C I O F S LIST

SFO towards the year 2000

National Elective Chapters

Franciscan Formation Materials

We are urged by the Holy Father to work so that the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 may attain its aim and express its intrinsic value.
This is to be kept in mind to avoid that the necessary organisational activities connected with the success of such an event will not cover its original aim.

The SFO pursues this way of thinking of the Church and desires to perform this task motivated by faith, ecclesiastical significance and loving solicitude towards the eternal destiny of its brothers and sisters.

There is a Divine project, also for the Jubilee and the collaboration of the community is called for.
May the Holy Spirit, in this year dedicated to it, accompany us on our way to the Jubilee.
May He make us understand that the festivities are for Jesus Christ, and only for Jesus Christ; that life is worth for the value which God gives to it, as a gift that is fulfilled in donating itself and has to be looked at through God's eyes.

May the Holy Spirit help us as Secular Franciscans to see Christ in all people: in children who ask to be born, in the elderly on the verge of death, in the deformed person staring into space, in the anguished sick person and in the hungry person looking for food.

If God entrusts one man to another, it means that we cannot live only for ourselves, but by donating ourselves to our brothers and sisters.

It is a mission linked to the Gospel that must be completed. Believing in the Gospel and having the courage to put our life into God's hands, happy to do one thing or another, according to the needs that charity calls us to do now.
Believe in the Gospel means to make ours the feelings of Christ in all suffering, departures and injustices sharing good and evil in our fellow travellers, with the impetus of a missionary and the patience of mercy.

Docilely we can permit the Holy Spirit to inundate us, with His light and His gifts.
Because it is He who activates grace and who increases the vigour in evangelization and rises enjoyment in spiritual things.
It is His strength that makes darkness flee, who repairs faults, who illuminates possibilities, who clarifies thoughts, who purifies appearances, who transforms hearts and who restores them to peace.

It is His wisdom that gives the consciousness of the real meaning of life and death, of good and evil, of truth and deceit on our way to become new creatures, transparent and loving before God and men in the visible gift of witnessing.

National Elective Chapters

Columbia: from March 21 to 23, 1998, presided over by the Councillor of Presidency Alicia Gallardo (Chile), at the presence of P. Antonio Jarabo Muñoz, OFMConv.
Maria Teresa Michelena Pinto has been confirmed National Minister.

Dominican Republic: on March 29, 1998, presided over by the Councillor of Presidency Alicia Gallardo (Chile), at the presence of Fr. Demetrio de la Cruz, Vice Provincial OFMCap.
Altagracia Rodriguez has been elected National Minister.

Vietnam: on April 29, 1998, presided over by Fr. Alexis Tran Duc Hai, Provincial OFM, representing the Minister General and the General Assistants, at the presence of Fr. Jean Bosco Nguyen Van Dinh, OFM, National Assistant.
Jean Baptiste Vu Nang Phung has been elected National Minister.

Bolivia: from July 24 to 26, 1998, presided over by the Councillor of Presidency, Rosalvo Mota (Brazil) at the presence of P. Nils Thompson, OFM, General Assistant.
Enrque Vidaurre Mendoza has been elected National Minister.

The CIOFS Presidency presents its congratulations to the new national leaders of the SFO, asking the Lord to bless them and to help them in accomplishing the service they have been asked to render.

Franciscan Formation Materials

(made available by the American National Formation Commission)

Catch me a Rainbow: The Franciscan Journey (rev.ed.), Lester Bach, OFMCap (1990) - $ 10 per copy + $4.50 P&H

Gospel Living Every Day of Our Lives: A Formation Guide to the Rule of the SFO, Teresa Baker (1994), $ 10 per copy + $ 4.50 P&H

Elements of Formation: A Reflection on the Formation Process, (1995) - $ 5 per copy + $3.50 P&H

Formation Resource List (1997) - $ 7.50 per copy + $ 3.50 P&H

Guia para la Formación Inicial en la OFS de los E.U. (1987) - $ 5 per copy + $ 3.50 P&H

A Guide for Franciscan Youth/Young Adult Ministry (1998) - 1-9 books, $ 8.50 each + $ 3.50 P&H for 1

Guidelines for Initial Formation in the SFO in the U.S. (1986) -$ 5 per copy + $ 3.50 P&H

Handbook for Secular Franciscan Servant Leaders (new revised edition, which will include the Formation Resource List as an appendix, will be available in 1998)

The Rule of the SFO (1997) - 10 books for only $ 18.40 (incl. P&H)

Video: Discovering Our Myth; Our Challenge for today with Sr. Christa Marie Thomson, OSF - $ 10 per copy +$ 4.50 P&H

The books may be ordered at:
Barbo-Carlson Enterprises,
108 N.Main Street,
P.O.Box 189,
Lindsborg, KS 67456

Phone (785) 227-2364
Fax (785) 227-3360