(As published in the Winter 2018-19
Tau-USA)
From the National Executive
Council
NATIONAL
PRIORITY FOR 2019-2021
At
the 2018 Chapter, the National Fraternity Council (NAFRA) discussed the
question of national priorities for 2019–2021. Many suggestions were presented,
and several were mentioned multiple times, but no one priority stood out
clearly. It was the consensus of the body that the incoming National Executive
Council (NEC) should decide our national priorities for the upcoming three years. The NEC is happy to
announce that this was accomplished at our December 13–16, 2018, meeting in St.
Louis, Mo. During this meeting, we prayerfully considered the needs of the
national family, as well as the feedback from the NAFRA Geo Groups at Chapter,
and the decision became clear to us. While in past years NAFRA has set as many
as six priorities, this year we chose to narrow our focus to one—Fraternity
Life.
Note
that concentrating on fostering vibrant fraternity life does not imply that
previous priorities will be ignored or neglected. Formation, JPIC,
Communications, and Spiritual Assistance will all play an important role in
strengthening our local fraternities.
The
decision to choose Fraternity Life was confirmed for us in a wonderful
way! A few weeks after we chose this priority, we received a Christmas letter from
our General Minister. In this letter Tibor Kauser encouraged us to repeat our
“yes”unconditionally—saying yes to God, yes to our vocation, and yes to our
neighbor. He then repeated three times “…this will give new life to our
fraternities, too!” (See our General Minister’s Christmas Letter on page 5)
To
help all of us achieve this priority we decided to highlight three aspects of
fraternity life:
National
Priority 2019-2021
Fraternity
Life
1.
Deepening our Franciscan Vocation
2.
Growing in Fraternal Communion
3.
Cultivating Universal Kinship
Our
relationships with God, with our OFS brothers and sisters, and with all people
made in
the
image and likeness of God will be the subject of future reflections, as will
some of the means
(commitment,
conversion, communication) we must use to enable our fraternities to grow in
holiness.
Meanwhile,
let us begin by reflecting on the spiritual reality and purpose of our
fraternities. We’re so used to participating in various groups, both within and
outside the Church, that it’s easy to treat our fraternity as just another
group, rather than as an integral part of our vocation. Let’s look at our foundational
documents. How do they portray fraternity?
Our
General Constitutions state: Art. 28.1. The fraternity of the OFS finds its origin
in the inspiration of Saint Francis of Assisi to whom the Most High revealed
the essential gospel quality of life in fraternal communion (See Constitutions
3.3 (below); Testament 14).
Art.
3.3. The vocation to the OFS is a vocation to live the Gospel in fraternal communion.
For this purpose, the members of the OFS gather in ecclesial communities which
are called fraternities. Art. 100.3. Fidelity to their own charism, Franciscan
and secular, and the witness of building fraternity sincerely and openly are
their principal services to the Church, which is the community of love. They
should be recognized in it by their "being," from which their mission
springs.
Points
to ponder:
•
The fraternity is not an afterthought. It originated with St. Francis, and its
essential gospel
quality was revealed to Francis by God Himself.
•
We don’t just “live the Gospel.” We live it “in f r a t e r n a l commu n i o n
. ” Fraternal
communion
is thus defined as a constitutive element of our vocation. We have a
specific way of being in the world, and a specific way of being together… in
fraternal communion.
•
The Constitutions tie building fraternity to our Franciscan mission of
“rebuilding” the Church. In fact, they term it one of the principal services we
as an Order do for the Church. Recall that during our profession we promised to
spend our efforts doing this very thing.The local fraternity is a visible sign
of the Church, a community of faith and love. Together with all the members,
you now pledge yourselves to spend your efforts to make the fraternity a
genuine ecclesial assembly and a living Franciscan community. (Rite of Profession,
Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order).
If we fail to take this seriously, if we work half-heartedly, if we rarely show
up at fraternity gatherings, we are failing our brothers and sisters, we are
failing to live our profession, and we are failing the Church.
•
Thomas of Celano tells us that Francis and his brothers rejoiced when others were
added to their company. “Immediately four other good and sound men were added
to them as followers of the holy man of God. …At that time Saint Francis and
his brothers felt great gladness and unique joy whenever one of the faithful, led
by the Spirit of God, came and accepted the habit of holy religion whoever the
person might be: rich or poor, noble or insignificant, wise or simple, cleric
or illiterate, a layman of the Christian people. This was a great wonder to
those of the world and an example of humility, challenging them to the way of a
more reformed life and to penance for sins.”
(1 Celano 31)
Ask yourself: do people today feel that “great wonder” when they
visit our fraternities? What sort of example do they see?
•
“Come to [Jesus], a living stone, rejected by men yet chosen and precious in
God’s sight, and
like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house….”(1 Peter
2:4-5a)
Pax et bonum
