Assisi’s existence springs from the Foundation’s desire to affirm in the spirit of peace and Christian love expressed in the life of St. Francis of Assisi the Lordship of the Almighty Father over Life and their resources of this world, and hence, the dignity, solidarity of all men and women as children and co-creators of God.
Assisi’s role in society is that of a forerunner, announcing God’s kingdom on Earth, where human beings are made the greatest of God’s creatures, endowed with the genius creativity and also with the responsibility to transform our world into God’s Kingdom coming to His people.
Assisi’s goal is to return to society its lost ideal which is God’s imperative to “love your neighbor as yourself ”, to be so possessed by the love of God that every person and all of creation is loved as brother and sister.
Assisi’s responsibility is to espoused and practice a common philosophy of a society of men, women and children responsible to God, to each other, and also the responsibility of a society toward its people especially the poor and the disadvantaged.
Assisi primarily seeks solidarity with the poor, the dispossessed, and the outcast, recognizing in them God’s presence in the world, building with, and among them, human communities of hope, creativity and joy that become, for all their smallness, the cornerstones of a society aspiring for peace, justice and love.
Assisi believes that the fullness of life due every man, womam and child, particularly among the poor and the disadvantaged, must address the human concern for basic economic security, opportunity for work, health of mind and body, spiritual and moral growth, education and cultural development, community solidarity, and care of the environment. Human development, expressed in these concerns, underlies Assisi’s own philosophy of work.
Assisi’s development initiatives start with the realization that God’ preferential option is for the poor, becoming one with them. God’s poor, being dispossessed, are capable of fully receiving His peace, love and joy.
We, who are endowed with human resources, if we are to achieve thru human development, must put on the mind of Christ and Francis, approaching the poor with esteem, recognizing and valuing their human dignity, and returning to them their inherent right, as children of God and co-heirs of His bounty, to the material resources of the Earth.
Our starting point is the realization that the poor and the disadvantaged possess the creative energy to improve the quality of their lives and of society. However, all too often, their energy is immobilized by the absence, the dearth of opportunities and their ignorance of alternatives and options that will enable them to re-create their personal and social worlds. Mindful of the complexity of the problem, Assisi nevertheless seeks to respond by initiating and supporting the creation of opportunities and alternatives that enhance the self-help capacities fo the poor and foster a sense of moral and social conscience among all sectors of society.
Assisi hopes to reach the poorest of the poor. In responding to their concerns and needs, Assisi recognizes the urgency of providing short-term assistance. At the same time, Assisi acknowledges that such needs as health and livelihood can only be significantly addressed by a complementary effort to help evolve meaningful alternatives with long-range solutions to the problems besetting the poor. As a development agency, Assisi finds that assistance to the poor must necessarily move within this continuum from short-term to long-term perspectives. Short-term assistance can be an initial, often critical impetus, for survival and hope.
Assisi’s approach toward short-term assistance thus favors programs designed with a change of social structures for a lasting solution to basic problems of the poor. Oftentimes, these problems arise from inequitable sturctures of society. This is a product of unequal opportunities and inequitable distribution of resources in an overly materialistic secular world. Cognizant of its own limitations, Assisi nevertheless assumes its task perceiving its work as an imperative of Social Justice.
Assisi believes that it is but a steward of God’s resources and a channel of His love for the poor and that service to the poor is a duty and a privilege that calls for a continuous sensitivity to their concerns and aspirations.
Assisi is confident that in solidarity with the poor and the dispossessed, in partnership with individuals and institutions of goodwill, in seeking to “make all things new”, through the Spirit that is in all human hearts, all things are possible.
Assisi sees this challenge of a common cause and a common ideal as transcending self interests and selfish confines to pave the road to the building of a responsible Christian society oriented toward authentic social development marked by the common good, the brotherhood and solidarity of our people.
