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How are the Secular Franciscans, Franciscan Youth and their Assistants
situated? Conference given at Kosljun, Croatia, adapted for the "Letter to the Assistants" Carl Schafer OFM In 1997 we had already arrived at the second phase of direct and immediate preparations for the Jubilee Year 2000. Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter, Tertio millennio adveniente, in preparation for the Jubilee, wrote about that year: "Everything ought to focus on the primary objective of the Jubilee: the strengthening of faith and of the witness of Christians. It is therefore necessary to inspire in all the faithful a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for conversion and personal renewal in a context of ever more intense prayer and of solidarity with one's neighbour, especially the most needy" (TMA 42). I would like to apply the Pope's programme specifically to the Franciscans: religious and secular, adults and youth. I will briefly treat three points that are very important at present in the life of the Secular Franciscans, the Franciscan Youth and the Assistants/ Animators: secularity, autonomy and unity. I will add some questions on each point. Only you can answer them adequately. More interesting than my presentation, I think, will be the discussions and the work in groups, then the dialogue in the plenary session.
The Franciscan Youth is not the SFO The Secular Franciscan has made an adult decision about his vocation whereas the Franciscan Youth member is still searching out his vocation. He has not yet made any adult decision about his vocation. So a particular twenty-one-years-old can be a member of the Franciscan Youth while another of the same age can be a Secular Franciscan. The former has not yet made any adult vocational decision, the latter has already made that decision. A group or Fraternity of the Franciscan Youth is not a junior Fraternity of the SFO. But a local SFO Fraternity composed of young people can be formed, for example in a University. In the same University a group of Franciscan Youth can be formed. Clearly, the formation of the Franciscan Youth members will be different from the formation of the Secular Franciscans, according to their different needs. Now, while we treat of secularity, autonomy and unity, we will see how these points apply to the Secular Franciscans, to Franciscan Youth and to their Assistants and Animators.
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(1) SECULARITY The Holy Father wrote, in Tertio millennio adveniente: "The commitment to make the mystery of salvation sacramentally present can lead, in the course of the year, to a renewed appreciation of Baptism as the basis of Christian living" (TMA 41). Precisely through Baptism we were all initiated into Christian life in the world. At that moment God called us "to follow Christ" (cf. Rule SFO 1) in the secular condition, in secularity. Some of you, still young, feel "attracted by St Francis of Assisi" (GC SFO, 96.1) and "called by the Holy Spirit to share the experience of the Christian life in Fraternity, in the light of the message of St Francis of Assisi, deepening (your) own vocation within the context of the Secular Franciscan Order" (GC SFO, 96.2). Your vocation, as members of the Franciscan Youth, is baptismal, that is, Christian and secular, with a Franciscan emphasis. Others of you have already made the adult choice of vocation, either secular or religious, ""in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi" (Rule SFO 1). In Baptism you were "called to follow Christ", as are all Christians, but, led by the Holy Spirit, you added a Franciscan emphasis to your Christian vocation. You who are seculars, laity or clerics, are "led by the Spirit" to strive for perfect charity in your own secular state. By your profession, you pledge yourselves "to live the gospel in the manner of Saint Francis" by means of the SFO Rule (cf. Rule SFO 2). We who are Franciscan religious are no longer seculars. We pledge ourselves by religious Profession to live the Gospel in the manner of Saint Francis and by means of the Rule of our religious Order. See how diverse are the Franciscan vocations. Together we form an enormous Franciscan Family. We make present "the charism of (our) common Seraphic Father in the life and mission of the Church", but "in various ways and forms" (Rule SFO 1). The secular vocation is different from the religious vocation. The Secular Franciscans and Franciscan Youth should not behave as though they were religious. The friars and Sisters should not behave as though they were seculars. All vocations that come from God are holy and lead to holiness. What matters is to recognize one's own vocation and to follow it faithfully. This is the purpose of the Franciscan Youth Movement: to help young people to discern their vocation and to guide them to do the will of God with regard to themselves (cf. The Franciscan Youth: A Franciscan Vocational Journey, 14). We are all called in Baptism to holiness in the world, in secular conditions, in secularity. The call to holiness in the religious life comes to some later on. Now let us concentrate on secularity and the secular vocation.
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The secular vocation Pope Paul VI developed the Council's theology of secularity in his Apostolic Exhortation on the Evangelization of the People of Our Time, (Evangelii nuntiandi), in 1995. The Holy Father wrote: "Lay people, whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world and in charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must for this very reason exercise a very special form of evangelization. Their primary and immediate task is ... to put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility latent but already present and active in the affairs of the world. Their own field of evangelizing activity is the vast and complicated world of politics, society and economics, but also the world of culture, of the sciences and arts, of international life, of the mass media. It also includes other realities which are open to evangelization, such as love, the family, the education of children and adolescents, professional work, suffering" (EN 70). Although the SFO Rule of Paul VI in 1978, does not refer to the Exhortation, it follows it in Articles 14 to 19: build a more fraternal world; promote justice; esteem work as a gift; cultivate the Franciscan spirit in the family; respect all creatures; bring peace, joy and hope. The SFO General Constitutions of 1990 stress that the Secular Franciscans should be first of all evangelized through: following their secular vocation; conversion; initial and ongoing formation; spiritual assistance and animation (cf. Letter to the Assistants, 1992 n.2, p.13-15). Then they should evangelize others in the family, at work, in secular society and in the church community, both in the SFO local Fraternity and outside the SFO (cf. Letter to the Assistants, 1992 n.1, p.11-12).
Role of the Assistant and Animator The Statutes for Spiritual and Pastoral Assistance to the SFO, published in 1992, summarize the contents of the Rule and General Constitutions that concern Assistants and Animators. It is important that the Superiors and Assistants study them. At the level of the local Fraternity, both of the SFO and of the Franciscan Youth, the role of the spiritual Animator in the spiritual journey of the seculars is the same role as that of the spiritual Assistant, except that the priest can offer an additional sacramental service, for example, the Eucharist and Reconciliation. The SFO General Constitutions say: "It is the particular task of the Assistant to cooperate in the initial and continuing formation of the brothers and sisters" (GC OFS 89.4). In view of the SFO Rule and General Constitutions and drawing on your own experience: (a) SFO Group 1: What is the reality and the image of the Secular Franciscan Order that you Secular Franciscans live and show? Are you groups of privatized spirituality or are you groups of evangelized and evangelizing people? (not overlooking prayer, contemplation and the liturgy). (b) SFO Assistants Group 1: What type of formation do you Assistants give to the Secular Franciscans? Is it a formation that is only devotional for their personal and private life, or is it a formation that leads them to a Christian commitment in society and in the Church? (c) Franciscan Youth Group 1: What is the reality and the image of the Franciscan Youth that you young people live and show? Are you only a disco for entertainment or a sports club, or are you groups of evangelized and evangelizing people? (not over-looking entertainment and sports). (d) Assistants and Animators of Franciscan Youth Group 1: What type of formation do you give to the youth? Is it only a human formation through entertainment and sports, or is it a formation that leads them to a Christian commitment in society and in the Church?
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(2) AUTONOMY Pope John Paul II, in Tertio millennio adveniente, quotes the Second Vatican Council: "By his incarnation, the Son of God united himself in some sense with every man. He laboured with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted with a human will, and loved with a human heart" (Gaudium et spes 22; cf. TMA 4). For me, this means that Jesus Christ acted with the autonomy that is proper to a man. I reach the conclusion that the autonomy due to each of us and to our Fraternities has to be respected. When I think of the autonomy of the individual members of the Franciscan Family, "in life-giving union" (Rule SFO 1), I find obstacles to the autonomy of the Secular Franciscan Order and more so to the autonomy of the Franciscan Youth. According to the legislation of the Rule and General Constitutions, the SFO is autonomous be-cause it is a single Order guided by elected secular leaders and financed by the professed members. The key to the unity of the SFO is the Regional Fraternity. The General Constitutions define it as: "the organic union of all the local Fraternities existing in a territory or which can be integrated into a natural unity.... While respecting the unity of the SFO and with the collegial integration of the various Franciscan Obediences which may provide spiritual assistance within the area, it assures the link between the local Fraternities and the national Fraternity" (GC 61). With regard to the internal direction of the SFO, the General Constitutions say: "The local Fraternity is animated and guided by a Minister and a Council elected by the professed members of the Fraternity" (GC 49.1). "The Council of the local Fraternity is composed of the following offices: Minister, Vice-Minister, Secretary, Treasurer, and the person responsible for formation" (GC 49.2). The Rule lays down the financing of the Order and the General Constitutions repeat it: "Regarding expenses necessary for the life of the fraternity and the needs of worship, of the apostolate, and of charity, all the brothers and sisters should offer a contribution according to their means. Local fraternities should contribute toward the expenses of the higher fraternity councils" (Rule SFO 25; cf. GC 30. 3).
Obstacles to autonomy These conditions require: overcoming the obediential divisions of the Franciscan Secular Third Order introduced by the Orders of friars in the course of history; independence from the friars in the internal direction of the Fraternities; financial independence. What has already been said about autonomy applies also to the Franciscan Youth but there are more problems here. The model of National Statutes of the Franciscan Youth, 35, says: "The local fraternity is animated and guided by a council consisting of a President, Vice President and at least one Councillor, elected... by the local Assembly.... The representative of the SFO and the spiritual animator or assistant are also members of the Council." The SFO "considers itself to be particularly responsible for" the Franciscan Youth. "The fraternal assistance to the Franciscan Youth is entrusted to the SFO" (Nat.Stat.Fran Youth, 4). It seems to me that Franciscan Youth has more difficulties than the SFO in gaining due autonomy. Not only the Animators and Assistants but also the Secular Franciscans involved in Franciscan Youth must be careful not to take away from the Council the direction of the Fraternity. The documents on Franciscan Youth coming from the SFO International Council in 1995 say nothing about the ways of financing the Franciscan Youth. The Franciscan Youth: A Franciscan Vocational Journey, 20, repeats the SFO General Constitutions, 97.1: "The SFO will seek the most appropriate means to promote the vitality and the spreading of the Franciscan Youth. It will stand by the youth to encourage them and to procure the means which can help them to progress in their journey of human and spiritual growth." The following numbers, 21 to 24, specify "the means" without saying anything about the financial means. Obviously, the SFO does not hold itself responsible for the financial situation of the Franciscan Youth. Who are they to approach? The friars? No! They have to create their own means, also to have their due measure of autonomy. The model of National Statutes of the Franciscan Youth, 51, describes the Treasurer who "administers and maintains the inventory of all material goods and financial resources and renders an account of this administration to the Council. Together with the President, the Treasurer signs the economic documents of the fraternity". That's a fine Treasurer, autonomous too, but where are the financial resources?
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Role of the Assistants and Animators Given the responsibility for the altius moderamen (that is, for a certain external direction of the SFO) which the Holy See places on the four religious Orders, it is difficult for the friars to avoid being "Directors" of the Fraternities, as they were by law before 1978. It is not easy to fit into the Fraternity Council as a "Spiritual Assistant", in accordance with the new legislation and in the new spirit of collaboration with the laity, "giving them priority with regard to the guidance, coordination and animation of the fraternity" (Stat.Assist. 10). Recognition of the responsibility that belongs to the seculars should not turn into a passive attitude of "leave them to it", but it should lead to an active attitude: to promote the secular vocation and to cooperate with the seculars so that they will realize their proper mission. According to the SFO General Constitutions: "The Spiritual Assistant is a member of the Council of the Fraternity to which he gives assistance and collaborates with it in all its activities" (GC SFO 89.4). "The Spiritual Assistant does not exercise the right to vote in financial questions" (GC SFO 89.5). Here are a few questions for discussion: (a) SFO Group 2: What can be done to form the secular leaders of the SFO local Fraternities and to make them capable of animating and guiding the Fraternities? (For example, is there the possibility of specialized formation for the leaders?) How can the members provide the financial means? (b) Franciscan Youth Group 2: What can be done to form the secular leaders of the Franciscan Youth groups and to make them capable of animating and guiding the groups? (For example, us there the possibility of specialized formation for the leaders?) How can the members provide the financial means? (c) SFO Assistants Group 2: In the initial and ongoing formation of the friars of the Province, is space given for the understanding and assistance of the SFO and Franciscan Youth? Has the document published in 1992 been distributed and applied?: Indications for the Formation of the Friars for Understanding and Assisting the SFO. (d) Franciscan Youth Assistants and Animators 2: What can be done so that the Assistants and Animators may be suitable and well prepared to assist spiritually the Councils of the Fraternities of the SFO and Franciscan Youth, instead of being the principal directors? (For example, an annual Formation Day for Assistants and Animators; study of the Statutes for Assistance; reading the Letter to the Assistants and Koinonia).
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(3) UNITY From 1994 to 1996, during the first phase of preparation for the Jubilee 2000, the Holy See counted, among the sins that require a greater commitment to repentance and conversion, "those which have been detrimental to the unity willed by God for his People" (TMA 34). The Holy Father wrote, in his Apostolic Letter: "The Church should invoke the Holy Spirit with ever greater insistence, imploring from him the grace of Christian unity" (loc.cit.). Not only the unity of Christians but also the unity of Franciscans has been lacking in the second Christian millennium. At present, with the approval of the Holy See, the friars are constituted in four distinct Orders. Instead, with the Rule of 1978 and the General Constitutions of 1990, the Secular Franciscans are structured in one single Secular Franciscan Order, in local, regional and national Fraternities, independently from the Provinces of the friars. Regretfully, at least six nations have not yet achieved the unity of the Secular Franciscan Order through unitary regional Fraternities. More important than unity of structures is unity of spirit. In fact, structural unity must be built on spiritual unity of minds and hearts. Otherwise, unity is a fiction and structural unity is an imposition. Unity of structures follows spiritual unity automatically because the spirit creates the structures that are best adapted to express itself. The Holy Father wrote: "We are all however aware that the attainment of this goal cannot be the fruit of human efforts alone, vital though they are. Unity, after all, is a gift of the Holy Spirit... It is essential ... to be more committed to prayer for Christian unity" (TMA 34). Here we have one of the most demanding tasks for the SFO and Franciscan Youth on their way to the year 2000: if not completely united for the Jubilee, may they be at least closer to overcoming the divisions of the second millennium. So I would ask a few questions along those lines: (a) SFO Group 3: What can the Secular Franciscans do to form the unitary regional Fraternities of the SFO instead of continuing the obediential provincial Fraternities? (For example, How can unity of spirit be promoted among the different local Fraternities assisted by the diverse Orders of friars? Do the Fraternities recognize one another, meet one another, collaborate with one another? (b) SFO Assistants Group 3: What can the spiritual Assistants of the SFO do to form the unitary regional Fraternities of the SFO instead of continuing the obediential provincial Fraternities? (For example, collaborate more closely with the other OFM Provinces and with the other Orders of friars; form the Conferences of Regional Assistants; act collegially when making decisions that concern the SFO.) (c) Franciscan Youth Group 3: What can the members of the Franciscan Youth do to activate a national unitary movement "within the context of the SFO" (GC SFO 96.2) instead of a Franciscan Youth based on one particular Province of the friars? (For example, do other local Fraternities of the Franciscan Youth exist in the nation assisted by other OFM Provinces or by other Orders of friars or animated by Sisters? How can unity of spirit be promoted among them? Do they recognize one another, meet one another, collaborate with one another? (d) Franciscan Youth Assistants and Animators Group 3: What can the spiritual Assistants and Animators do to activate a national unitary movement for which "the SFO considers itself to be particularly responsible" (GC OFS 96.2) instead of a Franciscan Youth based on the particular Provinces of the friars or of Institutes of Sisters? (For example, collaborate more closely with the SFO Councils, with the other OFM Provinces, with the other Orders of friars and with the other Institutes of Franciscan Sisters; act collegially when making decisions that concern the Franciscan Youth.)
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