C I O F S LIST

The General Chapter

Which SFO for the year 2000?

What leaders for the SFO in the year 2000?

The General Chapter will be held in Rome in July.
The celebration of a General Chapter represents a moment of grace to renew the awareness of our belonging to the Church and to the Franciscan Family, and to live more intensely a world-wide fraternity.

I would like you to think about these aspects, so that the delegates may be adequately prepared for the meeting, feeling that they are accompanied, sustained and encouraged by the brothers and sisters of the whole Order who are praying for them and who share their preoccupation and responsibility and also their enthusiasm and effort. Yes, the General Chapter is an effort on the part of each and everyone. For this reason we informed the National Councils several months ago about the themes of the Chapter, soliciting them to involve the Fraternities on all levels.

Which SFO for the year 2000?

"Which SFO for the year 2000?" is the basic theme. The question is posed to every brother and sister. And it would be a passive and egocentric attitude of those who don't want to get involved, but then would criticize and complain about the SFO being pale, inert and detached from the great needs of the Church and society.

The delegates cannot wait until the meeting where they will have to formulate their ideas in the linguistic groups and General Meetings. It is their responsibility to be prepared and have their ideas clearly in mind. They must begin to work now - on their own, within their respective National Councils and, if possible, in collaboration with the other delegates of their linguistic group - listening to opinions with an ear for suggestions and yearnings.

"Which SFO for the year 2000?" In order to answer that question we should consider the sectors of our belonging to the SFO: formation, Franciscan spirituality, fraternal life, missionary life... And we should take into consideration the two levels: the personal one and the communitarian one, as well as the two aspects of our lay responsibility: the ecclesial one and the social and civil one.

In relationship to the basic theme, the other two tasks that the delegates must face are instrumental: to start the revision of the General Constitutions and the election of the members of the new Presidency.

What leaders for the SFO in the year 2000?

The newly elected Presidency will have the responsibility to carry out the decisions of the General Chapter and - as the executive of the International Council - to coordinate, animate and guide the SFO on the international level until the beginning of the Third Millennium. Therefore the question: "Which SFO for the year 2000?" which also implies the other: "What leaders for the SFO in the year 2000?". Certainly, the best identikit of a leader of the SFO at all levels is that outlined in Art.31.2 of the General Constitutions which indicates brothers and sisters:

convinced of the validity of the Franciscan evangelical way of life,
attentive to a broad and encompassing vision of the life of the Church and of society,
open to dialogue
ready to give and receive help and collaboration.

Such characteristics, defined in general and abstract terms, must fit concrete persons, with their human and spiritual experiences, their enthusiasm and difficulties and also their family and professional duties... Once again in choosing leaders the basic conflict of "secularity" is getting actual: how to conciliate the typical condition of being a lay person (with family and work) with a service that requires great availability and at certain levels even a total one.

I myself have lived this situation when I had to leave my work in order to cope with my tasks as General Minister. I experienced this conflict in some National Councils where brothers and sisters of great value, suffered in having to give up candidating or recandidating themselves for positions in the SFO, because of prior exigences of their families and professions.

Therefore the question is important: "Which SFO for the year 2000?" I think that we shall have to find a truly "secular" SFO where
- the intensity of belonging to the Order is not measured in the time dedicated to it;
- the ways and forms of Fraternity life are always compatible with family and work life;
- the family and the professional activities are the propulsive and qualifying moments of belonging to the SFO.

Here is a concrete example. In the General Constitutions (Art. 24.2) it says: in the Fraternity "the spirituality of the family and of marriage should be a topic for dialogue and sharing of experiences..." And if we reverse the concept? Let's try to say: "In Franciscan families the Franciscan spirituality and experience of evangelical life be a topic of dialogue and communication..." Therefore I think that we should make good use of the possibility of "groups", provided for by Art. 34 of the Constitutions, and (with discretion) of personal Fraternities, forseen in Art. 28.3 of the same.

And for the leaders, above all on the national and international level, how can secularity be conciliated with the service to the Order? If we do not want that the leadership of the SFO be in the hands of singles, of pensioners, of elderly and those without children, we shall have to play on "collegiality", that is, on sharing the burden of the duties among all the members of the Council. Let us not forget, also, that modern means of communication (such as fax and intenet) reduce considerably the necessity of moving about.