SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 4 - N. 10 - 1998 - March - I
From: Koinonia, 1998, N. 1
Carl Schafer OFM
Part 3
The secular dimension
The General Chapter held in Mexico in 1993 concentrated on the secular dimension of the Secular Franciscan vocation. In my opinion, the secular dimension is best understood and lived by some in the secularized societies of Western Europe, of Asia and Oceania, and particularly in the United States.
Eastern European Catholics are sick of atheistic secularization and many find it hard to understand the concept and the practice of Christian secularity. They yearn for a return to the church-life that they knew before the Second World War and before the Second Vatican Council. Some are deeply resentful of the changes brought in by Vatican II and stress that they had no part in making those decisions.
Africans and Latin Americans want to sacralize their secular life, for example, especially in Africa, by wearing a religious habit, and, especially in Latin America, by intense devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the saints. Thereby, they create a holy space to live in and isolate themselves from secular life.
Evangelization
Some Fraternities have turned the corner from being inward-looking, devotional sodalities, unknown outside the four walls of the church, to being both prayerful and actively evangelizing. The National Fraternity of the SFO in Italy assisted by the Friars Minor is an outstanding example of a large-scale evangelizing Fraternity. Vietnam, Korea, the United States of America and Brazil are noteworthy also.
The mission of the SFO is the same everywhere, as is the secular Franciscan vocation and charism. The vocation is to follow Christ in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi (cf. Rule 1). The charism is to live in fraternity (cf. Gen.Const. 100.3). The mission is to "Rebuild my Church" (cf. Gen.Const. 100.1). Just how the mission is to be accomplished must be discerned by the people in the place. There is still a lot of discernment to be done by many National Councils.
Many would still think of Africa, or Latin America, as a region of the missions. But we are inclined nowadays to consider the whole world as "the region of the missions", and the entire Church itself as a missionary region.
The ideals and the theory have been worked out in the Rule and General Constitutions, which stress strongly that the members are first to be evangelized and then to be evangelizers. What remains to be done in most National Fraternities is to put the ideals and the theory into practice. The old Third Order model of privatized spirituality is still rather prevalent. Today's Secular Franciscans have to change the inherited image of pious but ineffectual Tertiaries.
Spiritual Assistance
The religious major Superiors and the spiritual Assistants at all levels need to know the SFO General Constitutions better, so that they can help the Secular Franciscans to be more aware of their need to be evangelized and to evangelize.
The Franciscan religious can help the secular Franciscans most of all by their example in being evangelized themselves and then in being the evangelizers of others. I am convinced that the friars could do much more to ensure that they live "in life-giving union" with the seculars (cf.Rule SFO 1).
The Statutes for Spiritual and Pastoral Assistance to the SFO, published in 1992, have yet to be applied to each national and regional Fraternity. Like the Rule and General Constitutions that they are based on, they can be applied only to those national Fraternities where the Secular Franciscan Order has achieved unity at both the regional and the national levels.
Conferences of General Assistants, National Assistants and Regional Assistants have been formed on the basis of collegial activity. They cannot function without the collaboration between the Ministers General, the Assistants General, the Ministers Provincial, the National Assistants, and the Regional Assistants.
To the extent that the Statutes for Assistance have been put into effect, the collaboration between the different obediences has been greatly strengthened. However, there is a great variation in collaboration, from none to total, depending often on the personalities of particular friars and on their formation.
Franciscan Youth
The collaboration between the SFO and Franciscan Youth has been greatly strengthened in the past five years.
The documents on Franciscan Youth, published by the Presidency of the SFO International Council in 1996, clarified the identity of the Franciscan Youth Movement, and have strengthened the collaboration between the SFO and Franciscan Youth in those places where they have been applied.
More National Councils, including the United States of America, are actively promoting the Franciscan Youth Movement and also the Franciscan Children. The Presidency is working on making the Franciscan Children an international movement.
Challenges and priorities
The General Chapter, held in July 1996, did not propose priorities but it published its conclusions in theBullettin CIOFS, 1996 n.2. Under the headings, "Animate", "Guide", and "Coordinate", the Chapter indicated what it expected of the Presidency and the National Councils. From this, one can ascertain the Chapter's priorities: promote specialized formation; apply the principle of subsidiarity; stimulate communication.
The SFO is a cross-section of the local Church and of the universal Church. It is like the Church in miniature. Its challenges and priorities are the same as those of the universal and local Church. Articles 98 to 103 of the SFO General Constitutions make this point implicitly but strongly.
The SFO Fraternities at all levels will need to follow closely the statements delivered or written by the Pope and the Roman Congregations and by their local bishop or Bishops' Conference in order to discern their challenges and priorities in view of the Third Millennium. The Presidency of the SFO International Council intends to communicate regularly with all the Fraternities, in order to call them to reflect on the Church's priorities and to act with initiative.
Recommendations
Reviewing the Pauline Rule twenty years after and in view of the present situation of the Secular Franciscan Order, which exists in almost every country of the world, I would like to make some recommendations.
At the local level:
The local Fraternity is where the Secular Franciscan enters the Order, follows his vocation and is formed initially and for the rest of his life.
The initial formation is most important. I would recommend that greater effort be put into it, both by the candidates and by the Fraternity Councils, especially the Formators and the Assistants.
The Fraternity Councils need a lot of strengthening. I would recommend that the members receive a specialized formation, so that they may be able to govern the Fraternity effectively and carry out the responsibility of deciding on the admission and profession of the candidates.
At the regional level:
The Regional Fraternity is the key to the unity of the SFO in any national fraternity. Often, the friars belonging to the different Orders who assist the local Fraternities are the main obstacle to the unity of the Regional Fraternity. I would recommend that the friars cooperate by working in Conferences of National Assistants and in Conferences of Regional Assistants so as to give a collegial assistance to the Regional Fraternity and Council.
Competent secular leaders are often lacking at the regional level. Consequently, the National Council often tends to do the work proper to the Regional Council, such as providing for the canonical establishment of local Fraternities. I would recommend that, instead of doing the work of the Regional Councils, the National Councils teach the Regional Ministers and Councillors how to do their job and to be patient with them until they succeed in learning.
I recommend that the National Councils also provide courses for the formation of the regional leaders, and that the Regional Councils be made competent to provide courses for the formation of the local leaders.