Evangelization Supplement

Indianapolis business owners seek to spread the Gospel

Paul Melillo, left, and Mark Breting, right, inspect soil samples in 2009 from land in Wildwood, Mo., that had been contaminated with dioxin, PCBs and organic chemicals. The employees of Mundell and Associates, an Indianapolis-based environmental services consulting firm, are assisted by Ed Paschal, center, a private environmental consultant for the City of Wildwood. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

The business world may seem like a challenging place in which to proclaim the Gospel.

More often than not, it is ruled by the law of the jungle. Might makes right. Only the fit survive. Look out for No. 1.

Some would say that preaching the Gospel values of selflessly giving of oneself in service to others is wholly out of place in such a harsh environment.

But not to John and Julie Mundell.

The owners of a successful environmental services consulting firm based in Indianapolis, the Mundells are dedicated to using up to 60 percent of their annual profits to help those in need, educate other businessmen and women around the world about a Catholic approach to the marketplace, and, in the process, build up a sense of unity among people—both locally and globally.

Their firm is one of approximately 800 members of a network of business around the world called the Economy of Communion (EoC) that was established in 1991 by Focolare, a Catholic lay movement founded during World War II in Italy.

“We are at the forefront of evangelization in the world,” said John Mundell,, a member of St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis. “We evangelize the world with our lives … And they’re not these great big works, but little works, a lot of little choices that we make where we really try to see what God wants in our lives, and how we live that out in the world.”

One of those little choices included choosing to locate their firm on the east side of Indianapolis to join in the effort to revitalize a part of the city that has long been economically depressed.

“We try to do all of our shopping here, even if it would be less expensive to ship it in,” Julie Mundell said. “We hire people from here to do landscaping and the mowing.”

They also support local community-building projects, such as a youth chess program based at nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

Other choices that the Mundells have made include hosting interns from around the world each summer, who come to their Indianapolis office to learn more about the Economy of Communion.

One of those interns was Javier Sanchez Gonzalez, a member of Focolare in Spain. He learned at Mundell and Associates “how it is possible to put in practice the EoC theory.”

“I believe that, in the future, many businessmen and women may come closer to Christ because it is important for each company to have a good image,” Gonzalez said. “They are interested in assisting with social problems. The EoC could be part of the solution.”

The Mundells also travel around the world to share the good news of the Economy of Communion with business students and business owners in South America, Africa and Europe. They are convinced that businesses can work according to the capitalist model and still follow Gospel values.

“We’re firm believers [in capitalism],” Julie said. “We’ve gone to meetings where people say, ‘Capitalism is the problem.’ Capitalism isn’t the problem. It’s the people who are living in the capitalist society, and what they do with all of the rights that they get.”

Still, they have found professors in business schools that are skeptical of their approach.

“There’s a little bit of disbelief that you can live the Gospel, and still be successful and compete,” John said. “We compete by living out Gospel values.

“We tell them that we have a lot of secret weapons. Love is very disarming when you’re authentic and you really try to love people.”

But the students they have met—the future leaders of the business world—have been more enthusiastic.

“The students believe,” Julie said. “They believe that everything’s possible.”

Another person who believes in the potential of the Economy of Communion is Pope Benedict XVI who, in his 2009 social encyclical Caritas in Veritate (“Love in Truth”), praised the way that companies in the network approach the marketplace, calling it “a broad new composite reality embracing the private and public spheres, one which does not exclude profit, but instead considers it a means for achieving human and social ends” (#46).

After receiving a papal seal of approval, the Mundells said inquiries about the Economy of Communion increased, but so did their own expectations to live out its principles.

“That put a lot more pressure on you,” John said. “Gosh, am I really living this out?”

Although businesses in the Economy of Communion are dedicated to turning a profit, sometimes the state of the economy in a certain region can make it difficult for that to occur. But it is still possible to live out the principles of the network in the midst of such trials.

That is the case with Sofia Violins, an Indianapolis-based company that makes violins, violas and cellos, and is owned by John Welch, a member of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Indianapolis.

Welch said that his company, which is a member of the Economy of Communion, has had a difficult time making a profit in the past few years. That should come as no surprise as the U.S. economy and other economies around the world in which his company competes have suffered because of the severe downturn.

“My priority is to keep my people working because I know it’s the will of God,” Welch said. “They’re good people who have been with me for years.”

At the same time, the principles of the Economy of Communion led Welch to take a Gospel-based approach to struggling businesses that he works with.

The owner of a dealer that sold his instruments owed him and other instrument makers a lot of money. Welch called him to see how he was doing.

“I could tell that he was starting to cry,” Welch said. “And he said, ‘John, everybody else calls me to threaten me. And you call to give me encouragement.’ So it’s the way we think [about business and relationships].”

Although the Economy of Communion is a growing network of companies around the world, most of them are small or medium-sized firms.

Thus, the effect that the network might have on the business world is smaller than if large, publicly held multinational corporations were members.

This fact, however, doesn’t bother the Mundells. They are simply interested in doing the will of God in their lives and through their business.

“You would like this for everyone,” Julie said. “But our goal is really to do the will of God. And the will of God is for us to [lead] this company. If others look at it, there’s always that human hope that others would do this. But we don’t know what God wants, except that we do know that he wants this company.”

(For more information on the Economy of Communion, log on to www.edc-online.org.) †