The Franciscan Family

Conclusion of the Year of St. Clare

Statutes of The Cff

I. Institution and Members

II. Objectives

III. Directive Structures

IV. Executive Secretary of the Conference

V. Approval of the Statutes

A Secular Institute of the SFO the “Seraphic Sisters”

Conclusion of the Year of St. Clare

For the celebrations of the 750^th anniversary of the death of St. Clare, the Conference of the Franciscan Family has written a letter to the Poor Clare Sisters. The letter was also shared with all sisters and brothers of the Franciscan Family. We give here the most important parts of this letter, because the full text would take up too much space in this Bulletin.

The letter gives a brief description of Clare's personality: Clare is the one who sought, who experienced perturbation in the midst of the emptiness that overshadows the world, who had rejoiced at recognising the traits of the Son of God in “the word and example” of the “true lover and imitator” (TestCl 2), Brother Francis. It is she who found the Lord of Life and the garden was filled with flowers and tasty fruits. God gave me Sisters!

Clare is the one who listens, remembers and announces the Word of the Risen One. She knows the voice of “the Truth” (3LtCl 23). She never removed her soul from the wound of the double edged sword. She gazed on it in her mind, served it with her words, obeyed it in her desires and mirrored it in her actions. “For the Lord Himself has set us as an example and mirror for others”, to announce the strength of the Resurrection to our Sisters and to “those living in the world” (TestCl 6).

Even more, Clare personalised the praise. How often she recognised the work of God in the Brothers and Sisters, whom she knew by name! Now, on reaching the end, she gave thanks for her own life: “Thank you Lord for having created me”. Thanks to the Creator! There is nothing to lament in the five decades of her history, even the most bitter was lost like sand in the sea of sweetness.

Addressing further a Poor Clare Sister – one for all – the Letter expresses the feelings of the whole Franciscan Family towards its contemplative Sisters.

You, Most Beloved Sister, who have seen the Immaculate Lamb, you, who have remained at the feet of the Christ of San Damiano as your Mother Clare did, reflect the glory of the Risen One. You who have space and time to pour out your soul in contemplation, have tasted the sweetness of His eyes and the kiss of peace that flows from His lips, you can understand, experience and announce to the world that every person is of value and worthy of being accepted, loved and respected for what he uniquely has: the divine image and likeness hewn into the deepest recesses of his being.

From you, dearest Sister, who breaths the spirit of the Poor Lady, we wish to receive always the witness to poverty and holy unity that give comfort. You announce Peace, so yearned after in our times. Peace, a gift created by the presence of the Risen Lord: “peace be with you” ( Jn 20,19.26; cf. 14,27), a gift the Church re-creates when it says to us: “Give each other a sign of peace”, a gift multiplied in the Franciscan greeting. You, when you announce the radiance of “the Truth” in life, enlighten the learned, the evangelists, the masters, the simple, all who have eyes to see the glory of God.

The letter concludes with a blessing and a wish that “the Sisters Clare of the whole world ... may continue to be, for us, a mirror and announcement of the transfiguration which the presence of the Risen One works in the Church”.

I. Institution and members

Art. 1

The Conference of the Franciscan Family (CFF), founded in 1995 – with seat in Rome – in order to promote the communion of life in the Franciscan Family and of the Franciscan Family in the Church, is erected as legal entity by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life Congregation with the Decree of March 23, 2004.

Art. 2

2.1. Are members of the Conference:

1. The General Minister of the Order of Friars Minor – OFM
2. The General Minister of the Order of Friars Minor Conventuals – OFMConv
3. The General Minister of the Order of Friars Minor Cappuchin – OFMCap.
4. The General Minister of the Third Order Regular – TOR
5. The General Minister of the Secular Franciscan Order – SFO
6. The President of the International Franciscan Conference of the Sisters and Brothers of the Third Order Regular – CFI-TOR

2.2. Each one of the members appoints, for a period of three years, their own Executive Delegate.

II. Objectives

Art. 3

The Conference – always safeguarding the nature, the autonomy, and the competences of each single Order or Institute – proposes to:

1. promote the understanding of Franciscan history and spirituality and their witness in the practice of daily life, through their own initiatives, activities and institutions, in faithful and constant service to the Church, especially in evangelization and the formation of Christian culture;
2. maintain a common attitude, for a more fruitful contact, with the Holy See, the hierarchy of the Church, and the other religious institutes;
3. fraternally promote and bring about collaboration in the various initiatives and activities such as contemplation, pastoral service, mission, initial and permanent formation, centres for advanced studies, programs with non catholic Franciscans;
4. promote and support common organisms and structures, with their own Statutes approved by the Conference, for the realization of the purposes indicated in previous letter c), in specific and determined situations;
5. renew continually the spirit of fraternity in order to realize the unum sint, becoming sign and testimony of unity in the Church and in the world;
6. represent the CFF to the Holy See, other Orders, Institutes, and Organizations in all common issues.

III. Directive Structures

Art. 4

The Presidency. The six members of the CFF elect, among themselves, for one year, a President who will represent the Conference of the Franciscan Family as such.

The Conference will meet normally twice a year around Easter and the Feast of St. Francis by convocation of the President, in previous accordance with the other members about the meeting’s date and place.

Art. 5

The Executive Council is composed of the six Executive Delegates; is coordinated by the Executive Secretary of the Conference and has the task to put into effect the directives of the Presidency.

IV. Executive Secretary of the Conference

Art. 6

The Executive Secretary is appointed by the Presidency for three years;

has the task to:

1. take the minutes of the meetings of the Presidency and the Executive Council;
2. facilitate the communication between the members of the Presidency and of the Executive Council;
3. manage the normal correspondence of the Conference;
4. manage the fund for expenses;
5. keep the archives.

V. Approval of the Statutes

Art. 7

The present Statutes, which substitute the previous ones approved ad experimentum in 1995 and modified in 2000, were unanimously approved by the Members of the Conference and can be changed totally or in part every time that the same Conference will recognize the necessity.

The Secular Institute of the Seraphic Sisters was created in 1965, by the initiative of Fr. Balbino Pineda OFMCap. It is modelled on the Institute in Spain which came into existence in 1950. In the Dominican Republic to-day the Institute has four houses with 21 sisters. Following their profession in the SFO, the sisters undergo a complete formation programme leading to their consecration at which they take private vows according to article 36 of the SFO General Constitutions. Their main mission is to work in and for the SFO. They don’t all live in community; some of them live in their own homes, but all of them have a profession of some sort. They have frequent meetings where they come together as a spiritual family.

Their life is spent in prayer, study, work and the apostolate and all of the sisters in one or another way serve some SFO Fraternity. An example of this way of life is the present leader of the Institute, Ramona Valdez, who was elected as National Formation Chair at the last SFO Chapter.

The Seraphic Sisters of the Dominican Republic are very keen to promote their vocation and to make the Institute known. This could be an opportunity for Secular Franciscan Sisters who would like to consecrate their life in a more profound way to the SFO, to society and to the needs of the Church.

For more information contact Ramona Valdez, Colegio San Francisco de Asis, Ave. Sabana Larga No. 13, Ens. Ozama, Republica Dominicana.