being battered and bruised by life.

"You are the Light of the World"

The title of the book used by Fr. John Catoir is taken
from the gospel of Matthew 5:14-16. In this passage Matthew
relates how Jesus proclaimed this statement to the crowds as
he ascended the mountain of the Beatitude: "You are like a
city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see... do
not hide your light! Let it shine for all, let your good
deeds glow for all to see so that they will praise your
Father in heaven". What Jesus says here is true for we
have been made in the image and likeness of God, a God who
is Light. Father Catoir says that we may not at this time
feel that we are "the light of the world" but it's true,
it's there, by virtue of our being created by God.

Jesus empowers us to be a life-giving light to
this world

Father Catoir says in his book that Jesus empowers us
to be a life-giving light to the world - a light that
will help dispel the darkness around us. He continues
and adds that to be a light for others, we can begin by
simply acknowledging that God's light shines in us. Jesus
can make our lives shine in a new way when we allow Him
to live in us by our faith in Him. And even if we are
like the apostles who before Pentecost had not much
understanding of Jesus and lacked a lot of faith, there
is always hope. For hope springs eternal and never dies.
Christian hope, as the holy father Pope Benedict XVI
teaches in "Spe Salvi", is what our present age hungers
for and knows that in our being fed by it, our faith in
Christ will be strengthened and the His light in us will
brighten all the more.

Believing in Jesus does not save us from
pain

The book is constructed in a style of question and answer.
A popular question related to modern day problems and
anxieties is made the title of a section and then Father
John Catoir answers also in popular style so that the
questioner can easily understand the meaning of the answer
from the perspective of the Catholic faith. Examples of
such popular questions in the book are:

I get down on myself too much. What can I do about
it?

How can I deal with my fears?

How can I keep my hopes up? I get discouraged easily

What if I am too weak to change my sinful ways?

How can I learn to live with illness or disability?

Why do I feel the need to escape from my life
situation?

How can I keep my mental health?

Do you have any ideas for helping family members to
come closer together?

These and more questions are all answered very excellently
by Father John Catoir. He groups these popular questions
in three sections entitled: Faith - What do you believe?;
Hope - What keeps you going?; and Charity - Are you a
loving person? He then opens this sections with an
Introduction on "The Art of Spiritual Direction", and then
ends it with an Appendix on "Why I am Catholic". Father
John Catoir says realistically that even if we believe
in Jesus, that does not preserve us from trials and
tribulations. But even if we are battered or bruised by
life, and even if at times we may fail to be the good person
we want to be, we just simply need to give ourselves to God
as we are and allow Him to shine through us and we will be
the "light of the world". The key to this is given by Father
John Catoir: faith, hope and charity.

On Pope John XXIII as Leader

2008-10-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Pope John XXIII: Model and Mentor for Leaders

A good book to read on the subject of leadership, is
"Pope John XXIII: Model and Mentor for Leaders", by Rev.
Bob (Bernard R.) Bonnot, Ph.D. The book, according to
the preface Rev. Bob had written, is set up as a manual
with case-study for leaders and managers. Each chapter
of the book (11 chapters all in all divided into two
parts), briefly states an essential principle of
successful managerial leadership, and then studies how
Pope John XXIII exemplified that principle in his life
and work. Each chapter then concludes with questions to
help the readers of the book apply the principle, follow
John's modeling of it, to their own particular and
specific life-situations.

The author of the book presents Blessed John XXIII as
a model and mentor for leaders at all levels in different
types of organizations - from pastors to presidents, and
even to CEOs.

What are the 11 principles author Bonnot presents in this
book of leadership? Rev. Bob Bonnot states these principles
through the following titles of the 11 chapters:

Setting a Tone

Setting a Course

Setting a Strategy

Assembling a Team

Establishing an Administrative Routine

Crafting a Message

Using the Media

Using Time

Moving Toward Ecumenical Unity

Moving Toward Pastoral Truth

Moving Toward World Peace

This blog on Catholic Leadership Today will seek to
learn a few of these principles which were also, in a way,
principles that Pope John Paul II had followed in his
model of servant-leadership. Particular attention will
be given to the following principles: setting a course,
crafting a message, using the media, and moving towards
ecumenical unity, pastoral truth, and world peace.

Applying 20 Plus Christian Values in a Family Business Enterprise

2008-10-02T01:39:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Aside from the basic Catholic principles practiced by Catholic
family business owners (who have graduated with business degrees
in Catholic universities), there are 22 other Catholic values that
can be instilled in the operations of the family business. These
22 values are not to be taken in isolation from one another, but
rather, in the actual operations of the Catholic business, they
are often interwoven and practiced as a whole single principle:
that of operating the business in the spirit of serving God and
the Catholic individual and his family.

Wisdom

One important value is the wisdom to always learn, and never
forget, that the profits arising from the operations of the
Catholic family business, are only a means to serve God more,
and the Catholic families who are customers and clients of the
Catholic business.

Prudence

Important also in the family business is the prudence to judge and
decide how to value both people and the material assets of the
Catholic business in a way that is pleasing to God.

Temperance

When profits are obtained in the operations of the family
business, this is also an opportunity to strengthen the virtue of
temperance: to moderate the physical appetites for food and
drink, and also for leisure and pleasure.

Charity

The value of charity is one of the important values of the
Catholic family business. Above all the other virtues in which
it leads, charity is the basis, the foundation, and at the root
of all relationships within the business. It is a very important
value in the personal encounters with customers and clients.

Justice

Sometimes, abuses can occur in the business when profit is seen
as an end, and not as a means to serve God and the customers and
clients. This is when the practice of justice can correct whatever
form these abuses may take.

Fortitude

When an economic downturn is experienced in the business
environment, the value of fortitude will help the business bear
and endure the hardships so that it will continue to survive and
thrive in its service to its clients and customers.

Joy

No material recompense can compare to the happiness of seeing the
clients and the customers joyful as they receive more than they
expect in the service given them by the business.

Peace

The spirit of peaceful relationships stabilize the Catholic
family business. Peace should be at the beginning and at
the end of every personal encounter with the customers and
clients.

Strength

Nothing is perfect in the business environment. The value of
inner strength is useful in the pursuit of the good, despite the
imperfections and weaknesses of the business system and the
hardships it has to endure in every economic downturn.

Knowledge

All knowledge, especially the intellectual capital of the Catholic
family business, must be directed to what would be good for the
customers and clients, and for the progress and growth of the
Catholic family business.

Understanding

The value of understanding is important in customer relationship
management. It must always prevail between the business and its
customers, and help the business and its customers learn to
consider and understand each other's situation.

Fear of God

The fear of God is also an important Catholic family business
value. It helps prevent both the business and its customers from
any dishonest and bad intentions and to avoid evil at all costs.

Counsel

Whenever a problem arises in the family business, the family
members must not fail to seek the counsel of God in prayer, and
also seek wise and experienced persons - especially those who
have an insight into how to solve the problems of the business.

Goodness

One objective of the Catholic family business is to develop
goodness in the character of the business and its services. This
assures that the direction of the family business is for the
good of all.

Kindness

This value is known to be effective in the area of sales. When
the business treats its customers and clients with kindness in
all transactions, then customers and clients will never forget
that kindness, and will refer the business to prospects and
potential customers.

Fidelity

Fidelity is an important Catholic value. If a Catholic family
business remains faithful to the Catholic vision that inspires
the business, then a disciplined system of quality service will
be developed in the business operations.

Patience

St. Teresa of Avila has said, "patience attains all". This is
an important truth in managing the Catholic family business.
Patience must be practiced at all times in solving customer's
problems. It also must be at the heart of every business
transaction.

Generosity

Generosity of service gives the business a human quality. This
is because it lets the customers and the clients feel that they
are valued as persons, and not only for the money or profit that
their patronage gives the Catholic family business.

Self-control

Self-control can help the members of the family business stick
to conservative values, and not be tempted to change anything in
the business system (except for urgent cases) at a time of crisis.

Gentleness

Treating the customers and the clients with utmost gentleness will
reward the family business with customer loyalty. When customers
and clients are treated in a way that they don't feel violated or
threatened, they will feel safe and secure in their patronage of
the Catholic family business.

Modesty

Modesty is often not a value given priority in many commercial
businesses. However, in the Catholic family business, modesty helps
the business present its services in a simple manner and style,
without compromising the ideal of pursuing service excellence.

Piety and Chastity

The spirit of piety and chastity are values that helps the Catholic
family business make a difference in the business field. When the
spirit of piety and chastity are instilled in the personal
relationships with customers and clients, then there will be a
general atmosphere of respect for God and for each other as persons
- who have a right to be treated as such.

The Endearing Value of Customer Relations Management in a Small Business

2008-09-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

This article on strengthening customer loyalty is meant for the
small business owner, who runs and operates his business in a
limited area and locale. It is hoped that the ideas presented in
this article may help small business owners to survive and thrive
in a time of uncertainty - where there are frequent fluctuations
in the price of oil.

Consumer behavior in uncertain economic trends

When the world experiences an economic downturn, most people's
financial behavior and lifestyles change. First of all, they
spend less. And second, they look for ways to live more frugally
- thinking creatively of ways to buy the basic necessities of
life, but at the same time save on money and gasoline. Thirdly,
the more industrious and diligent find ways and means to add to
their income so as to keep up with the rising costs of food and
household utilities.

Customer loyalty important during hard times

With the scenario described above, it would be a great challenge
for small businesses to retain the loyalty of their customers and
clients. If businesses do not adapt to the uncertainty in the
economic environment, their customers will patronize the products
and services of other businesses who provide what they need at a
lower price. Therefore, the big challenge during this times is
for small business owners to strengthen the intellectual capital
asset of customer loyalty.

Being there when the customer needs service

Customer loyalty is an intangible asset and an element of the
intellectual capital of every small business in the third
millenium. The basic key to strengthen customer loyalty is to
make one's customers feel that you are there for them - that the
business exists for them so that they will benefit from the
service that is provided them and their families. How to do this
in a concrete and specific way will be the objective of this
article.

Providing the information they need

Offering free information to your customers and clients can
strengthen their loyalty to the business. Sometimes, they don't
have anymore time to search for the information they need. If
you can give them the exact information outright, then it can help
them solve their problems or fill in personal or family needs.
However, if you do not have the exact information, you can
alternatively provide them with leads that can help them zero
in on the information that they are searching for. What is
important is not to keep them waiting too much; otherwise, they
would not feel that the business cares for them.

Including a delivery system in your business

For client-based small businesses, if one's client needs help in
purchasing a certain product, you can supplement this need by
arranging for the purchase of this product. A delivery service
within a limited area can help the business owner serve his
client's need, especially if the client has no more time to
purchase the product. If the client can specify the particulars
of the product they need, then the business owner can save the
client the trouble of searching and purchasing.

Keeping a track record of service excellence

Maintaining a track record of service excellence also strengthens
customer loyalty. Whenever the business always aims for service
excellence in all of its operations, then customers will be aware
of the many times they have achieved good service. So even if
customers cease for a time in patronizing your business service,
as long as you have provided them with excellent service in the
past, they will always remember this and will surely come back
to patronize again your service.

Generosity breeds clients for life

The more years a client or customer has patronized your business
service, the more benefits and privileges you as a business owner
must give them in return for their loyalty to the business.
These benefits and privileges can be material benefits for the
customer, which the business can lightly shoulder without eroding
heavily the profit margin that has been achieved in providing
them with good service. What the business profits in return
for this process of giving more to its long-standing customers,
is greater assurance that they will continue to patronize your
business. The customer loyalty of the business is then
strengthened and eventually creates potential customers and
clients for life.

A web site to connect with your former
customers

For customers or clients who have stopped patronizing the
services of your business, the business relationship with them
need not stop totally. In this age of information technology
and of greater mobility in the world, people migrate more
often to other parts of the globe. As a small business owner,
you can however continue to serve them with the information
provided in a web site maintained by your small business.
And when those customers return to their country of origin,
they will remember your business services and can decide to
patronize them again.

Summary

******************************************************************
In this new age of information technology, people are assured of
a better life, when they have information to lead them towards
an integral development of their personal and family life. It
is here where small business owners can invest in building the
intellectual capital of customer loyalty. Strategies to find
means and ways to inform your customers and clients of methods
of saving money and of living frugally, will make them always
feel that the business is on their side. If they feel that your
business service will always be there for them when they need it,
then they will reward you with a strong customer loyalty that
will help your small business to not only survive, but thrive
amidst the hardships and downturns of global economic trends.

Related resources for more information

Intellectual Capital: Core Asset for the Third Millenium
Enterprise, by Annie Brooking (www.itbp.com)
Profitable Customer Relationships, by CEO Speaks - several
authors (
www.visionbooksindia.com)
Clients for Life, by Jagdish Sheth and Andrew Sobel
Building Intellectual Capital for a Catholic Family
Business
10 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty
Five Strategies to Grow Your Catholic Family Business
8 Books That Make a Big Difference for Your Small Business

Operating in the Informal Business Sector as a Family Business

2008-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

The Catholic family business concept applied

As an introduction, we would like to explain this concept as one
based on actual business operations and experience, in the
informal business sector of the Philippines, where it is
tax-exempt, because of the capitalization being below PHP
3,000,000.00 or USD 66,000.00.

A linked network of microbusiness enterprises

Our Catholic family business is a network of linked businesses
on microfinancing, life insurance, children's costume rentals,
mobile phone reloading, and web development. Each one in the
family manages one of the microbusinesses above, but also helps
greatly in the operations of his family member's business. We
are able to save on money by operating in our home and in our
garage - thus avoiding the high operating costs of renting office
or store space. Our customers and clients are linked together
in these businesses as we operate on the Chinese principle
of guanxi - that mutually beneficial network of relationships
where everyone knows each other and are treated as family.

The benefits and rewards in operations help thrive during a
downturn

The benefits and rewards are very great. Since generosity and
magnanimity and charity in our service to others are emphasized,
we get more than we price our products and services for. We get
big tips. We are helped even in the development and growth of
our businesses - even by our customers and clients themselves
(who are very pleased and happy to refer us to others). Our
tightly-knit and strongly-bonded family relationships carry
over to the spirit by which we operate and perform business
transactions in our "Catholic family business".

The value of Catholic goodwill

The essence of the "Catholic family business" principle is the
spirit of Catholic goodwill - something intangible, but may be
even greater and more valuable than all the financial
capitalization combined in our family microbusiness enterprises.
And a great factor that contributes a lot to the operations of
our Catholic family business is the intellectual capital that
we have invested in - both in acquiring a college business degree
in a Catholic university, and in the application of the ethical
business principles that these Catholic universities have taught
us well.

Profitability more than size

One secret which we want to share with you so that you too will
benefit, is to build the Catholic family business not on the scale
of size, but rather, on the scale of profitability (both tangible
and intangible). We know that if we expand or grow the business
at the cost and expense of profitability, the business will
surely not survive the economic downturn. So, as one popular
book on economics teaches, "Small is beautiful", is a principle
relevant in this sense for economic downturns.

Additional information available

If you wish to learn more about this Catholic family business
concept, as we apply it in our actual microbusiness operations,
we have the following articles below to help you understand and
learn more about it. It is indeed God's blessing and gift for a
time of economic crisis - especially global economic crisis.

Family Business Development - Small Business Development
Catholic Business: A Business of Charity
Family Business Organization - Small Business Organization
Building Intellectual Capital for a Catholic Family Business
10 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty
Catholic Family Business Principle: "Charity Begins at Home"
Discovering Ways to Tip Your Catholic Business
"Tipping" Our Catholic Family Business to Profit
Five Strategies to Grow Your Catholic Family Business
8 Books That Make a Big Difference for Your Small Business

These articles will be eventually published in this blog, so
keep us in your favorites and bookmarks.

Continuation at The Nexus Blog

2006-08-09T05:10:00.001-07:00

This message is meant for those who have come upon this
blog for information or content. The continuation of
this blog will be at The Nexus Blog. The url for that
blog is http://www.pcentral-online.net/blog3/ However,
to continue bridging the content in this blog with The
Nexus Blog, reference to this blog will always be given
as a source for information and content [archives].

Dennis Emmanuel Cabrera
Catholic Internet Mission
http://www.pcentral-online.net/
+63(2)7463751
email: admin@pcentral-online.net

The "Magical Moment" in the Tipping Point of Malcolm Gladwell

2006-02-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book entitled, "The Tipping Point". It is an international bestseller and can be applied to the business field. The book speaks about social epidemics and how to start one. In some pages of his book, Gladwell speaks about the Law of the Few. In this Law of the Few, he says that one's business or any enterprise idea, can "tip" into "epidemic" proportions, if one focuses one's promotion strategy through a few key people: Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Connectors are those who have a lot of connections and rapport with many people; mavens are those who have a lot of information in them but their goal is simply to help others and to share generously what they know; and salesmen are the persuasive people - those who can persuade you to "buy" the idea.

In Gladwell's book, he simply says that one of the factors that helps one's business, idea, or project to get off the ground, and literally fly to success, is when it reaches "tipping point" - that magical moment when "word of mouth" becomes like a flu epidemic and "infects" many people. This magical moment can be manipulated by the Law of the Few but eventually we know that there is something more to this than just mere human manipulation. We know that for something to blow into epidemic proportions and reach exponential statistics, the hand of God, is one factor. So, even if we tell our Connectors, and Mavens, and Salesmen about what our business is about, and what our enterprise is aiming for, eventually, it is the hand of God which will determine if our business "tips".

Malcolm Gladwell's book is very optimistic and invites a lot of good speculation and ideas that can be used in anyone's enterprise. For those of us who are religious and who are inclined to know that eventually God's hand cannot be divorced from any "magical moment", we attribute success not only through the manipulation of our hands and the thinking ability of our minds, but also and most importantly, through a Creator, who gave us our hands and our minds in the first place.

2006-02-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Leadership in the Church is a call to continue the ministry of Jesus

Though leadership in the Church may take many forms and may take different levels, it is always a call to follow Jesus in his ministry of healing, teaching, and shepherding. Sometimes we think of this ministry of Jesus to mean only ministries that have to do with the sacraments. However, this ministry of healing, teaching and shepherding can be done in the most ordinary and simple circumstances. Healing may involve helping a companion regain his health through suggesting cures that is in the tradition of one's family. And teaching can mean just sharing what you know about the Catholic faith. It could be just a Scripture passage which one has meditated upon and then share whatever insight or wisdom one has gained in the process. And shepherding need not be in the realm of spiritual direction. Sometimes, it can just mean helping a friend regain a positive direction: towards greater hope, light, or freedom.

Leadership can take many forms. We need not be in high positions in order to practice the ministry of leadership. Some may say that leaders are born or leaders are made. This is true. However, we are called to see leadership with the eyes of faith. Just to know in faith and to trust that by our baptism, we are called to share in the ministry of Christ because of the gift of His Spirit, is enough to encourage us to practice leadership where we are now in our lives. What we therefore have to pray for is that we always seek the Lord for guidance in how we are to share in his mission of healing, teaching and sheperding. This is a lifetime process of discerning in what way we are to do God's will in the very situations we already find ourselves in. As we pray more and more to be guided by the Spirit of Christ in Word and Sacrament, we learn to apply what he tells us in prayer how we are to practice our Christian leadership.

Timeless Service Excellence as a Foundational Value in Business

2005-11-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

There will be times when crisis will hit an economy. Although every day is in fact a crisis, these crises are small ones and can easily be handled. However, when the economic crisis hits it big proportion, this will tell business persons how they are to handle these in a Christian way. Often, in big crises, power is very much involved. And when power is involved, the momentum of many is to want to destroy the competition, to want to make the competition fall. And this is also not only in the sense of businesses who compete with one another. Sometimes, the crises affects the business that it has to use power that might harm its own customers and clients. This is where the Christian spirit is called to enter the picture. The spirit of Christ was service. Service to God through preaching, teaching and healing people. Therefore, in moments of crises, businesses who are able to adjust themselves well to the situation in crisis by making sacrifices in favor of its customers and clients will likely lose something in the short-run but however will be beneficial for the business in the long-run since the customers will feel that they are taken care of and that the business is on their side.

Businesses are in positions of leadership and are thus called to lead in the spirit of service. Focus must be on service. If the customers and clients feel that this is not the focus anymore, they will likely leave and not patronize the business. But if the business continues to serve and gives its best at the service of its customers and clients, then the business may lose something because the crisis does affect everybody, but because the business sticks to its rootedness in service, then this will stabilize the business and make it survive until good times come back again.

Serving is a kind of denial of oneself and a taking up of one's cross because of the obligations that are connected with it. It is not easy to serve but it is possible if we take Christ as the model of our life in bad times. During the time of Christ, life was already hard. The people of Israel were in bondage to the Roman Empire and the religious leaders need to follow the rule of law of the Empire. Since Christ wanted to serve those who wanted to be saved from sin and illness, this caused Him popularity and success because He was able to do it in a true spirit of generosity and service. He served those who were sick even when there was a Sabbath. This angered the Pharisees but it touched and melted the hearts of the people. And the people followed Him wherever He went. Eventually, his political influence on the people was not liked by the religious leaders of his time because they felt it was a threat to his authority. And His denial of self for the sake of the people led him to take up the cross and die so that we all may be led to the direction of light and grace rather than to the direction of darkness, destruction, death and sin.

If we want our business to survive, then we must "let it partly die" that new life may come out of it. And our service that hurts us because of the demands of the obligation will assure us the stability of the business in the long run. Let us imitate Christ who gave Himself for the sake of the people. Let our business give part of itself to our clients and customers so that they will feel that they are taken care of and served and eventually be loyal to the business for a long time.

2005-11-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

Strong Leaderships and Pastoral in Approach

The Church today is in need of strong leadership, and most particularly leadership that is pastoral. The model for this is Jesus the Good Shepherd. Jesus was a very strong leader but his leadership was not tyrannical. Rather it is a leadership that cares for the little ones, especially those who have strayed, those who have lost their way, and those who have been marginalized to the edges of society.

In every age and century, God has raised up men and women who respond to the call to lead the Church especially in times of crisis. We were especially fortunate to have been gifted with the person of John Paul II who led the Church for more than 26 years. His was a leadership that was truly strong and pastoral. And we know that the source of his strength is his devotion to the Blessed Mother and to the Eucharist. These devotions have helped him pastor the universal Church with such a charisma that many followed and believed in him. He was able to extend the influence of the Catholic church beyond the boundaries of the Vatican. He even was able to influence those who do not belong to the Catholic Church and those who are leaders themselves of their own world religion.

Strong and pastoral traits in a Catholic leader are what is still needed for these present times. Even with the passing away of John Paul II, his influence still continues for today. We are also fortunate that our present Pontiff, Benedict XVI, also follows the pathway that John Paul II has forged, and in this way continues the strength of direction and pastoral care of John Paul II. And let us not forget that the strong influence of John Paul II is not only on the level of the papacy. In fact, and in reality, it has trickled down to all of the lay faithful, who in their own positions of leadership, have led their flock with the same pastoral style as that of John Paul II.

It is good to pray to the Lord that He may send many who have the same leadership impact as that of John Paul II. Although we will surely not have another John Paul II, what the Church needs are strong and pastoral leaders who will emulate Christ's strong leadership and pastoral care for all people, including those who do not belong to the fold. If we pray for such leaders, the Lord will hear our cry and He will indeed send servant-leaders who will labor for the good of the Church and bring out the best in all the Catholics who only wish what is best not only for the Church but also for all who belong to this world in which we live.

2005-10-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Can a Business be "Catholicized"?

In this age of the lay vocation, there are many Catholics who go into business and enter into it as a family enterprise. Often, when the family is involved, especially if members of the family are devout Catholics, it is for certain that the family shall based their business decisions based on the Catholic principles they were taught by the Catholic schools, colleges or universities they graduated from. It is not easy to introduce Catholic principles to a business but it is possible given the ideals that can be lived out by the business - ideals that are rooted in the values of the Gospel.

One such ideal is the development of the talents and gifts that were given to us by the Lord. There was a parable about a man who gave several pieces of talents to three different individuals. Two of these individuals used the talents well and were able to increase the yield of their talents. One however, kept it and did not use it. The master who gave the talents was angry at the one who did not use his. And in his anger, he took away the talent from him and gave it to the one who was able to develop his.

This is one ideal that we can use in our Catholic business. It is one way of "Catholicizing" our business enterprises as a Catholic family. We are to use our talents well so that we can serve our brothers and sisters well. In so doing, the profit that we gain in the business will not only serve our purposes of sustaining the needs of the family but also giving ourselves to our very best so that others too can benefit from the full use of our talents. The counterbalance to this of course is the gospel injunction to "guard ourselves from all forms of greed". We are to use our talents well but not in the sense of being led to the spirit of avarice and greed. We thus need to know the gospel in its entire context to be able to "Catholicize" well our Catholic small business.

Also, as lay faithful, we must be wary of the fact that even if we undertake initiatives in this line, we have to be humble and accept the reality that Catholicizing our Catholic small business needs the guidance of the Church and its hierarchy. Usually, it is not really a big problem since our Catholic small business is only a family enterprise. What would be really problematic for the Church is when a big corporation aligns itself with the Catholic Church and sets into motion principles that may go against its teaching. As for us, who are small Catholic enterpreneurs, all we need to do is to follow the Church's teachings and certain authorities that we know of who can guide us in the right direction. With a Catholic small business, it is easier to adjust to whatever needs to be adjusted since the rules and regulations and the policies made by the business is not as inflexible as that of a large corporation. Things can be easily adjusted.

2005-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

A Sense of Mission, A Sense of Holiness

Probably two of many important factors that can make a good Catholic leader is to have a sense of mission and a sense of holiness. Whatever our state of life, if we are inspired by God with a sense of mission and a sense of holiness, then we can lead and influence people by touching their lives with our witness. A sense of mission and a sense of holiness can just be a matter of attitude or how we treat people. If we intensely desire this, then all the more our life shall be a light and example to others to do the same. And the standard by which we base this sense of mission and sense of holiness is Christ Himself, and how His action is particularized through His servants, the saints and those who live holy lives of witnessing and proclaiming the Gospel.

Probably, the best example of one who has followed Christ in His sense of mission and sense of holiness is John Paul II. The late Holy Father's accomplishments in terms of missionary journeys and efforts towards reconciliation are exemplary. Also to be noted is his very ardent devotion to the Blessed Mother which contributed very much to his life of prayer and holiness. We can live the sense of mission and the sense of holiness that John Paul II lived in our own states of life. His spirituality can be lived not only by the clergy but also the religious and the lay faithful. It is just a matter of applying it to our own particular life situation.

If a sense of mission and a sense of holiness is what is called for as two of the necessary elements to be a good Catholic leader today, then this can be fulfilled, accomplished and brought into fruition by a life of intense prayer, meditation and contemplation. The more we live a life in the Spirit, the more we shall have this sense of mission and this sense of holiness. It is not easy in our very busy world which calls us to a lot of action and fast decision-making. But this is up to us. It is a decision that involves the core of our being - where we find our innermost self. If we allow the Lord to come into this core of our self and to change us for the better and call us to do His will, then we shall obtain this sense of mission and this sense of holiness that will call us to action.

Applying the Christian Service Ideal in a Family Business Enterprise

2005-09-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

In business, especially for business owners, there is a creative tension between the ideal of service excellence and the ideal of authority, systems and rules. This is part of being in business. The greater emphasis of a business enterprise must be on service rather than authority. In fact, what is ideal is a service-leadership in business. The authority and leadership of business must be qualified always by the service ideal, the inspiration thereof can be taken from the example of Jesus Himself. How we are to apply this in our particular businesses depends on the service or the product we are providing as solutions to the marketplace.

So that authority may not be abusive of their power, those in business are called to see that the authority and the power that they hold does not lie in them but in the vision and the ideal and the spirit that founded the business enterprise in the first place. The moment business sees that the authority derives from themselves and from their own expertise rather than as of gifts from the Lord, then a business may be corrupted and be led to a degeneration of services.

However, this does not mean that businessmen and women must not exert their authority when it comes to executing in concrete the vision and the spirit of their business enterprise. So that they may not abuse their authority, the way to countercheck their execution of power in business is to always look to the ideal and the spirit of the business and to execute their authority and power conservatively. No one is above the law or his own business. Even business owners have to see that there is a vision and a spirit that has founded their business and must be looked back to and reviewed always so that the direction of the business is within the range of the vision, the ideal and the spirit.

For those in business who are Catholic or Christian, so that they may not be tempted to arrogate too much power upon themselves, it is important always to see the example of Jesus, who despite being God, lowered Himself and took the form of slave, that we may be saved from our sinfulness: especially for our greed and lust for power and authority.

Seeking a Resolution to Papal Ties with the Chinese Clergy

2005-09-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

In the news, we are told that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, invited the Chinese clergy to the Synod of bishops this coming October, to cap the culmination of the year of the Eucharist. However, the news then made an update saying that the Chinese clergy refused to accept the invitation because the Vatican has made ties with Taiwan, which the Chinese sees as part of their national territory.

This is most unfortunate but let us pray that everything will be settled so that the Chinese clergy will find a way so that whatever strain and tension the politics is between the three parties concerned: the Vatican, the Taiwan clergy, and the mainland Chinese clergy, may be resolved soon. The Chinese clergy has had strained relations with the Vatican for a long time already. Maybe with the present leadership in Benedict XVI, we can resolve this political issue so as to forge greater unity and ties among Catholics among the Chinese.

It is difficult to analyze the problem concerned in this issue as the root and source of it is embedded in years of separation between mainland China and Taiwan. There is more than just the tip of the iceberg here. A miracle in the political sense will solve the problem. And it is in God's hands. The Vatican we know will do all in her power to do what can be done but it also needs our support through our prayers and our good intentions for more unity and harmony and peace in the world.

Let us believe in miracles. But let us not depend on them. Let us trust in God with everything and work as much as we can through the gifts and talents and abilities we have been given by God as His people.

Something More Than Just the Money Is Involved

2005-08-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

Many people stereotypically believe that those who engage in business are really engaging in it for the sake of profit. Indeed, profit is important in business in order for it to thrive and to grow. However, being motivated by profit alone is not what really matters in business. Something greater than that is involved. There is a spirit, a vision, an ideal behind that motivates people in business to give all that they have for the sake of that spirit, vision or ideal.

What could be that ideal? It could be a simple vision as "people helping people". Or excellence in service. Or solutions like "we find ways". If business were to focus on the material aspect alone, then that business will not survive in the long run. It is the spirit of the vision and the spirit of the ideal that makes it operate despite the downturns or the losses or the difficulties or the problems that can overwhelm the business enterprise.

I read a biography on Paul Alberione, SSP, founder of many Pauline communities. When he started his first printing press, he was criticized as making his venture a "business". This criticism was probably based on the fact that he was building bookstores which sell Catholic books and other printed materials. But unknown to many of those whose ideals are often very high when it comes to religious spirituality that even ventures that involve the transaction of money are based on very high ideals themselves. What we should probably think of is that there must be a balance in how we are to engage in business. And the balance must be founded where we really place our total trust: in God and not in money.

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So let us not always think that businesses are only founded for the sake of money. If they were founded just for the sake of money, then during an economic difficulty, they will be the first ones to close down or to close shop. However, those businesses that are founded on the solid value of service to God and people, will continue to thrive even amidst the most trying economic conditions. These businesses will thrive because their focus is on the vision and ideal of service.

Suggestions on How to Lead a List or Forum on the Net

2005-08-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Leading an internet list or forum is a big challenge. It is a big challenge because the only means of communication is through an electronically-mediated language: that of messages and posts which are often veiled in inspirational stories, scripture texts, anecdotes, and meditative material. Direct communication often is a rarity. This is especially true of meditative and prayer lists.

However, despite the limitations of not having interpersonal communication among the members of the list, it is still possible to lead the list if one has a sense of control of the list. This can be done through moderating the posts that are being sent by the members. It can also be done by screening all those who apply to the list. But the best form of leading is the one that involves the leader himself. When the leader of the list gives a series of inputs - spiritual and meditative inputs - he himself must undergo the process of reading and reflecting over those inputs in order for his leadership of the list to truly be effective. This principle is taken from the fact that a retreat master or a recollection master often also goes through the retreat or recollection himself in order to enter the spiritual process and spiritual journey that the group is taking. Doing this, he will be invoking well and receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order for the Spirit of God to make him realize that he is only an instrument in the giving of the retreat of recollection. It is the Spirit of God that transforms us during a retreat or a recollection - not the retreat master or the recollection leader.

The same is true for those who lead at internet lists and forums. It is the Spirit of God who uses the list owner for the purpose of guiding his mind and his heart and his soul that what he types on the computer keyboard will be words that are inspired and guided by the Spirit of God. However, this Spirit comes and is sourced not from the list owner himself but from his sacramental life in his parish: his visits of the Blessed Sacrament or his prayers before the Tabernacle or his celebration of the Eucharist together with the parish community. That is why it is important for those who have a ministry in the Internet to always be immersed in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church so as to receive the Eucharistic spirit that is important in the ministry of social communications. The vocation of the communicator of the Internet is to make sure that those who come upon first contact on the gospel on their computer monitor screens may be motivated to return to the sacramental life of the Church.

Where Ultimate Trust in a Catholic Family Business is Rooted

2005-08-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Perhaps, for those of us who are engaged in business, the best thing to do is never to forget where to put our basic allegiance and our basic trust.

By basic allegiance, we mean, allegiance to the Lord. However, this does not mean that we will not follow the rules of our nation or state. Let us remember what Jesus said, "Give unto Caesar, what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" This truly encapsulizes how we are to be Christians in a secular world. We have our basic allegiance to God and then we follow the rules of the state. It is a matter then for our own individual consciences, which are formed by our own moral experiences, as to how we are to apply our Christian faith in matters pertaining to everyday moral decisions in the family, in the workplace or in the marketplace: business.

That goes also to say about our basic trust. Where does our basic trust lie? The gospel states that Jesus tells us that we are called not to feel worried or anxious about what we are to eat, or what we are to wear, or what we are to live on and that we should place our focus on building the Kingdom of God. When we seek first the Kingdom of God, then everything that we need shall be given to us. This is a basic trust we often forget given the daily stresses of today's contemporary business set-up and world. The possibility of succumbing to anxiety and worry is greater when we lose sight of the vision and context of what Jesus tells us: the Kingdom of God. Often, our daily business tasks in the workplace make us see only the problems of the business and then forgetting the overall context of our Christian vision of the Kingdom of God.

This is indeed a great challenge for those of us working in the marketplace: how to work effectively professionally and to balance it with our desire and the universal call to Christian excellence and holiness. The best solution to this is really just prayer, especially more contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer situates us and returns us back to the original Christian vision and context of the Kingdom of God. So, the more we take time for prayer, the more we shall be able to place our basic allegiance and our basic trust in God who we know He alone can save us from whatever afflicts or troubles us presently and what will afflict or trouble us in the future.

2005-08-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

Focus on Christ

As we read the papers, especially in relation to news about the Church, we often hear of very many negative reports about what is going on in the Church. However, we must balance this by also looking at the positive developments coming along in our Church - such as the work of our present Pontiff in establishing ties with China and continuing the work of John Paul II in relation to diplomacy with other Christians and other religions.

When we get burdened and seemingly negative by what we read about in the Church, we must never forget to place our focus on Christ who gives us the moral strength in order to do what is right. We must not forget that even though the Church is a divine institution, it is made up of human beings who are called from the state of being sinners, to a state of being saints. And this process is a very arduous process which can only be made through the grace of God and the use of the gift of free will and freedom to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ. It also can be achieved through our helping one another and supporting one another in the journey of making the Beatitudes a map for our Christian service and aim for excellence in the Christian life.

Those of us who are called to positions of leadership have always to look to Christ for our moral strength. It is Christ who was able to say "No" to the temptations of the Evil One. On our own, we cannot say "No" to the temptations of the Evil One. It is only if we pray for the gift of the Spirit and for the influence of Christ in our life that we can resist all manner of temptation that shall come our way as simple leaders in our communities and families.

So, let us not be swayed by the mass and crowd of negativity swamping the boat of Peter but rather let us focus on Christ as He is mediated unto us through the devotion to His Blessed Mother and through the sacrament of the Eucharist. If we hold on to these two very important aspects of our Catholic spirituality, we shall do our humble and simple part in strengthening our Catholic church. Devotion to Mary. Devotion to Eucharist. This will stabilize not only our own personal faith but also inspire others to do the same.

2005-07-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Catholic Business Articles

In the Catholic Internet Mission website, there is a Catholic Articles index page. In that Catholic articles index page, the articles will be categorized into five and one of these categories is Catholic Business Articles. This link will spinoff to five new pages and give the best samples for each category. The other categories for the Catholic articles are: Catholic theology articles, Catholic internet articles, Catholic mission articles and Catholic spirituality articles. These five topics of theology, spirituality, mission, internet and business are given much weight in the production of Catholic articles in the website. There are other topics such as leadership and social teaching - but there needs to be more production of these articles to qualify as a main category in the website. In time, more articles on leadership and social justice will be produced.

So, keep tuned to the website - especially at the Catholic Articles index page. The links will be placed there for the five categories so that the best samples for each category can be published in a more organized manner. The link to the Catholic Articles index page is: http://catholic-articles.pcentral-online.net/index.html

2005-07-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

Moral Strength: A Great Challenge for Catholic Leaders

Perhaps one of the great challenges for Catholic leaders today is to be able to provide the faithful with an example of moral strength and integrity. I guess this is one characteristic which we need so much in our Church today. And one good example is the late Holy Father, John Paul II. His example of fidelity and self-sacrifice and perseverance despite illness and weakness is what gave him strength from the Lord to be faithful to the end. And thus we hear his cause for canonization being speeded up because they are not dismissing the case that he may be designated as a martyr. Whatever will be the result of the cause for his canonization, we know that it will provide our contemporary generation with an example of a leader whose physical weakness towards the later part of his life did not deter God from gifting him with the moral strength and faith needed to inspire the Church with his spirituality. Let us pray indeed that those who are working for the cause of his holiness will truly be comprehensive in their study of John Paul II's life so that all the giftedness of his holiness may benefit not only our generation but many generations thereafter. May the example of John Paul II lead present Catholic leaders to follow his good example and shepherd the faithful with the mind and the heart of the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ.

2005-06-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

Boom and Boon - Progress Your Site - Information Solutions

Friends, recently, I wrote a page about how to progress a website. There are six elements I have mentioned in this article: targetting traffic with keyword "solutions", ads and affiliate programs, unautomated linking juxtaposed with automated linking, site search solutions, downloading browsers and toolbars, and increasing one's readership and client base. Whether our website is pure business or for non-profit, we nevertheless have to progress our site so that we can help build and support the Internet industry and make our website a source of quality information, services and products.

It is not easy creating a quality website. Many, many things have to be considered in building a quality website. And building one is a journey. We will never have it all at some time and say, "perfect". In reality, we will score a few successes on the way and just keep going on and improving our site continuously. Occasionally, we may even suffer some setbacks. But this is natural. It challenges us to work harder and to work smarter. We are called to use the best of our abilities in bringing out the best features of our website.

If you wish to learn more of what I wrote in the article whose title is what I used in the title of the post of this blog, just go to http://educator-resource.pcentral-online.net/progress-your-site.html

Best regards

Papal Infallibility Is a Truth Found in the Context of the Faith

2005-06-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,
After reading the local papers here, I read about Pope Benedict XVI being commented upon by people in regard to his talk on papal infallibility. In the report, they said he made an error as regards a certain piece of information. I just wanted to explain to those who may not be aware of what papal infallibility means so that there would not be any misunderstanding about it. It is true that popes are fallible. The scope of papal infallibility is really just in relation to matters of the faith, not in facts or details of information, or even scientific truths. This is why the Church erred when Galileo said the world was round and the Church said that it was not. From her own mistakes, the Church realized that her field is in matters of the faith and not in accurate information and scientific truths. So, whatever mistake our Holy Father did when he made a statement of fact as regards papal infallibility is really not within the scope of this truth. What he said in relation to a fact about St. Paul is an information error not an error of faith. There will still likely be more things that will be taken up as regards the truth of papal infallibility but let us simply take it as a matter of faith that the Spirit guides the Church and grants it the gift of faith to tell us what is important and what is essential in matters of our faith. As for the truth of papal infallibility, some may still not agree or assent to this truth. But let us respect their beliefs and convictions. What is important for us Catholics is to trust in the leadership of our Church and to trust and have confidence that the Holy Spirit shall not leave us unguided and let us be misled by anything that is not of God. Our task, our great task is to pray with much intensity at this time of transition in our Church and to witness in simple ways our Catholic faith in the particular spheres of influence we are placed in by the Lord.

2005-05-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

7 A sincere appeal (May 12, 2005)

The Catholic Internet Mission site at www.pcentral-online.net started as a free site at geocities.yahoo.com The site started to be built since the year 2002. Last year, a purchased domain was obtained in order to make the site more well known in the Net. Through the assistance of professional SEO instructors who give their services free on the Net through Yahoo! Groups, the site was able to make it to the search engines and to land in good positions in the search engines results pages - thus making traffic flow more to the site.

Catholic Internet Mission is a non-profit site. In order to defray the expenses of the site, affiliate and associate programs were entered into so that the site can continue to serve the Catholics on the Net or non-Catholics who wish to know more about the Catholic faith and who are at the same time very well-versed in the language of the Net. The affiliate programs and associate programs and ad programs entered into are care of: Yahoo! Web Hosting, Amazon.com, and AdWords and AdSense (from Google). Everything that is spiritual is free on the site. All information on the Catholic faith are also free: the articles and the blogs connected with the site. You can search for whatever information you may want to know through the Google search function at the main page of the site.

The affiliate, associate, and advertising programs the site has entered to are good because they are from internet companies that are well-known. Their services are excellent and you will always be assured that they will give you whatever information on a service or product you may want to know. This service by Catholic Internet Mission is for the business-minded among the Catholics and the non-Catholics who visit, view and read the contents and articles on the site.

So, if you visit the site again, and find anything that also may be interesting to you in terms of the affiliate, associate and advertising programs of the site, please do so because that will help us maintain the services of the site. Thank you.