Communication from the General Definitory - November 2008

Communication from the General Definitory - November 2008

The General Definitory meeting for the month of November took place from the 3rd to the 14th. As usual, every year, the General Definitory is also present for the meeting of General Visitors which took place from Nov. 10 – 14. There were a total of 17 General Visitors in attendance this year. As part of the closing Eucharistic celebration of this week’s long gathering on Nov. 14, two Friars of our Order (BR. YUSTINUS DAMAI WASONO from the Province of Saint Michael the Archangel in Indonesia and BR. RUFIN YURII RAZOVSKY from the Province of Saint Michael the Archangel in the Ukraine) were officially sent off to the Missions. After having taken a training course at the Center for Missions in Brussels, they went to Thailand and Kenya respectively. At this send – off celebration were present also other future missionaries of the Franciscan Family who, together with the aforesaid Friars, concluded their course of preparation at our Center. Six Conventual Friars and four Capuchins likewise received a blessing for the missions from both the General Vicar of the OFMConv and the General Secretary for the Missions of the OFMCap, both acting on behalf of their respective General Ministers.

The General Minister and his board of Definitors were also present at the House Chapter of our fraternity of the General Curia on Nov. 4. The former shared with the fraternity all that transpired at the recent Synod in Rome on the Word of God.

In addition to the usual topics discussed during the General Definitory meeting, other specific topics came up for discussion, such as economic affairs, reassessing the structure of the General Secretariat for Evangelization, proposals for new articles for the General Statutes, and the need for some kind of an aid (booklet, brochure) for parish ministry.

1. Sharing
According to the norm, the brothers of the General Definitory – after their last big meeting – shared among themselves the many visits, meetings, and celebrations with Friars of different Provinces. They then assessed together the events which the Definitory had participated in either as a whole or in part, such as in the two Asian Conferences (SAAOC and EAC) at Bangkok from Sept. 22 – 24, 2008 and the International Council for Evangelization in Manila (the Philippines) from Oct. 20 – 28.

2. Nomination of the General Visitors
BR. FERDINANDO CAMPANA of the Province of St. James of the Marches in Italy was nominated General Visitor for the Province of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Albania. Additionally, the General Definitory nominated BR. GILLES BORDEAU, member of the Province of Saint Joseph, Spouse of BVM in Canada as a new General Visitor - Assistant for the Franciscan Custodies of the Caribbean and Paraguay, both dependent on the Province of Arantzazu in Spain, whose office is currently vacant due to the resignation of their predecessor.

3. Personnel (Houses dependent on the General Ministers)
The Rector of the College of the Students of Rome, Br. VIDAL RODRÍGUEZ LÓPEZ from the Betic Province of Spain was elected the treasurer (Economus/Bursar) of the fraternity, “Venerable Br. Gabriel Alegra”. BR. ELEUTHERE BAHARANYI MAKUTA, a member of the Congolese Province of Saint Benedict the African was also elected to the same office in the house, “Santa Maria” in Istanbul. From Jan. 1, 2009, BR. JUSTO LUIS ZILLI PIGHIN, member of the Province of Saint Michael in Argentina returns to CISA to assume his service as a tailor. Br. Edwin Joseph Paniagua, a member of the Province of the Immaculate Conception of BVM in the USA, will be taking the place of Br. Patrick Hudson from the Irish Province as a translator and interpreter for the English language. In addition to being a translator, Br. Patrick was also the coordinator for all translators and is now being replaced by Br. STEFANO LOVATO from the Venetian Province as the new coordinator for that service. Br. Stefano is also currently the Vice – Director of the Protocol and translator for the Italian language. The General Definitory granted the request of Br. VALDEVINO NEGHERBON, a member of the Province of the Immaculate Conception of BVM in Brazil and currently at the service of the General Curia, for permission to return to his province under the obedience of his Provincial Minister.

4. Towards the General Chapter of 2009
Br. Francesco Patton, Secretary of the General Chapter of 2009, who updated the preparatory planning for this event, met with the General Definitory to ask that certain final decisions be made in preparation for the same Chapter.

5. Reports
The reports of the General Visitors who have concluded their visits to the Entities (Provinces/Custodies) have been studied and evaluated. The Entities visited are both the Custodies of St. Clare in Mozambique and of St. Francis in Papua New Guinea and both the Italian Provinces of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Sardegna and of St. James of the Marches.

6. Statutes
In accordance with the General Statutes and after careful examination, both the Juridical Commission of the Order and the General Definitory approved the particular statutes of 10 Entities. The peculiar statutes of the Brazilian Conference of the Provincial Ministers were also approved.

7. Administrative Business
Thirteen requests related to economy and fifteen to administrative business were studied. Compared to previous meetings, the number of these requests may seem very low. This is due, however, to the fact that the General Definitory had already come together in extraordinary session back on Oct. 23 in order to study 46 administrative business requests.

PRO MEMORIA
The next General Definitory meeting is scheduled from Dec. 15 – 19, 2008. All Guardians, Vicars, and delegates for houses dependent on the General Minister in Italy are reminded that – as previously established – during this meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 17, a day of study entitled, “Communication in the International Community”, is planned both for them and the General administration.

Fr. Ernest K. Siekierka
Secretary General