Before the Youth Congregation helped one of its members financially, it investigated his circumstances. If it came to light that his misfortune was caused through his own misbehaviour, then no help would be given because it would be seen as encouraging vice.
ART. 13. Before making any decision the Council will take steps to discover the state of destitution of the congregant.
ART. 14. If his falling into poverty is the result of his misconduct, help cannot be granted because the Congregation must in no case ever encourage vice.
On the other hand, if the young person was honest in declaring that he was in financial trouble because of his misbehaviour, and showed that he had begun to change his ways:
ART. 21. If the congregant, who by his misconduct, brought this misfortune upon himself, had corrected himself before the real cause of his misery was publically discovered, he will be recommended to the charity of the congregants. Each individual will do what charity inspires him to do, but the Congregation cannot force anyone to do anything in his favour as a body.
Statuts, Chapitre XIV – Devoirs de la Congrégation envers les congréganistes§ 1 — Envers les confrères pauvres
“I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.” Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900 – 1965), retort to a heckler