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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Prayer Propels General Chapter As Delegates
Explore Franciscan Identity and Formation
Mass featuring a multitude of languages kicked off the fourth day of
the Secular Franciscan Order's general chapter, being held Nov.
15-22 in Hungary, birthplace of the order's patron saint, Elizabeth.
Referring to the previous day's pilgrimage to solemnly celebrate the
closure of the 8th centennial of the birth of St. Elizabeth, main
celebrant Fr. Ivan Matic, OFM, reminded the 111 chapter attendees
that "we entrusted to her protection our life and, especially, all
the members of the Secular Franciscan Order and Franciscan youth."
He then invited everyone to offer this day and "all our work" to the
Lord. To continue that prayerful attitude, Fr. Ivan took Eucharist
from the Mass and set up an Adoration Chapel, where attendees could
take turns spending time in prayer and call on the Holy Spirit to
guide the chapter, particularly with its election of leaders and
councilors.
After returning from the St. Elizabeth celebration the previous
evening, the assembly broke into several language groups to reflect
on and discuss the day's keynote presentations on SFO Profession and
Sense of Belonging.
The work groups commented on their discussions as the initial
business of the day, and were expected to continue exploring the
themes throughout the afternoon and evening.
"We are gradually becoming aware of the depth of our commitment in
our profession," English Language Group 1 reported. "...By
rediscovering our roots, we are discovering the value of
prayer...the value of fraternity...the value of becoming involved in
actions such as condemning injustice."
Like a three-legged stool, "there's a link between belonging,
commitment and mission," noted the French Language Group.
The Italian and Portugese Language Group saw fraternity "as the
place where we meet God... and are able to give witness" and lead to
"new initiatives."
England Language Group 2 reported that some fraternities were trying
to overcome the problem of "signing up" members versus attracting
quality vocations, and that there is "a need for formation of
formators."
The German Language Group focused on St. Francis' attitude of always
beginning again, or daily conversion, "for up to now, we have done
little."
"The two (keynote) presentations," the work group said, "opened our
hearts and were like a wind in our minds."
Emanuela De Nunzio, one of the previous day's keynoters, joined in
the dialogue, noting: "Discernment of vocations...is of enormous
importance. It has to do with the quality of vocations rather than
quantity."
This discernment should take place in initial formation at the local
fraternity, she said; if formation is not done right, it could
actually discourage rather than attract quality vocations.
"Formation must be liveable to be credible," she said. "Credibility
is shown in our behavior, in our conduct in the fraternity... Our
actions should enable people around us to give glory to God."
She said fraternities need to give concrete experiences to people in
formation – which may require a fraternity ministry or initiative,
not just individual ministries.
"It's a question of a real conviction...but we need to do this as a
fraternity."
Long recognizing the need for quality formation, and the need to
train quality formators or formation directors, the international
office of the Order, known as the Presidency, has been conducting
international workshops for national and continental formation
directors, with the idea that national fraternities would in turn
conduct their own training, the Formation Commission reported.
In conjunction with planning the workshops, the commission has
developed the Order's first-ever training manual for formators,
commission coordinator Benedetto Lino announced. He distributed
copies to delegates in four main languages – English, French,
Italian, and Spanish – and noted that they want to translate it into
as many languages as possible.
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