It may seem strange that in a publication focused on providing "a Catholic look at current affairs" a collaboration on accounting and finance is presented, even though these relate to the world of the sororities.
A sorority is a reasonably complex association and has to generate and apply economic resources for the realization of its purposes over time, for its sustainability, like any other organization.
There is a particularity, the brotherhoods are not autonomous entities, a brotherhood does not exist until the diocesan authority does not recognize and register it as such. It is the canonical authority that endows it with juridical personality. From that moment on, everything related to its functioning is subject to canonical legislation.
Nor does it acquire civil legal personality until it is registered in the Registry of Religious Entities of the Ministry of Justice, being subject to the civil rules that affect it.
What consequences does this have in economic matters? As far as their canonical personality is concerned, the Code of Canon Law (canon 1257) makes it clear that "all temporal goods belonging to the universal Church, to the Apostolic See or to other public juridical persons in the Church, are ecclesiastical goods".
Consistent with this, the brotherhood "administers its goods under the superior direction of the ecclesiastical authority (canon 319.§1)".
As regards their civil personality, the brotherhoods are affected by the Transparency Law (Law 19/2013) which obliges entities that receive public funds, including the Church and associations that are part of it, "to keep transparent and comparable accounts, and to allow any citizen access to the information published by these entities".
There is an issue in which both administrations, canonical and civil, coincide: the obligation to keep a transparent and homologous accounting and that their accounts are public and accessible to any citizen, brother or not. These accounts, which must cover calendar years, must be approved by the General Chapter two months after the close of the fiscal year, that is to say on February 28, and subsequently deposited in the Canonical Protectorate, which is like the Mercantile Registry of the brotherhoods.
Something else: tax issues. The Spanish legal system recognizes tax benefits for religious denominations and brotherhoods, which are considered, for taxation purposes, as non-profit entities whose purposes are considered to be of general interest. This consideration implies a more favorable economic and fiscal regime, but a series of administrative procedures must be carried out in order to be formally recognized as such.
The administrative problems of the brotherhoods do not end here. Precisely because they are non-profit entities, donations made by individuals or legal entities -usually the brothers and sisters- generate the right to tax deductions. Among these donations are the dues that are normally paid or other extraordinary donations for charity or any other purpose.
This also means an added administrative burden for the brotherhood, which every year, in January, will have to inform the Tax Agency who the donors are and the total amount of the donation (Mod. 182) and issue the corresponding certificate.
Under certain circumstances, they would also be obliged to file a corporate income tax return (Law 49/2002).
I understand that all these considerations can be tedious and even annoying to those responsible for the brotherhoods. It is much more pleasant to dedicate oneself to the essential aspects: to prepare the annual services or the processional procession, to organize some conference or formation talk for the brothers and to attend to the Charity Fund, among other things, but all these activities are necessarily supported by tedious but essential administrative tasks. Enthusiasm and good will are not enough to manage and move forward a brotherhood, it is necessary to support it in a quiet, dark, generous work and also carried out with the utmost rigor and professionalism.
One last consideration, although many people do not know it, the brotherhoods have a double accounting: the one kept by the financial managers in their books and the one kept simultaneously in Heaven. You must and the See are written down by Christ and reviewed by his Mother.
D. in Business Administration. Director of the Instituto de Investigación Aplicada a la Pyme. Eldest Brother (2017-2020) of the Brotherhood of the Soledad de San Lorenzo, in Seville. He has published several books, monographs and articles on brotherhoods.
