SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 12 - N. 03 - 2006 - January - III
From: CIOFS Secretariat
Part IV
The 25th anniversary of the Rule had an impact that still resounds in our fraternities. It gave us the opportunity of taking a profound look at the principles and practice of fraternity life, and it was something that all the national and continental fraternities, indeed the Order as a whole, lived with great enthusiasm. It gave rise to a new reading of the Rule in terms of a revival of our Christian, Franciscan and secular “being”; it gave us a desire to quench our thirst by drawing on the original sources of our spirituality. It positively marked the beginning of assuming responsibility for the care of our vocation and making it respected in the Franciscan Family and in the Church. Countless events were organised: from university forums to simple events in the most remote parts of our world. It has all helped to revitalize the Rule, this treasure entrusted to us by the Church, which indicates our identity and offers foundations for living the secular Franciscan charism, in the realisation that fidelity to one’s charism and vocation and the witness of open and sincere brother/sisterhood are the principal service that we give to the Church.
In our various visits to the national fraternities we have found that more and more importancre is breing given to number 34 of the Constitutions, which allows for the creation of specific groups within the local fraternities and/or those that are made up of members of various neighbouring local fraternities. The Presidency is giving strong support to this initiative, because we believe it meets a real need of our brothers and sisters in the fraternities. We should not forget that, at the beginning of the Franciscan experience, the diversity born of differences in social class or level of education, inequality in ecclesial condition or the multiplicity of ministries, all fell away before the fundamental equality created by the fact of being a fraternity.
This continues to be a challenge for our Order, though there has been progress dutring this triennium. Obviously, modern means of communication make for the smooth and rapid flow of communications, but by that very fact they become needs in themselves. There is still a considerable number of national fraternities that have no Internet access, which makes communication with them slower and more difficult. On top of which, as the former Minister General Emanuela De Nunzio pointed out, there are also linguistic barriers to contend with, since a considerable percentage of our Order knows none of the four official language of CIOFS, especially in Africa, Asia and Central America.In addition, in some national fraternities, the number of languages spoken can be very high, and this becomes a real “handicap”, especially for the national Council concerned, which has to be very sensitive to the cultural realities of the country, and also for CIOFS in its desire to reach all the brotherds and sisters of the Order.
During this triennium circulars were sent out inviting communication with the CIOFS Presidency. The first of these declared 2004 as the year of communication in the SFO, to encourage more intense mutual communication between different levels in the Order and among the brothers and sisters in the local fraternities. Some fruits came of this initiative but the question of smooth and mutual communication is still a challenge. Few replies are received from the International councillors – who are couincillors on a permanent basis, and not just during chapters - to communications that are sent, and to get a reply it is often necessary to keep insisting. This shows a lack of consistency about certain things which nevertheless are insisted on from the Presidency.
During this triennium we continued to benefit from the generous services of Br. Ben Brevoort, OFMCap., who maintained the website with the collaboration of his team. But, a year and a half ago, Br. Ben declared his intention to bring this service to an end. Faced with this situation, the Presidency entrusted Councillor Maria de Consuelo Núñez with the responsibility of coordinating the area of Comunications. Attempts were made to obtain the services of a firm to guarantee continuity in this important area of communications, since the members of the Presidency, with all their varied family and professional commitments, are unable to take on this responsibility with the same competence and dedication as Br. Ben. We called for various estimates in the light of certain necessities: to renew the web site; not to lose the enormous store of documents it hosts; and to keep the contents updated in terms of news and the treatment of topics suited to our need for communication and formation. We did receive some interesting offers, but all of them – especially the one that was most attractive to the Presidency – would have meant incurring continuous expenditure which, in our present economic situation, we could not afford. We know we have many brothers and sisters who are experts in this field, but no-one has offered their services despite our frequent appeals on the occasion of our visits. We turn to this Chapter for guidance and a clear mandate on this question.
All of us are familiar with the new, simpler Bulletin published by the Presidency every three months. Emanuela De Nunzio co-ordinates the publication as regards the content, translations, etc., assisted by Br. Ben Brevoort. The co-ordinators of the existing Commissions are responsible for providing material for the different sections of the Bulletin. Printing and distribution were entrusted to the national Council of Brazil, which took on this responsibility willingly in a real spirit of fraternal service. The International Bulletin is also in need of resources, and the Presidency has decided that it must be maintained by paid subscriptions, although it will continue to be sent free to all national Councils and Assistants. For this purpose we have asked for the effective collaboration of the International Councillors. The current situation is as follows: 500 copies of the Italian-English edition are published, and 500 in Spanish-French. At the present time we have 249 subscriptions, in other words, about a half of the edition, which naturally does not cover all the costs of production and distribution. Next year, because of the devaluation of the dollar, the subscription price will have to be $12, or €10. For the Bulletin to be viable, and bearing in mind that it is published in four languages, it should have at least 1,400 subscriptions.
We believe this effort is worthwhile and we hope that the Chapter will give its confirmation.
Following the mandate of the Chapter, the Secretariat is at present updating the directory which is sent to the national Councils and international Councillors. Also, immediately after the national elective Chapters, it updates the data corresponding to each national fraternity on the CIOFS website.
We have continued trying to keep the demographic survey up to date and attempting to obtain data concerning the national fraternities, whether established or “emerging”, which had not replied to the survey conducted by the General Chapter of 2002. The responses will be presented separately.
Despite attitudes to communication and (/what is more) to the concept of belonging, we still meet with indifference and lack of response on the one hand, and on the other with resistance to giving the requested data, on the grounds that it threatens the privacy of individuals. Given these attitudes, it will not be easy to provide a mirror of the reality and numerical size of our Order to those ecclesial bodies that request information. Nor will we ourselves be able to know the scale of our presence in the Franciscan Family, the Church and society.
The other difficulty we find is that real statistics about the number of members in each fraternity are not given, for fear of the economic consequences, which in the end gives a false picture of reality of the Order. Statistics are provided about “active” members “activos” and a high number of “inactive” ones, including the old and the sick members who for very legitimate reasons cannot take part in the life of the fraternity and to whom we owe gratitude, care and love. Usually such members do not fail to make a financial contribution, however small it might be. And yet no action is taken reagrding those who could take part in the life of the fraternity but fail to do so, even though they have the means.
One very important question that calls for discussion and a decision is whether it is appropriate to set up a database of the entire Order. One national fraternity in particular has offered to set this important process in motion. It would be vital for the SFO, since we would be able to know at any moment the number of members, their professions, etc. The significance of this is obvious whenever it is necessary to collaborate with others on specific topics. If we knew how and where to find the experts we undoubtedly have, our opinions could be put forward and sustained in a serious and principled manner.