The second week of the General Chapter began today. After a weekend which was highlighted by a private audience with the Pope on Saturday, there was a break on Sunday and then the friars resumed their work with momentum. The theme harkened back to the central issue of the Chapter: “Fraternal Collaboration.” Br. Mauro Jöhri, former General Minister of the Order, was chosen to introduce the topic (we recall that the foundations were laid under his generalate). In the first part of his talk, Br. Mauro presented its history, showing how the Order through General Chapters, Plenary Councils and other occasions had reflected upon and gained deeper insight into this issue.
Defining fraternal collaboration as “a long-term collaboration of friars by two or more circumscriptions, regulated by an agreement approved by the General Minister and his Council,” Br. Mauro identified the three purposes for this collaboration: 1) to reinforce the Capuchin charism in places where the Order has lost its vitality or is in danger of disappearing; 2) to witness to Franciscan fraternity in the increasingly intercultural society of our time; and 3) to contribute to the new evangelization especially with our form of life open to all. Using the image of a “threshold” to characterize the challenges of collaboration in the past and present of our Order, Br. Mauro observed, “the brothers from the north used to cross the threshold to go to the south as missionaries, while today we see the opposite movement: it is the brothers from the south who cross the threshold to come to the north.” He then articulated the challenges that fraternal collaboration can bring in our days: secularisation, affluence, and individualism.
In the face of these challenges, Br. Mauro urged the capitulars to be aware that in collaboration there are two souls of our Order that have gradually emerged over the period of mission: “one of a traditional conventual type and one characterized above all by pastoral commitment.” He then exhorted the friars to make a necessary review of collaborations in place to date, to maintain dialogue and to be open to the encounter between different cultures. In the conclusion, he offered avenues for reflection in the form of questions.
One aspect of collaboration that merited a specific in-depth study was the Saint Lawrence Fraternities (FSL), presented by Br. Matteo Siro. The document prepared by the Commission for the FSL maintains how they have “proven to be a richness for the ongoing formation of the brothers and also for some brothers who, living in simplicity as proposed by the guidelines, have reinstated their “yes” to God with a renewed self-giving, thus reinvigorating their motivation and their sense of call.” Based on the positive experience in the first years of experimentation, the document suggests further steps in this direction of collaboration. This was followed by the input of Br. Pio Murat and Br. Mariosvaldo Florentino, who described their experiences in the current FSLs present in the Order. For each fraternity, they pointed out its activities, indicated the number of members in the fraternity and the challenges that they are facing. Currently, there are a total of eleven Saint Lawrence Fraternities, composed of brothers from various countries around the world; they are located in Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, Italy, Holland, Spain, and Hungary. To date, despite the efforts being made, finding willing friars to participate in this project still remains a challenge.
Dialogue and exchange immediately followed in the Aula, where many friars expressed their views. The Chapter assembly, as a whole, appreciated this initiative, considering it “an internal reform of the Order” in a positive sense, and not in opposition to anything else. The FSL is a seed that is being born and must be watered because at stake is the future of the Order and the dream of possible fraternal collaboration. From the dialogue, of course, questions also emerged, which were answered by the speakers together with Br. Marek Miszczyński. In the afternoon, within the ceti, the issue will still be explored further.
