C I O F S LIST

The first SFO fraternity at Papeete (Tahiti)

EUFRA Meeting 1996

Explanation of a Symbol

On April 20, 1996 during a moving ceremony presided over by Bishop Michael Coppenrath in the Cathedral of Papeete, Tahiti, the first seven Secular Franciscans made their Profession in the SFO. This is how the new brothers and sisters described their symbol:

"The Fraternity of Papeete chose an oar as a symbol of their dedication. An oar marked with a TAU, the SFO monogram, and with the greeting dear to St. Francis of Assisi, "Pax et Bonum". "French Polinesia" and the date of this historical day was also written.

Space was left for future Professions, because - from then on - this oar shall have a history and shall mark the unity of the Polinesian Fraternity, a Fraternity that shall have roots in the fresh source of Franciscan spirituality that, after eight centuries, shall continue to quench the thirst of all of those who shall come to partake of it.

Everybody is invited to board the Church's large boat. But they must be good rowers, united and willing to work together to synchronize their efforts in order to arrive in the port of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Every crossing needs a good man at the rudder who is trustworthy and holds the course. This man at the helm is Christ. The Fraternity must be faithful to Him listening to his Word and partaking in His Sacraments. It must listen to the breath of the Spirit just as a navigator listens for the wind.

How can rowers row without oars?

Oars keep you from being carried away by strong currents; they permit you to hold firm in the faith in the agitated crossings of this world and firm in the hope to find the calm after the storm, serenity and peace...because Christ is in the boat and He jealously watches over his rowers.

The 1996 EUFRA meeting was held in Bolzano from April 9 to 13 at the Diocesan Youth Vocational Center. The countries from Eastern Europe were well represented by Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland and Hungary; there were delegations also from Austria, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Frenchspeaking Switzerland; Spiritual Assistants of the Province of Bolzano: Fr. Guido Demetz, OFM, and Fr. Bruno Frank, OFMcap.

The Bishop of Bolzano and Bressanone, Wilhelm Egger, OFMcap., celebrated the closing Holy Mass and shared breakfast with us.

The theme of the meeting was centered on "We Young Franciscans". Two topics "Liberation through religious experience" and "Young people and their life in fraternity" were discussed on the basis of various personal witnesses.

Morana from Croatia introduced the theme emphasizing that the meeting was intended to discuss the problems, thoughts and fears of young people and search for new ways to help them. Many young people, who are supposed to be happy persons, are not happy at all and they search for happiness in drugs, alcohol etc. She urged us to meditate about these problems and try hard to find eventual suggestions.

Then Morana referred to the second purpose of this meeting, which was to get to know each other. Getting together with fraternities from different countries is always an enriching experience because while we are listening to each other patiently, praying together, discussing and walking in nature, we discover the love of God which embraces all of us.

Reading the various personal experiences of liberation fear of God became evident. These experiences lived by young people in former communist countries are traumatic. Not having had any religious education, neither in their families nor at school, they experience God as severe, judging and punishing. And here we can witness (in order to convince them) that God is love, pardon and mercy, that the fraternity is a place where one is accepted in simplicity and where one can live an experience which could also change ones life. This is the challenge for every fraternity, because only in welcoming and leaving a sign the fraternity itself will grow.

The sharing of personal experiences encouraged others to speak about their own problems drawing the attention to the need for confrontation with existential, familiar or other difficulties which exceed the common rules. The job of the fraternity in these cases is just to welcome without judging and to help lovingly.

Fr. Guido presented a very interesting shortcut on the historical and present situation of the SFO in the Alto Adige Region. He announced with great joy that they succeeded in unifying the OFM fraternities with those of the OFMCapuchins. Fr. Guido is confident that the collaboration between the German and the Italian speaking fraternities will be attained in the near future.

Memorable moments of this Meeting: - walking along the Path of St. Francis immersed in a thick wood along big waterfalls at Campo Tures. This Path invites for meditation with 10 stations representing the Canticle of the Creatures and leads to an antique Chapel dedicated to Francis and Clare where we listened to the Word of God in the stupendous silence of the mountains around us; - visiting the Franciscan Convent under the excellent guide of Fr. Guido and having dinner there. Our hearty thanks to him and also to the Regional Minister Edi Tratter who together with his wife organised the "survival" and who provided the Meeting with his oven-fresh tasty bread.

The theme of the next meeting shall be prepared by our Hungarian bothers who will give detailed information as soon as possible.