General Fraternal Assembly

General Fraternal Assembly Order of Friars Minor Conventual Argentina – January 2010 The Conventual Franciscan Order convened a General Fraternal Assembly in Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 9th-19th January 2010. The gathering took place at the Catholic conference and Retreat Centre known as Casa El Cenaculo “La Montonera,” about one hour’s drive from city centre Buenos Aires.  144 Friars participated.  They represented 69 countries of the world.  I attended as the Order’s official representative from Great Britain and Ireland. The Minister General, Fr. Marco Tasca, made note of the fact that forty years ago, our Order was present in only 30 countries.
An astonishing feature of this General Assembly was the relatively young age of the participants – more than half of whom were in their 30s and 40s.  The setting would have been idyllic, had it not been for the oppressive heat and humidity of an Argentine summer, and for the invasion by swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitoes.  The ravenous creatures found it quite tempting to seek out those friars with particularly ample frames.  We were all mindful that even the great lover of all God’s creatures, St. Francis of Assisi himself, found mosquitoes and flies unbearable.
On the 14th of January,the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, His Eminence Jorge Cardinal Bergolio, S.J., came to La Montenera  to be the principal celebrant and homilest at Mass.  Not only did he welcome the Order to his archdiocese; he made note of the fact that this was the largest gathering of Franciscans ever to take place in his country.  With the blessing of the Church, the friars carried on their labours.
The theme of the General Fraternal Assembly was “’The Lord Gave Me Brothers’: Perspectives on Continuing Formation.”  Excellent presentations treated various aspects of the topic, while a corps of interpreters translated everything into the four official languages of the Order: English, Italian, Polish, and Spanish.  The distinguished Slovakian Jesuit, Fr. Marko Rupnik, artist, theologian, and author, guided the assembly in a daily spiritual reflection, which set the tone of the day.  His painting of Jesus and the two disciples on the “Road to Emmaus” served as a spiritual focal point undergirding the friars’ reflections throughout the Assembly.  Fr. Rupnik insightfully pointed out that the Real Person of Jesus Christ was walking with his two disciples, who were actually discussing the selfsame Real Person.  Yet they were so caught up in their own preoccupations that they failed to recognise the very one whom they were discussing.  It is possible for good religious – yes, even Franciscan Friars! – to miss the essence.  In Fr. Rupnik’s painting, the two disciple s were holding a scroll of the Word of God.  Fr. Rupnik clarified that, while the two were looking at the written Wod, they did not see the Real Word – the Living Word – in their midst.  Ours is not merely a religion of the book; ours is a “Religion of the Word – Living and Real.”  The lifelong process of continuing formation is our means of engaging with the Living Word – Jesus Christ – as He calls us to ever greater maturity, integrity, and holiness.
The Assembly moved through four phases: 1) the theology of continuing Franciscan formation; 2) the challenge of the present situation of continuing formation in the Order today; 3) the sharing of particular concrete experiences of continuing formation by the various conferences of the Order; and 4) an examination of the local Conventual community as a place of continuing formation, with special emphasis on the house chapter and the role of the guardian.  The Right Reverend Archbishop Agostino Gardin, former Minister General of the Order, gave a brilliant paper on “Consecrated Life and Continuing Formation.”  One of the Order’s Assistant Generals, Fr. Miljenko Hontic, presented a conference entitled “Continuing Formation within the Order: A Challenge.”  He was eminently practical is setting forth the issues which friars cannot ignore in their lives and ministries today.  Frs. Justin Biase and Michael Kolodziej, the Ministers Provincial respectively of the U.S. provinces of the Immaculate Conception Province and St. Anthony, gave an engaging powerpoint presentation of the process underway for the possible merger of their two provinces, which currently total about 250 friars.  They demonstrated that the process itself has proven to be a concrete means of the friars’ continuing formation.  Fr. Richard Kaley, of the US province of Our Lady of Consolation, reported on the “Sacro Convento Experience” – a continuing formation programme undertaken in 2007-2009 by the Conference of Franciscan Conventuals of North America, Great Britain, and Ireland.  Many other excellent presentations – too numerous to site in this article -- took place, and will eventually be published in the official Acts of the General Fraternal Assembly.
With regard to the fourth phase, I had the privilege of participating in a Round Table discussion with five other friars (from Africa, Asia, Assisi, France, and Latin America).  I concentrated on the theme  “The Ordinary Means of Continuing Formation in the Local Community.”  A copy of that is to be found in the Appendix to this article. From the outset of the Assembly, the Minister General, Fr. Marco Tasca, kept emphasising: “Formation, by its very own nature, must necessarily be permanent [continuing]: No one can claim that he is totally configured to Christ, which is the ultimate goal of formation.  This means that formation is a whole-life commitment; it is a process which does not cease…”  At the end of the Assembly, a summary Letter to the Friars was approved.  Please find a copy of it in the Appendix to this article.
On Wednesday the 13th of January, the whole Assembly went to Argentina’s National Marian Shrine, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lujan.  There we celebrated Holy Mass, and entrusted our lives and work during the Assembly to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lujan.  The shrine dates from 1630, and actually depicts Our Lady as the “Immaculate Conception.”  Since this is the title of Mary which has been so highly favoured by the Franciscan Order from the Middle Ages through the present, it seemed most apropos for the friars to go on pilgrimage to her sanctuary during the Assembly.  She is indeed recognised by the friars as the chief spiritual “formator” in our lives – ever working as Mother to give Jesus a constant re-birth in our hearts.  The friars concluded their work daily in chapel, and ended their evening prayers with a hymn to Our Lady.
Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv.