The Big Apple and Beyond

It has been almost two months since I finished the visitation of the St. Mary's Province (New York/New England) Province, but I am only now getting around to writing about it. I could use the usual excuse of being busy, which would, after all, be partially true. In this case, however, it is probably more true to say that I needed the time to reflect—to step away from the trees in order to see the forest.

The visitation started in White Plains, moved to Patchoque, then Brooklyn, then Manhattan. After visiting the three friaries in Manhattan, I moved slowly northward into upstate New York then through New England until reaching Portland, Maine. From there, I traveled southward again, stopping at the friaries I missed on the northward journey, until arriving back in White Plains. The travel itself was an education for me. I'd been in the St. Mary's Province many times before, but only in New York City or its environs. As such, I associated the Province with New York City and big city ministry. The reality, I learned, is much more multi-faceted. The Province is present not only in the megalopolis of New York, but in the small town of Rutland, Vermont, and even in the beautiful, pastoral setting of Interlaken, New York. Parishes form the cornerstone of the Province's ministry, but this doesn't mean there is no ministerial variety. First of all, each parish has its own character and presents its own challenges. Secondly, the Province's friars are involved in many ministries outside the parish—as hospital chaplains, prison chaplains, campus ministers, adoption agencies, and ministry to immigrants, to name a few.

I do not think I was alone in associating the Province with New York City; about half the world's Capuchins have passed through St. John's Friary in Manhattan at one time or another, and those who haven't visited yet want to New York City may be the most frequented Capuchin pilgrimage site after Rome and Assisi! I was struck during the visitation of the service that the Province provides to the international Order. The Province not only provides hospitality to friars who are visiting or studying in New York, but its provincial offices provides many services for the General Curia, for Capuchin Friars International, and for various provinces in other parts of the world that need a point of reference in the United States. The Province provides important support for Franciscans International. It was a driving force behind the NAPCC's support for our African jurisdictions, and it has continued to support projects in Africa and Latin America. The Province does all this despite having to support two missions of its own: the Vice Province of Marianna Islands-Hawaii and the Custody of Japan.

Another thing that struck me as I traveled around the Province was the positive attitude of the friars. The vast majority of the friars are working hard—even those who have longed surpassed "retirement" age&mash;and they are joyfully trying to live according the form of life they professed. Many of them attributed the positive atmosphere in the Province to the quality and quantity of vocations it has received in recent years. Bro. Tim Jones has done such an excellent job at promoting vocations that some friars openly wondered if he was producing them in a lab in his basement (I call dibs on the movie rights for The Boys from Brooklyn). Seriously, however, Bro. Tim rightly pointed out that vocation promotion cannot be the work of one person, and if the Province has been successful in its promotion it is because of the involvement of all the friars.

The problem with blogging about visitations is knowing where to stop. There were many other revelations for me during my time in the St. Mary's Province, but, like its patron, I will "meditate on them in [my] heart."

Meeting with ASMEN

The meeting with the Capuchin Conference of the Near East (ASMEN)concluded the General Definitory's meetings with each of the Order's thirteen conferences. The meeting took place in the General Curia on June 15-16. The name of the Conference is a little misleading because it comprises jurisdictions that are not, strictly speaking, in the Near East. Currently, the Conference comprises the Domus Praesentiae of Jerusalem, the Provincial Delegation of Greece, the Custody of Turkey, the Vice Province of Pakistan, the General Vice Province of Arabia and the General Vice Province of the Near East (Lebanon and Syria). There are a little over 300 friars in the Conference.

As in the case of CECOC, it is not easy to summarize the situation of this Conference. Some of these jurisdictions, most notably Jerusalem and Arabia, are purely missionary, in the sense that there are no expectations for local vocations. The possibility to operate freely and openly differs substantially among jurisdictions in this Conference. The one thing they all have in common, however, is that they live on the "fringe" of Catholicism. They are minorities in societies that are majority Muslim, Jewish or Orthodox. While that makes life challenging for the friars, it also offers opportunities to evangelize truly as minors. Our brothers in this Conference are, in a sense, living Francis' dream to preach the Gospel among the Saracens. Far from shrinking from the challenge or being discouraged by the apparent lack of results, the ministers of this area exhibited real enthusiasm. Listening to their experiences, I wondered how one could measure his success in such an environment, or if he could at all. I then wondered if I could live in a place where the only measure of success was one's faithfulness to the Gospel and the Rule. I have not been able to answer that question, but I do know that I am edified by my brothers who have accepted the challenge.

Meeting with CECOC

From June 9 to 11, the General Definitory met with the members of the Capuchin Conference of Central and Eastern Europe (CECOC). The meeting took place in the beautiful city of Prague, in the Czech Republic.

In contrast to the situations in CIMPCap and CIC, with whom we met immediately prior to this meeting, it is difficult find a synoptic way to characterize the Conference since the situations in its various jurisdictions vary greatly. For instance, some jurisdictions have many vocations while others have very few. The pace of societal change is also different from country to country. Nonetheless, it is possible to find a few common elements that link many, if not all of the Conference's jurisdictions.

First, many of the jurisdictions share a history of suppression and oppression, having lived under more or less hostile Communist regimes. Many of these regimes maintained control by effectively using its citizens to spy on one another, which bred a certain form of innate mistrust among members of the society that has not completely disappeared. As a result, the basic sense of trust that is so important to fraternal relationships is difficult to establish. The problem often manifests itself in the inability to live serenely in a community or to accept authority.

The crumbling of the Communist regimes across central and eastern Europe allowed the Capuchin Order to operate freely and openly, but it also brought with it a new set of challenges. While many rejoiced in their new-found liberty, that liberty was not slow to degenerate in license. Thus, many jurisdictions that experienced a burst of vocations in the immediate aftermath of freedom, are now seeing vocations fall as young people become more materialistic and disinterested in the Church. In addition, the young men who ask to join the Order come with widely varying degrees of faith background, which creates an additional challenge for the jurisdictions' formation personnel.

Another result of the fall of Communism was the restitution of many of the friaries that had been taken away from the religious congregations. This was only right and just, but it has also been a mixed blessing. Some jurisdictions now find themselves saddled with structures that are much larger than present needs dictate, and which are financially difficult to maintain. This, at least, is one issue that they have in common with the Capuchins in the rest of Europe. The challenge everywhere is to find the correct balance between the preservation of meaningful connections with our past and the wise use of our limited financial resources.

I would be remiss if I did not say a word about the excellent hospitality of our Czech hosts. The meeting was held at the recently-restored friary adjacent to the Loreto Shrine in Prague, which was the first friary to be given back to the Capuchins of that jurisdiction. The picture above was taken from the front of the Loreto Shrine with the friary in the background. It is a beautiful friary in a beautiful city. [In the interest of full disclosure: my great grandparents emigrated from Moravia, then part of the Austrian Empire. If you wish to split hairs, Prague is in Bohemia, but that is close enough for me.]

P.S. Someone suggested that the building pictured below may have been at one time used as a novitiate (enlarge the photo by clicking on it, then find the clues for this assertion).

Hey, brother, would you like to be a bishop?

This just in from the Union of Superiors General (USG)...

"Two persons posing as Cardinals (Ruini / Bertone) from the Vatican approached our members in three different countries. The phone and email contacts were made 'sub secreto pontificio', each time denying the person permission to speak with the Superior General. Vague references were often made to urgent meetings with Pope Benedict, just hours earlier.

"Ostensibly, the 'cardinal's' request was made for one member to consider an appointment as a bishop in his own country. He in turn was referred to another senior member in another country, who had been asked by the 'cardinal' to urge him to accept the nomination. Overtures to build a formation fund as compensation to the province were offered by the 'Vatican Official'

"In a later phone conversation, requests were made for bank account information. Eventually the nominee for bishop was asked to come to Singapore to meet with the 'cardinal' in person, and incidentally bring along a large sum of money.

"The phony 'Cardinals' had enough ecclesiastical information and jargon to sound initially credible to the persons called. When, however, bank accounts and money were mentioned, suspicions arose.

"Thankfully no transfer of money took place. However, in retrospect these extortionists are rather bold and well-informed. They may currently be trying something similar with other groups.

"I advise Superiors General to post alerts to members of their staff and provincials to be on watch for similar fraud and extortion schemes to may be going on."

Forewarned is forearmed! Apologies to all those who bought non-refundable tickets to Singapore for not bringing this to your attention sooner!

Meeting with the CIC

After an adventurous day of travel—our first flight was delayed, causing us to miss our connection in Frankfurt—the General Definitory arrived in Spain on 4 June to begin its meeting with the Iberian Capuchin Conference. The meeting took place in Alcalá, birthplace and burial place of the Franciscan Saint Diego (who, by the way, was an early example of a lay brother who served as guardian of his friary).

The Iberian Capuchin Conference (CIC) includes the five provinces of Spain and the Province of Portugal. The major topic of discussion was the planned merger of four of the five provinces of Spain into a new Spanish province. The provinces have worked very hard at organizing the merger, and their efforts exceeded our expectations. Rather than approaching the process with resignation, they showed great enthusiasm for the project, and see it as a way to revitalize our presence in Spain.

The Province of Catalonia, which is not currently participating in the merger process, is hoping to find new energy by welcoming a few friars from the Province of Sardinia. Eventually, both Catalonia and Portugal may join the new Spanish Province.

Meeting with CIMPCap

The other members of the General Definitory and I have just completed our meeting with the Italian Conference of Capuchin Provincial Ministers (CIMPCap). The meeting was held in Venice at the Friary of Our Most Holy Redeemer, which is attached to the shrine (pictured here) of the same name. The shrine, I seem to remember, was built as a thanksgiving offering by the people of Venice for having been spared from the worst of the Black Death that ravaged much of Italy.

The Capuchin Conference in Italy is the largest in the Order, with between 2,220 and 2,400 friars, depending on how you count them. While Capuchins are still quite numerous in Italy, their number has fallen significantly in recent years. Part of the reason for the decline can be found in the secularization that has taken root in Italian society, a factor that it has in common with the other western European conferences and with the NAPCC. Because of this numerical decline, provinces in Italy are facing many of the same struggles that face provinces in the NAPCC: the need to close friaries and withdraw from ministries that are no longer sustainable, the difficulty of finding an adequate number of friars to be guardians, formation directors, pastors, etc. and the difficulty of finding sufficient income with a dwindling workforce, among others.

In other ways, the experience of the Italian provinces is different from that of the provinces in the NAPCC. For one thing, the friaries that the Capuchins are closing in Italy are often almost 500 years old, and are sometimes one of the town's major landmarks. Understandably, such a closure is traumatic both for the friars and for the people they served. Another important difference is that, while vocations are increasing in many parts of the NAPCC, they have not picked up in Italy. The Italian Conference had roughly the same number of novices this year as the NAPCC (around 15), even though there are four times as many friars in CIMPCap than in the NAPCC.

Despite the obvious challenges facing our brothers in Italy, they are looking to the future with hope. The painful process of downsizing is being looked at as a chance to return to the essentials of our life. Rather than merely continuing to do what they have always done, the provinces in Italy are looking for new ways of serving the poor with a spirit of minority. Rather than giving up in the face of their difficulties, they are working to recapture the spirit that once led them to be called, "Brothers of the people."

International Chapter of Mats

From Wednesday to Saturday of Easter week 2009, around 1800 Franciscans of various types converged on Assisi for the International Chapter of Mats. It was, we were told, the first of its kind. The Chapter was convoked by the four General Ministers of the Franciscan First Orders and the Third Order Regular in order to celebrate the 8th Centenary of the approval of the first Rule of Francis. While the bulk of the participants were Friars Minor, Conventuals, Capuchins and TOR’s, there were representatives of the Secular Franciscan Order and of other religious congregations of Franciscan inspiration (including, for example, the Friars of the Renewal). Our sisters of the Second Order were united with us in prayer; their sole visible representative was Sister Angela Emanuela Scandella, Abbess of the Poor Clare monastery in Foligno, who spoke to us during Friday’s morning prayer. Most of the planning for the Chapter was entrusted to the respective Italian conferences of the orders involved.

It is difficult to categorize the event; it was part retreat, part workshop, part pep rally. After the opening welcomes and introductions on Wednesday afternoon, Br. Raniero Cantalamessa gave the keynote address. Personally, I thought his talk was the highlight of the week. He challenged the whole of the Franciscan family to return to the three P’s of our origins: preaching, poverty and prayer. One line in particular piqued my imagination, which I will paraphrase as follows: “We are better at being pastors than fishermen. We work well with the flock of the saved, but have abandoned the task of bringing the lost sheep back to the flock.” He challenged all Franciscans to take up the mission of ministering to unbelievers and the unchurched. Hopefully, the text of his talk will eventually be made available in English.

Thursday was dedicated to the theme of Witness. After morning prayer in the assembly tent, there were talks by the former General Ministers of the First Orders: Bishop John Corriveau, OFMCap, Archbishop Agostino Gardin, OFM Conv, and Brother Giacomo Bini, OFM. The afternoon’s program consisted of a series of five short video presentations on various aspects of the Franciscan presence around the world. Each video featured a different member of the Franciscan family, and was followed by a discussion. The first video featured a young Italian Capuchin working as a missionary in the Amazon region of Brazil. That was followed by a video about the communications ministry of the Conventuals who produce the magazine Messaggero di Sant’Antonio. Thirdly, there was video featuring the work of the Third Order Regular friars at Steubenville University and Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. The presence of the Secular Franciscan Order throughout the world was the subject of the fourth video. The last video was about the work of interfaith dialogue by the Friars Minor in the Holy Land. A prominent Italian television journalist posed a series of questions to a representative of each of the five Orders after each video. I thought the journalist did a good job of picking up on important elements of each video for further discussion.

The theme of Friday’s events was Penance and Fasting. The day began with morning prayer in the Basilica of St. Clare. The Basilica, of course, does not have the capacity to seat 1800 people so more than half of the participants had to stand for the whole period of prayer. After the reading, Sister Angela Emanuela Scandella gave us a thirty-minute homily. It was a good start for a day dedicated to penance, especially for those who could not understand Italian or who could not hear her clearly. After morning prayer, we were invited to find a quiet place in one of the Franciscan sites around Assisi where we could pray and meditate. You do the math: 1800 friars divided by 10 sites does not exactly equal peace and quiet. I chose to walk up to the Carceri on the theory that few others would want to walk 2.5 miles to pray. I was right! The rest went by car. On the way up, I was passed by carloads and vanloads of brown, black and gray habits. By the time I arrived, red-faced and out of breath, the place was crawling with tourists and friars. After catching my breath, I caught a ride back down to Assisi and walked over to the church of Saint Mary Major, and found it was nearly empty. Saint Mary Major, by the way, is next to the Bishop’s residence, where Francis gave his clothing back to his father and entrusted himself totally to the Father. More to the point here, it is about a hundred yards away—downhill—from where we prayed morning prayer. So much for my theories!

The next scheduled event, at three o’clock in the afternoon, was the procession from the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli to the Basilica of Saint Francis. Along the way, we prayed psalms, sang, and got acquainted with some of the other participants. Upon reaching the Basilica, we processed down to the tomb of Saint Francis and received a copy of the Rule from the hands of the three First Order General Ministers. Exiting from the other end of the tomb chapel, we came out into the piazza beside the lower basilica, where a Mass was celebrated to conclude the day’s events.

Saturday morning, we all headed by car, van or bus to Castel Gandolfo for an audience with the Pope Benedict XVI. Originally, the plan was to hold the audience at the Vatican, but the Holy Father decided to spend Easter week at Castel Gandolfo to rest up from the previous week’s exertions. Unfortunately, the courtyard at Castel Gandolfo was not large enough to hold all the participants so some had to remain in the piazza outside the building. After Pope Benedict addressed the assembly, the three General Ministers of the First Order renewed their vows to the Holy Father in the name of all the friars of their Orders. It was a moving moment. Then the Pope tossed commemorative t-shirts into the crowd. Okay, I’m just kidding about that last part. Thus ended the first International Chapter of Mats.

If one were to judge the event solely on the basis of the number of participants, it was quite successful. The organizers originally planned for about 2000 participants. Early registrations were running behind expectations, but last-minute registrations brought the number close to the target. Will there ever be another International (and inter-obediential) Chapter of Mats? In informal conversations with several of the participants, it seems that the experience was well-received, and many wanted to see it repeated. Whether others shared this sentiment will become clear when and if we ever receive the results of the evaluation that everyone was asked to complete at the end of the event. Considering the number of participants and the fact that it was the first event of its kind, it came off fairly well.

If there is a second Chapter of Mats, I think a few changes would be in order. First, the number of participants should be reduced to around 1200. None of the venues was large enough for 1800 people. I cannot imagine how Francis managed to hold a Chapter of Mats with 5000 friars without the benefit of microphones and Jumbotrons! Secondly, more attention needs to be given to translation. This year, arrangements had been made to have simultaneous translation of the talks into English, Spanish and Polish. Noticeably absent was a translator for Italian. It was assumed by the organizers that all the talks would be given in Italian—to the surprise of some of the speakers who were not Italian. There was only one translator for each of the three languages, which meant that they sometimes worked three hours straight without a break. No wonder, therefore, that the quality of the translations was not always top notch. No arrangements were made for translation during the liturgies. If you didn’t understand Italian, all you heard during the homilies was “blah blah blah” for 20 minutes or so (if it is any consolation, those of us who do understand Italian sometimes heard the same thing). There were several other things that I would have done differently, but all things considered, the organizers did a superb job. They deserve thanks and congratulations for pulling off a very large, complex event.

In the end, maybe the symbolism of the event is what mattered most: that the sons and daughters of Saint Francis could come together to celebrate together our common beginning. Given our histories, that’s not such a small thing, after all.