SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 8 - N. 11 - 2002 - March - III
From: Koinonia, 2001, N. 4
The specific field of the Assistant is to: foster communion with the Church, give witness to Franciscan religious spirituality, cooperate in the formation of the brothers and further the Christian life of the Fraternities [1 .
The spiritual assistant should consider spiritual assistance as a "fundamental element of comunion" [2 . The local assistant should promote communion both within the Fraternity and between it and the First Order and TOR and the active presence and sincere communion with the local Church [3 . On the other levels, the Assistants, "if they are more than one, they form a conference and give their service collegially" [4 . In elective Chapters, the Assistant of the higher level is present "as a witness of the communion with the First Order and the TOR" [5 . On pastoral visitation, the Assistant visitator "will meet the pastors (bishop or parish priest) when this is opportune for fostering communion and service for building up the Church". He will also promote "collaboration and a sense of co-responsibility among the secular leaders and the religious assistants" [6 .
All this signifies that the Assistant should be a person of dialogue, of listening, disposed to giving way to the seculars responsible for the coordination and animation of the Fraternity. His duty is to create and encourage communion, to be the meeting point for whoever seeks to live the Gospel after the manner of Francis together with the brothers.
The main duty of the assistant is "to communicate Franciscan
spirituality" [7 with his testimony
of life and, if he sees that it pleases God, with the word also
[8 . In this regard Emanuela De
Nunzio, on the occasion of a General Chapter of the Friars Minor
Conventual, expressed herself thus: "There is need of a very
profound spiritual relationship with us, Brothers of the First
Order, because it is you who have responsibility for our journey in
faith. It is necessary that you be for us «enlightening
teachers and guides », enlightened by the Word of God and the
example of Francis. It is you who have the duty of leading us along
the path to sanctity, teaching us to read the signs of the times
and giving us the necessary spiritual charge through the
appreciation and application of Franciscan culture and concrete
indications for our formative journey, in relationship with the
other components of the Franciscan family, in the orientation of
our work for the construction of a more fraternal and gospel world
[9 . Teach us to be authentic and
credible bearers of Francis’s message in order to be able to
give witness in the ordinary conditions of our life as laity:
-- the poverty of the journey;
-- the courage of the cross;
-- the challenge of love;
-- the risk of hope;
-- the contemplative dimension of life" [10 .
The same conviction was expressed by another secular Franciscan, Argia Passoni: "The Assistant should stimulate the SFO to live its life, to help it develop fully and to give it solid nourishment for this. (...) The Assistant must be strongly convinced of his duty to provoke the SFO in its Franciscan and secular vocation, of Franciscan gospel radicality, in order to cultivate it in close relationship with responsible secular people. This attitude will protect the animation of the SFO from simple pragmatism and support the Council in its role of guiding the evangelising Fraternity. In the General Constitution of the SFO, assistance is always spoken of in terms of collaboration, of being with the laity in their specificity, in an attentive and respective interaction that makes both grow (SFO and assistance)" [11 .
The Presidency of the CIOFS met in Rome, from 30th November to 7th December 2001. The new general Assistant, Br. Michael Higgins TOR, was present for the first time. The first item on the agenda was the preparation for the General Chapter of the SFO, which will take place in Rome in the house of the Brothers of Christian Schools from the 15th November till the morning of the 23rd November 2002. The site of the Chapter can be easily reached by public transport and is equiped with all necessary technical means. A day of pilgrimage to Assisi and a Papal audience are planned. The Chapter will be officially convoked in the month of April for the election of the Presidency of the CIOFS for the six-year period of 2002-2008. Besides approving the Statutes for the international Fraternity it will also be necessary to go into the topic of the Franciscan family.
The Presidency has examined the draft of the International Statutes, which will be translated into the four official languages of the CIOFS and sent to the national Councils for study. The Statutes for spiritual and pastoral Assistance to the SFO, prepared by the Conference of General Assistants, was also discussed.
Emanuela referred to the national Assembly of the Italian SFO, held from the 15th to 18th November 2001, in preparation for the unified elective Chapter that will take place from the 27th April to the 1st May 2002.
A week later, Emanuela presided over the national elective Chapter in the Lebanon, celebrating the happy end of a transition period, first under the direction of a small commission of three persons and then under the guidance of a provisional national Council appointed by the Presidency.
The Councillors of the Presidency referred to the visits made and to the national Chapters they presided over, presenting, where necessary, the different problems to the common reflection of the Presidency. The visits and Chapters to be presided over during 2002, before the General Chapter, were planned.
On the 25th August, during The World Youth Day (Toronto, 22-28 July 2002) on the topic: You are the salt and light of the world, a day for Franciscan Youth is to be held, developing the same topic of the WYD. The day will be comprised of two moments: in the morning a meeting of the representatives of the national Fraternities of Fra.Youth present in Toronto; in the evening there will be an open-air celebration and festival.
Alicia Gallardo has prepared an aid for the accompaniment of old secular Franciscans. The text will be translated and sent to the national Councils.
The Assembly was held in Sassone di Ciampino, near Rome, from
the 15th to 18th November 2001. It was an important moment for the
SFO in Italy on its way towards its unified Chapter. It must be
stressed that, together with almost all the SFO regional Ministers
and the respective OFMCap, OFMConv and TOR Assistants, there were
also seven members of the three SFO regional Councils assisted by
the Friars Minor.
The presentation of the documents and activities of each of the
pre-Chapter Commissions was lively and important. Growth and
maturity in the activities of the groups and in the reports in the
hall were evident. The five months that remain before the national
elective Chapter will help the Italian SFO to prepare itself well
for the event.
Lebanon. The national elective Chapter of the Lebanon was held from the 22nd to 25th November in the house of "Notre Dame des Puits". It was the end of a specific accompaniment of almost nine years, given by the Presidency of the CIOFS in order to help the national and local Fraternity to take up once again their normal life after so many years of war. The happy conclusion of the transitional period is due in great part to the generous collaboration of the secular Franciscans of the Lebanon, who were lavish in carrying out an intense work of formation and spiritual reflection. The discussions on the national Stautes showed how the participants felt involved in drawing them up and convinced of the importance of the moment for the future life of the SFO in the Lebanon. Sami Mujaes was elected national Minister.
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