When mission becomes a matter of metrics, we risk forgetting that true transformation lies not in what can be measured—but in the quiet, unseen acts of love that define who we are.
At the end of every academic year, we write a report about the ministry that one is involved in. To make it look more scientific and to measure the quantity of the ‘mission’ carried out, its recommended to use the ‘SMART’ format for reporting. The SMART framework was proposed by George T. Doran in 1981 for effective goal setting, which is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound – hence the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Well, it’s a management practice two generations old and still prevalent.
When I sat down to write the report based on SMART, I felt the framework was too limited, specifically from the perspective of a missionary whose work should be infinite, immeasurable, holistic, authentic, and limitless. How can the missionary work be quantified when we, the consecrated persons, are called to live every moment as a mission? I felt it quite inadequate; spending time with a youngster in pain, extending a helping hand to a poor woman, attending to a patient voluntarily, praying for the specific needs of others, exchanging smiles with others – these, too, are mission deeds carried out, but how to quantify them? Or are they not counted as mission activities? Are they irrelevant and insignificant?
I found a reference to my apprehension in the newly released church doctrine “Antiqua et Nova, note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and Human intelligence,” where it is mentioned, “…the challenge is true today as the rapid pace of digitalization risks a digital reductionism, where non-quantifiable aspects of life are set aside and then forgotten or even deemed irrelevant because they cannot be computed in formal terms.” It is true we cannot document every deed we do, as most are voluntary and instinct-based. However, taking such valuable human contributions for granted has serious consequences; over time, they lose their value and relevance.
Recently, I was at a meeting where clergy, nuns, and lay members were present. Water bottles were distributed, and when everyone left for the lunch break, the bottles were strewn around. An elderly priest and I were the last ones to leave the hall, and all of a sudden, he pulled out a bag and started to collect the bottles, bending at each chair! And again, another time, he was walking on the corridor ahead of me, where few others had already passed, and there, too, he bent down and picked up the rags from the floor. Totally unassuming! I felt after a long time, I was meeting a consecrated person – a missionary. Although I learned these values from home and reiterated them in formation, I have nearly lost them since there are ‘workers’ to do it. It rings a warning: in our rat race to bring quantity to our work, we are missing out on qualities that define our way of life.
SMART theory is good, but that should not be the parameter to measure how effective we are. You may be running a school with 3k students, but your mission is a failure if your school has one student gone hungry even for a day. One of my Hindu friends, who was educated in a convent school, told me – “I hate sisters for their disciplinarian deeds but had not been a for an elderly sister, many of my classmates have gone hungry. Every day during lunch break, she made rounds and found anyone without a tiffin; she would encourage us to share food.” She taught us how to be sensitive to others’ needs. Definitely, this mission of that particular sister cannot be documented as SMART; can we ignore it as a random activity?
When quantified, charity deeds are given importance, many of the value-based activities have taken a back seat. The ‘white collar’ job syndrome has affected our very existence itself. Our ‘status’ and ‘positions’ do not let us come down to do ordinary deeds. Unknowingly, little ‘religious bourgeoisie” are created, making significant changes in the outlook toward the church’s mission.
I remember another instance: as Novice, I was engaged in cleaning the corridor, and an elderly sister in her mid-90s approached me with a bucket and asked me if I could fetch some hot water for her and asked me to hand over the broom to her so that while I am away, she could continue my work! My novice mistress was superwoman – she taught us by doing. Every alternative day, the novices would sweep the compound; by the time we woke up from our slumber, our mistress would have done half the work. It’s nostalgic to recall what religious life was until a decade ago.
Over the years, these phenomena have disappeared. We have become achievement-oriented, time-bound, measurable- not an inch extra, specific, and relevant to the given task alone – making our mission truly SMART!!!
Sr. Tessy Jacob, SSpS – Province of India East
