C I O F S LIST

From the CIOFS Presidency

Let's Give a Peaceful Future to All Children

From Rwanda: Fidelity and Pardon

Following the General Chapters of the Conventual Minor Friars and of the TOR that ended last May (see Bulletin n. 2/1995), the respective SFO General Assistants have been appointed.
Fr. Kevin Schindler-McGraw OFMConv. has gone back to his Province of S. Giuseppe da Copertino in the USA to assume the duties of Parish Priest and Rector of the Cathedral of Reno, Nevada. In his place Fr. Valentin Redondo, currently Minister Provincial of Spain, has been appointed.

Fr. Antonio Morichetti TOR has been replaced by Fr. Zvonimir Brusac who is also General Definitor.

We warmly welcome Fr. Valentin and Fr. Zvonimir, and we want to express our warmest gratitude to Fr. Kevin and Fr. Antonio. They were with us for many years, dedicating themselves to the SFO with generosity, love and competence. They collaborated in assisting the International Fraternity of the SFO to conform itself firmly to the new Rule and General Constitutions, responding more readily to the desires of the Church which call us to holiness and mission, and making the most of all the riches of the charism and tradition so as to be open to God's future.

Their participation in the work of the CIOFS Presidency has always been active and productive. Both have collaborated enthusiastically in the activities of the respective CIOFS committees: Fr. Kevin in the Juridical one and Fr. Antonio in the Committee on Formation.

In the Pastoral visits and in the National Elective Chapters, Fr. Kevin and Fr. Antonio have always tried to promote communion and co-responsibility and to stimulate the lay people and Spiritual Assistants with new energy so that everyone would fully assume their own role and collaborate in the collective work according to the gifts that each one has received.

Thank you Fr. Kevin. Thank you Fr. Antonio. We shall feel that you are always affectionately close even if your ministry takes you in other directions. May the Lord abound in His graces to you for all that you have given.

Last July fourth, in the press room of the Holy See, the theme of the 1996 World Day of Peace was made known. "Let's Give a Peaceful Future to all Children" is the topic chosen by the Pope. And at once the close connection with those that had preceded it in the last two years, "The Family" in 1994 and "Women" in 1995, is underlined. John Paul II who sent a Christmas letter to children last December, is now addressing himself to adults. To Christians and men of goodwill - says the Vatican's note of presentation - as from now, the Pope asks "to meditate on the fact that too many children know no peace, have never enjoyed peace". It is therefore urgent, continues the text, "that in order to learn about making peace around them, children should have the chance to live in peace. It is their right and our duty. It means giving, and giving back, hope to all the children to whom the future remains barred". Children from ex-Yugoslavia, children from Rwanda... two articles in this Bulletin speak about them. But there are also many other causes of family and social violence, many forms of discouragement and exploitation.

Giving children a future of peace means, therefore, to try to remove these causes of pain and death. With his message the Pope "launches a cry to everyone: to give hope of peace to children wherever they may be". They "need families that educate them with love, that respect their dignity. They also - continues the Vatican text - need models and witnesses to learn to face differences of opinion in social life without succumbing to violence".

Every Secular Franciscan and every Fraternity, in line with our Franciscan charism, must be involved in service to the needy and to the marginalized through the various works of mercy, spiritual and material. Even the fraternities that seem furthest away from practical involvement in social service must practice charity and express in prayer their sensitivity to the poor and weak.

But perhaps the time has come to make a serious examination of conscience and to ask ourselves, with reference to children, what our greeting that we use automatically really means.

PAX ET BONUM:
- What do we do to be real workers for PEACE?
- What is the GOOD that we can give?

Pax et Bonum!
The Fraternity of S. Maria degli Angeli welcomed the contents of your letter of November 19, 1994, that took much time getting here. After a prolonged period of tribulation, some of our brothers and sisters, having fled from the massacres of April - July 1994, are beginning to be consoled again thanks to encouragement and prayers, of which your letter is an example.

The Lord, who took care of us and still does, offers us this occasion to tell you the news of the Fraternity in detail. At the time since its establishment, on October 3, 1993, the Fraternity of S. Maria degli Angeli had 11 temporary professed and about 40 postulants coming from various parishes in the city and surroundings. Today, after this civil war, 5 professed and 17 postulants are here, but many are in exile in Zaire. Within our group we sadly note six known dead, amongst them the Minister Juvenal Kabera, all killed during the massacres that brought mourning to Rwanda.

We hope that one day our brothers who live wretchedly in exile shall reach their country again and be reunited with their countrymen.

In order to get through these difficult times, called post war, we have placed our confidence in Christ. Our regular meetings are the only means by which we can re-establish dialogue and fraternal life, first of all among ourselves and then with others. The theme, "reconciliation of the Rwandan people" has become everyone's dream, attracting us especially during Lent: since then the Fraternity has reflected on "Reconciliation: carrying one's cross, following Christ".

Therefore we ask everyone of faith to remember us in prayer in order to stop the hate and division among the Hutu and Tutsi that shows up amongst those in Rwanda and their brothers in nearby Burundi.

And also, our Church is in danger, threatened and persecuted and accused of being one of the determining factors of the sad events that have hit this country, and this brings us to the question of our mission and our role in the Church: to be messengers of peace. But Christ lives and all this defamation cannot in any way make us tremble. "No one can separate us from Christ's love." (Rom. 8, 35-39)

Together with the suffering Church we are doing all that is possible with the meager means at our disposal to help the priests and the remaining religious brothers and sisters to reconstruct our Church in ruins. A Church that has had many human and material losses. Bishops, priests, religious men and women, and also many thousands of lay people are dead, and others have fled. The churches have been destroyed or used for housing.

Even with all these persecutions, the Secular Franciscans are participating actively in its reconstruction. Some are catechists, others take part in the parish CARITAS distributing food, and others animate and direct the basic ecclesiastical community, along with carrying out their daily duties.

Along our way, what is most painful is the lack of a roof over the heads of many, and the destruction of everything, the large number of orphans (at least one or two in each family) and there are many other problems.

We want to tell you that on Easter Monday, April 17, 1995, five candidates will renew their profession at the Monastery of S. Chiara of the Clares of Kamonyi. After the rite of profession a Chapter will be held in the same place, and the new programme for the formation of the postulants will be discussed.

Pray for us so that the Holy Spirit will continue to fortify and enlighten us so that God's will is accomplished, and Christ will live in the hearts of all of us and particularly in the hearts of the people of Rwanda and Burundi.

May peace reign in our region.

PS. The Fraternity has opened an account at the General Economat of the Archidiocese of Kigali under the following address:
Postal c.c. 56288004
Missionari d'Africa (Economato Generale)
C.P. 9078 - 00165 Roma