C I O F S LIST

Formation of young franciscans (II)

A new contribution

Conclusion

Examining the Pastoral Formation Programme in more detail, even if very succinctly, we find in its first part:

a statement of its conceptual orientations and goals , taken from the form of life;

the pedagogical choices meant to harmonize education in itself with education to the faith by an itinerary of incarnation and conversion, that the Word of God will become an experience and not just theory, an attitude of life and not merely notions;

the place and persons involved in the "Formation Event": the Fraternity with its leaders: the whole Council (President, Councilors, Spiritual Assistant, etc.), the young professed and the delegate of the SFO.

The second part defines the three stages which gradually, and with clarity of method and content, can lead the Young Franciscan to maturity. Each stage is organised in a statement of its general goal, its basic and specific formative contents and a number of references to the pastoral and methodological choices of Youfra.

The first stage has the following goal: to lead the young person to affirm life, to discover concretely the plan of God and to accept the values of God's Reign for oneself. The first stage concentrates therefore on the vocation aspect of the life of each individual, and is intended for youth between 15 and 18 years. Through the experience of Fraternity it accepts, strengthens and consolidates the contents of the basic catechism which follow and deepen the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation).

The second stage has as its goal the confession of Jesus Christ, passing from Gospel to life and from life to Gospel, opening the young person to solidarity with concrete choices in favor of life and of human beings. The attention is no longer on the single person but on the whole community of faith and on the family in which the youth lives -- the Church and the Fraternity. Both are a tangible sign of the presence of God and a "cenacle" an "upper-room" where the youth -- well on the way to leave the adolescent phase of life daily, and in family, grows towards full maturity by taking up commitments and responsibility before God, themselves and other persons.

The third and last stage of the Pastoral Formation Programme is meant to realise full maturity of the youth present in Church and Society, promoting the values of God's Reign. In this stage we find young adults, of 25 years or older, who consider what the world offers them with attentive eyes and a new sense of responsibility, conscious of what the world expects of them according to God's plan of salvation. This broadening of the education perspective completes the passage of the young person from youth and introduces them into the adult stage, following various and widely different options. This stage confirms the nature of Youfra -- an experience of evangelical fraternity, based on a vocation which unfolds into further specific vocations, such as marriage, the consecrated life, missionary apostolates, etc.

Each part of the Pastoral Formation Programme is completed by bibliographic reference to the Bible, the Franciscan Sources, the Catechisms of the Catholic Church and the Documents of the Magisterium. Further auxiliary material is visualised which will elaborate in more detail the various goals, providing instruments to address specific needs of the fraternal formation journey.

It is not superfluous to recall that, as in the case of "Our Vision", the Pastoral Formation Programme is also subject to continuous verification and updating, incorporating, and justly so, a great portion of the fraternal service given by the united national council, by the assistants and by the provincial leaders.

4. A new contribution: The Document on Initiation in the Franciscan Youth

Invited by the pressing calls of the Pope to commit ourselves to the new evangelisation, the united national council, during the fraternal year 1995/1996, has considered and enthusiastically adopted the aim of completing the formation programme of the Franciscan Youth by a series of formation initiatives contained in the recent document: "The Lord told me to start doing penance"

During the national united meeting of Presidents and provincial assistants at Foligno in June 1994, the difficulty emerged of accepting youth in a Youfra fraternity without a previous initiation stage. This period of initiation should devote specific attention to acceptance and sharing, and provide a simpler approach to the themes proposed in the Pastoral Formation Programme. The Pastoral Formation Programme is, in fact, clearly directed towards those youth who have already expressed their intent to follow Christ in the way of Francis, through the celebration of the Promise. The problem then arose of how to reach this point, setting out from so many different, various and multiple, existential and objective initial situations? How to contact and to start a dialogue with youth coming from extremely diverse experiences, far apart from each other, without falling into the trap of a superficial and pedagogically incorrect relationship? But above all, how to avoid, also in this case, the need to resort to the personal initiative of the animator or to improvisation, which, so often, even if started in good faith, generate errors and disharmony?

From this also arose the need to specify an itinerary of faith for initiation into Youfra. The final draft is reaching its completion, incorporating the contributions of the individual obediences and after repeated rewritings by a team of experts in youth pastorate. It will become operative and be ready for use by the various provincial fraternities in September 1997.

Let us look briefly at the strategies used in this document. For whom is the document intended? Besides the youth who approach Youfra, it is meant for those youth who are distant from the faith but would like to have a direct and concrete experience of faith. The document is also intended to address the needs of a fraternity which startsex-novo and therefore would face difficulties in following a more structured approach, like the one outlined in the Pastoral Formation Programme.

The principal stages include: the acceptance of the life situation of the youth, whatever that might be; the announcement of Jesus Christ through the experience of fraternity lived by Francis and Clare of Assisi; the discovery of the call of God and of the commitment to follow his plan in our life; the gradual consciousness of being able to realize one's own life as a baptised person in authentic fraternity; concluding with the celebration of this responsibility expressed by the Promise of Youfra.

The method used to reach these goals is developed along clear and easily applicable lines. The axis around which the whole formation strategy revolves is the fraternity, seen as a welcoming and generous maternal womb.

The youth experience the acceptance, the joy of being together, the beauty of a continuous relationship with God in prayer, which becomes the soul of the life and work of any Franciscan. The fraternity is also a formative reality which invites the youth to reflect on their own existence, on their own choices of life and on the acceptance of their own responsibility to become a mature person and a convinced Christian.

All this calls for attention and preparation on the part of those who assume the role of agents of formation. These agents of formation are the same one's already mentioned in the Pastoral Formation Programme, with the addition of a fundamental element at this stage of initiation -- the constitution of a community of acceptance, which shows and guarantees the readiness of the fraternity to welcome and to educate the youth who approach it.

The process, solid and carefully chosen, in respect to those for whom the document is meant, is divided into two periods. The first period, called Proposal, of more or less six months, has the specific goal of welcoming the youth, and of proposing life in fraternity and a journey of conversion. The second period, called Vocation Choices, of about one year, touches on themes more directly connected to the Franciscan charism, such as the life of the Saint, his specific style and choices, the vocation to Franciscan Youth, participation in the pastoral work of the Church and the perception of the mystery of universal fraternity. This second period culminates in the celebration of the first Promise, which places the youth in the corresponding stage of belonging in relation to the Pastoral Formation Programme.

The novelty of this last document on formation is exactly its being an instrument preceeding the Pastoral Formation Programme, even if, paradoxically, it has been conceived at a later point in history. This shows that Youfra is at last courageously leaving the restrictive limits of a no longer genuine, disorganised and insecure style of formation, which was based on real, but poorly distributed, treasures, and penalised those fraternities which are poor in animators and have to depend on the fleeting resources of the person assisting them.

5. Conclusion

Without any pretension of having reached the goal which the Lord gave us for the building of his Reign, we are convinced that we have at least humbly started on the way leading to a more mature view of our commitment as witnesses of Christ and missionaries ready to bring the good news according to the style of Francis of Assisi.

Every programme, every reflection, every attempt to root oneself in His love is consciously put under the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit to whom we never tire of asking solicitous and vigilant attention to bless our Fraternities who want to grow and mature to become efficient leaven and salt, giving zest to life and leading to the sanctity and felicity of every young Christian.

For the United National Council

Maurizio Fedelini
President

Fra. Antonio Belpiede
Assistant