This article explains the pros and cons of registering a religious order, province or diocese as one single legal body or as multiple entities.
Some religious congregations and dioceses have a single registered body for the entire congregation, province or diocese. Some others have multiple registered bodies. In the case of the latter, almost every institution in the province or diocese is registered as a trust or society. There are also individual institutions having more than one registered legal entity.
The question for us now is: Which is better – to have one registered body for the entire set up or multiple bodies? There are both advantages and disadvantages in both. This article discusses the pros and cons of both sides and proposes what may be better in the present context.
ONE SOCIETY?
Advantages
There are some advantages of having only one registered society:
- If we have only one registered society, it is easy to administer the society. We can concentrate our energy, focus and personnel on that one society. All the statutory and legal compliances will be paid attention to. It is much easier to find the required personnel and train them to take up the role of the officials of the society, such as the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Members, etc.
- The quality of the running of the society will be much better. Meetings can be regular and documents can be preserved properly.
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Fr Alex Gnanapragasam SJ
