C I O F S LIST

III LATIN AMERICAN CONGRESS SFO-YOUFRA (3)

Theme V: "The social-political environment"

A. Challenges

B. Proposals

Theme VI: Spiritual Assistance SFO-YOUFRA

A. Challenges

B. Proposals

Aid to east europe

A. Challenges

1. Lack of ethics in politics.
2. Lack of interest and trust on the part of the population, especially young people, in politics and those who operate in that field.
3. Lack of authentic political leaders.
4. Episodes of corruption in the political world.
5. Plurality of ideologies and political parties.
6. Interference on the part of rich countries, especially USA.
7. Immaturity of young people in electing governors.

B. Proposals

We feel that it is necessary to clarify in our fraternities the difference between politics as a science of the common good and politics of the parties. This means that there should be a process of civic education offered in the formation program at its different levels, adapted to the reality of each country. This process should embrace the following aspects:

a. an unbiased vision of politics, as essential dimension of human beings, conferring it dignity in the light of faith;

b. knowledge of the rights and duties that we have as citizens of a determined country;

c. development of the capacity of analysis facing dispersion and multiplication or loss of prestige of political parties, distinguishing ideology from the practice of its leaders;

d. awareness of the manipulation and utilization of people, especially of the most destitute, by the interests of the powerful that buy their votes by distributing food, clothing etc, and who degrade them through sublimal messages transmitted by the means of mass communication, especially TV;

e. a limpid and mature analysis of the situations of injustice afflicting people in order to denounce them courageously overcoming fear, delusion and personal gain;

f. promotion within the fraternities of discussion of the different proposals made during electoral campaigns in order to elect with clear discernment, the candidates which better represent the public good and who put the Gospel as the basis of their political work;

g. orientate and support the active participation of brothers and sisters who manifest the talent and desire to assume positions of responsibility in society having a high spirit of service imitating the Lord who has come to serve and not to be served;

h. promotion of the reevaluation of the dignity of women and the richness of a feminine contribution to the political and economical life of the country;

i. we feel it necessary that the elective procedures of our fraternities on the different levels be signs of an authentic political exercise, as a transparent expression of a search for peace and common good, overcoming any form of party politics or disguised desire for power and prestige, realizing that testimony educates, serves and evangelizes more than words.

A. Challenges

1. We realize that there are Assistants who carry out their task with care, are aware of their mission and are engaged in knowing, loving and evaluating the SFO and the YOUFRA. They are, therefore, motivated in getting fresh information in order to accompany in a fraternal spirit the way of the Secular Franciscans and the Franciscan Youth. We express our gratitude to them, to their Superiors and to God.

2. However, we also see that in many cases the SFO and the YOUFRA are not very well known in their actual reality, in the process of renewal and the new documents published, which contributes to create disattachment and indifference on the part of some Religious, damaging the Franciscan Family.

B. Proposals

As a result of this III Latin American Congress SFO-YOUFRA we ask the Provincial Ministers OFM, OFMConv, OFMCap and TOR that:

a. the Rule, the General Constitutions, the Statutes for the Spiritual Assistance to the SFO, and other documents be included in the formation program of the Religious;
b. meetings be organized to study the renewed SFO-YOUFRA with the guidance of well prepared Religious, hoping that such meetings generate further Religious interested in the spiritual assistance of the Secular Franciscans.

We trust these GENERAL CONCLUSIONS to the Mother of Our Lord and Mother of the Franciscan Family so that they may serve the Glory of God, the building of His Kingdom and the good of our brothers.

When the Austrian representative of CARITAS was looking for a driver for humanitarian trips to Rumania, the National Minister of the Austrian SFO, Alois Neubauer, said, "Here I am". It was in Spring 1990, just after the political change. The volunteers became witnesses to indescribable misery. They discovered about 40 orphanages where children had been abandoned and left to die.

To alleviate the suffering of these children, the volunteers contacted two Franciscan friars in Cluj and Miercurea, and Alois Neubauer decided to organize the transportation himself: aid for the reconstruction of the Franciscan Family, but also a sign of the ecumenical spirit of the Austrian fraternity. This was the beginning of the "Osteuropahilfe" of the Austrian SFO. Since then 40 expeditions left with 150 vehicles carrying mattresses, hygienic articles, equipment for kindergartens, medical instruments, food and money.

The war in ex-Yugoslavia made it necessary to extend the aid to Croatia and Bosnia. Since 1992 many expeditions left also for those countries where the sufferings are enormous, the wounds seem incurable, and the villages inhabitable. The winter made survival still more difficult. The Austrian volunteers therefore sent winter clothing and plastic sheeting to close the windows without glass. The Capuchin Friars were a strong reference point for reaching the most needy.

The Austrian volunteers face the eternal financial problem: when the offerings of the Franciscan fraternities, of doctors and private associations are not enough, the community of Hörsching organizes a market...