SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 8 - N. 4 - 2002 - January - IV
From: Letter to the Assistants, 2001, N. 2
Br. Ivan Matic', ofm
(Part I)
With this short report we wish to reflect together on the importance and responsibility of our duty in that which touches on the spiritual and pastoral assistance to the Secular Franciscan Order, a mission entrusted to us Franciscans of the First Order and TOR [1 by the Church.
Assistance to the SFO is carried out on different levels. When a Fraternity of a level higher than local (regional, national or international) is assisted spiritually by more than one religious Franciscan Family, then it must be spoken of as collegial assistance and not as inter-obediential assistance.
I believe we must be very precise and clear also in language because we are dealing with new things that refer to the particular structures of the SFO, recognised by the Church through the approval of the General Constitutions of the SFO.
As Franciscans of the First Order and TOR we are called on to deepen evermore our knowledge in regard to the new, to the growth and development of the SFO, studying with fraternal love its documents that are truly a precious treasure. Why is all this important?
The Secular Franciscan Order, within the great Franciscan Family, has a very special position, given that its members live the common Franciscan charism, which St. Francis left to us, in the Church and in the world as "seculars".
The Secular Franciscans live their particular charism in organic union with all the Catholic Fraternities, dispersed throughout the world and open to all the faithful, in which the brothers and sisters are moved by the Spirit to achieve the perfection of charity in the secular state [2 .
As such, the SFO is assisted spiritually and pastorally by the four Franciscan religious families (Franciscan First Order and TOR). "As a concrete sign of communion and co-responsibility, the councils on various levels, in keeping with the constitutions, shall ask for suitable and well-prepared religious for spiritual assistance. They should make this request to the superiors of the four religious Franciscan families, to whom the Secular Fraternity has been united for centuries" [3 .
Knowing the particular structures of the SFO, the assistance can be developed in a much more organised manner. What are these structures? Here is what the Rule says: "The Secular Franciscan Order is divided into fraternities of various levels -- local, regional, national, and international. Each one has its own moral personality in the Church. These various fraternities are co-ordinated and united according to the norm of this rule and of the constitutions" [4 .
Let us look now at the assistance to the SFO, entrusted to the Franciscans of the First Order and TOR, as understood by the Church. At this moment it is not possible to present all the documents from the rich history of the SFO, in which, among other things, there is noted a development in that referring to assistance. Let us stop to look at the new things introduced into the new Rule of the SFO of Paul VI, approved on the 24th June 1978.
One important novelty of this new Rule is found, undoubtedly, in the passage from the dependence of the SFO on the First Order and TOR to a vital reciprocal communion. "In various ways and forms, but in life-giving union with each other, they intend to make present the charism of their common Seraphic Father in the life and mission of the Church" [5 . Having underlined the "organic union of all Catholic fraternities" [6 , the particular characteristics of the secular life and its autonomy, it recalls once more the communion and co-responsibility for "the charism of their common Seraphic Father", asking "for suitable and well-prepared religious for spiritual assistance. They should make this request to the superiors of the four religious Franciscan families, to whom the Secular Fraternity has been united for centuries" [7 .
The spiritual assistance asked of the "Superiors of the four Franciscan religious families, to whom the Secular Fraternity has been united for centuries" [8 , is a service. Therefore, in none of the areas in which the Assistant works can be exercised a predominance, impeding in this way that the spiritual assistance transforms the relationship of collaboration into one of dependence.
The Rule of the SFO begins by recalling that the Secular Franciscans are not an appendix but rather an integral reality of the Franciscan family [9 and ends with the petition to the Superiors of the First Order and TOR for suitable and well-prepared brothers for spiritual assistance [10 , as something that proceeds from the same charism.
The Ministers and Custos, as Major Superiors, are invited to maintain a dialogue, an interchange of opinions, with the respective Councils and Ministers of the SFO as signs of communion and co-responsibility when they are asked for, and they offer, candidates for assistance. This interchange of opinions will be a sign of their understanding the nature and mission of the SFO, while the foundations of collegiality on all levels are consolidated.
The General Constitutions of the SFO show this collegial action in a way even more clear and evident: "For all that concerns the SFO as a whole, the altius moderamen must be exercised by the general ministers collegially" [11 .
If the Ministers General develop their service collegially, their immediate Delegates, the General Spiritual Assistants (the same can and should be said for the national and regional Assistants in their relations with the Ministers Provincial or Custos), on giving collegial assistance to the Secular Franciscan Order should be in harmony with the spirit of the Conference of Ministers General of the First Order and TOR.
-----------------