Perceptions challenged

One of the things I like about this job is that it constantly challenges my perceptions. Br John Antony and I just completed a visitation of the Province of Medan in Indonesia. Before the visit, what I knew about Indonesia could fit on a matchbook cover: it was made up of many islands, it was home to Bali (where a lot of people were killed in a terrorist bombing), and it has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world.

This last fact especially colored my perceptions about the three provinces of Indonesia. I assumed that the Catholic population of the country would be relatively small, and therefore well served by the more than 300 Capuchin friars in the country. What I found surprised me. The Province of Medan covers the northern part of the island of Sumatra. The Christian population of the area is actually quite large, and about 60% of those Christians are Catholic. Add to that the fact that there are only about 20 diocesan priests in the area, and that other religious congregations have only recently begun to enter the area. As a result, most parishes are still staffed by Capuchins. More surprising to me was the size of the parishes. The smallest parish that I encountered during my visit had about 9,000 parishioners, with about 6 outstations. The largest parish had 35,000 parishioners and 63 outstations! Even the largest parishes had at most two full-time priests to serve it, although friars in other ministries often covered some of the Sunday masses. Because of the number of outstations, the main parish church might be able to have a Sunday mass twice a month. The people in the outstations might have to wait three months between masses.

Obviously, given the great need, most Capuchins in the Province have until recently been parish priests. Recently, however, the Province has been turning some of the parishes over to the diocese and to other congregations, leaving friars available to serve in other ministries or in missions.

Another surprising discovery during my visit to Medan was the way the friars have tried to inculturate the Catholic faith. The predominant cultural group of northern Sumatra is the Batak, whose homes have a very distinctive architectural style. The friars have incorporated many of these architectural elements into their churches, to beautiful effect. They also use Batak musical instruments in their liturgies. Such attempts at inculturation have lead to the large scale acceptance of the Catholic faith among the Batak. The friars of the Medan Province, most of whom are Batak, are now enriching the Church and the Order with their friendliness and strong work ethic.

Miter flu claims another victim

On 30 January, I attended the episcopal ordination of our former General Minister, Br John Corriveau. Although the episcopal see is in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, the ordination took place in Kelowna in order to accommodate those coming from a distance.

The ordaining prelate was Archbishop Luigi Ventura, Apostolic Delegate for Canada. His homily drew extensively from the writings and biographies of St Francis, and at one point he urged John to bring his Franciscan joy to the pastoral care of the people of his diocese.

About 30 Capuchins from around the world braved the frigid Canadian winter to attend the ordination. Among them were 4 Capuchin bishops: Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver (USA), Joseph Oudeman, Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane (Australia), Luis Pepeu, Bishop of Afogados da Ingazeira (Brazil) and Andrés Stanovnik, Archbishop of Corrientes (Argentina). Also present were the provincial ministers of all the provinces of the United States and Canada, friars from Great Britain, Poland, Italy and, of course, many from his own Province of Central Canada. Four Friars Minor who minister in British Columbia were also in attendance, happy to welcome a bishop from the Franciscan family.

John's ordination was a bittersweet moment for me. Of course, I was happy that John's abilities were recognized by the Holy See. He will be a great bishop for the Diocese of Nelson. On the other hand, I was sad that the Order is losing John's energy, enthusiasm and creativity. The title of this post reflects my frustration that we have lost so much leadership in the Order to the episcopate. I don't want to be selfish, but, hey, we need strong leadership, too! I am reminded of the comment made by a friar of my province when our then-Provincial Minister, Charles Chaput, was named a bishop and shortly afterward I was assigned to work in the General Curia. He complained about Rome "reaching in" and taking the good friars, then added, "And what are we left with? Excrement!" (not the actual word he used). I'm sure it's not as bad as that, but you get the point. As an Order that emphasizes its obedience to the Holy Father, clearly John could not have refused the Holy See's request.


In case you are interested, Nelson is a town of about 10,000 people. It has a small airport nearby and few hotels, but was until recently one of the more historical and important towns in the area due to mining for gold and other metals in the area. As the importance of mining wained, Kelowna overtook Nelson in terms of population and importance, with people being drawn there by viticulture and tourism. Kelowna is a 350 kilometer (215 mile) drive from Nelson.

A global brotherhood

The General Definitory and the members of the North American-Pacific Capuchin Conference have just comcluded their joint meeting in Tampa, Florida. Such meetings between the international leadership and the individual conferences of the Order during the early years of each sexennium were begun during Flavio Roberto Carraro's second term as General Minister, 1988-1994. The meetings serve the dual purpose of helping the General Definitory understand the particular environment in which the friars live and work, as well as the concerns that they have, and of communicating more directly to the Order's major superiors the concerns and plans of the General Definitory.

After an opening talk from the General Minister, Mauro Jöhri, members of the General Definitory delivered talks on Solidarity of Personnel, the project of moving parts of the Constitutions to a General Statutes or similar document, the Order's response to CPO's VI and VII, and Formation. In addition, the General Bursar presented a talk on The Fraternal Economy. After each talk, members of the Conference were asked to respond to the suggestions made and to relate their experiences and concerns regarding the topics. The members of the NAPCC were also asked to share any other concerns regarding the life of the friars in North America, Guam and Australia.

Space does not permit an adequate summary of each talk here. An English translation of most of the talks was provided to each member of the NAPCC and can be requested from them, if you are interested (or from me if you are not in the NAPCC). Some salient points from the talks were as follows:

1. Solidarity of Personnel: The Order has made great strides in economic solidarity and has also seen an increase in the sharing of brothers among jurisdictions. The General Definitory wishes to encourage this form of solidarity, but also wants it to be practiced in an orderly, equitable manner.
2. Constitutions: The General Chapter of 2006 mandated the General Definitory to prepare drafts of Constitutions and General Statutes based on the present Constitutions. According to the Chapter decision, juridical elements not essential to our charism should be moved from the Constitutions to the General Statutes. The present text of the Constitutions is to be respected and enriched with elements from recent Plenary Councils of the Order and documents of the Church. The work is now underway, and soon the friars of the Order will be asked to begin studying the question and making their suggestions.
3. Formation: Collaboration in formation was strongly encouraged as a good in itself, not just as something to do when candidates are few. An apparent tendency toward abandoning the period of post-novitiate formation free of academic studies is a step backward for the Order. Going straight from the novitiate to philosophical and theological studies is a return to a less fraternal, more clerical form of formation.
4. Fraternal economy: The traditional Capuchin charism of austerity needs to be re-discovered in the Order, in poor countries as well as in wealthier countries. Values such as transparency and accountability are still not sufficiently practiced in some parts of the world.

The meeting in Tampa was preceeded by a similar meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the Capuchin Conference of the Andes (CCA) and the Capuchin Conference of Central America (CONCAM). From Tampa, the General Definitory will meet with the Capuchin Conference of Brazil (CCB) in Manaus, Brazil, where they hope not to loose too many extremities to the piranhas or too much blood to the mosquitos!

Down Under, part 2

While visiting the former Capuchin seminary in Plumpton, which is now used as a retreat/conference center, I was able to visit the tomb of Br. Rudolph Blockinger. Rudolph was a member of the Pennsylvania Province who went to China as a missionary. When the missionaries were forced out, he went to Australia so that he could finish out his days as a missionary. I never knew Rudolph myself, by I heard many stories about him and I knew his younger brother, Br. Cletus.




Having basically completed my visitation, I was able to spend last Saturday seeing some of Sydney's sights. The picture below was taken outside the Cathedral of Syndey. The friars in the photo are (left to right): Thomas McFadden, me, Lam Vu, Nestor Sinaga (Medan Province), James Grant and Bernard Morawski (Warsaw Province). Robert Stewart is taking the picture.

Down Under

For about the past two weeks, I have been conducting a visitation of the friars in Australia. This is my first time in the "Down Under", and I have been very impressed by the life and work of the friars here. There is a commemorative plaque in front of the provincialate in Leichhardt (Sydney) that gives a good summary of the history of the Capuchins in Australia. Here is a portion of that commemoration:

The Catholic Church, anticipating a boom in unassisted Italian migration after the Second World War, handed over St Fiacres to the Capuchin Order in 1946, to provide assistance. The first priests were Italian Americans including Fr Atanasio Paoletti. They met the boats and provided advice on housing and jobs to initially mainly single men. As well as providing religious services they became a meeting place, conducted dances, set up sporting clubs etc. Many settled at least initially in Leichhardt, some 90 families lived along Catherine Street, and many worked in local industry or construction, or established businesses here. As a consequence Leichhardt became associated with Italians.

Some 60,000 Italian migrants were assisted by the Capuchins, many married and baptised their children here. Many of the children attended St Fiacres School.
...

The San Francesco Catholic Italian Association set up sporting and social programs, ran dances, sporting clubs, built a recreation hall at St Fiacres, and a kindergarten in Styles Street, all with volunteers. The annual Australia Day picnics on the Harbour and at Clifton Gardens were major events in the 1950's. The Capuchins also started the Italian press that became La Fiamma, and Italian language programs for children, now carried out by Co.As.It.
...

As the consequence of the Italian influx, Parramatta Road boomed from the 1950s as the Saturday morning shopping strip and 'passeggiatta'. Many clubs, restaurants, cafes and shops were established along Parramatta Road and into Norton Street forming the nucleus of what is now the centre of Italian Australian culture in Sydney.

The Capuchins at St Fiacres have a central place in the history of Italians throughout Australia.

Eleven Years After, part 5

The final topic the Conference representatives were asked to comment on was the perception of lay brothers in their local churches and societies. Almost all the Conferences reported that lay brothers were poorly understood and under-appreciated. Some of the phrases they used to describe the perception of lay brothers in their areas were: “failed clerics”, “relatively useless” and “useful and edifying domestic servants”. These attitudes, unfortunately, even extended to the local bishops at times, who were happy to have Capuchin priests in their dioceses, but had no appreciation for the lay brothers. Most people, even Catholics, did not understand the lay brotherhood, although often respecting the work the brothers did.

It is hard to see that perceptions have changed much in the last eleven years. If they had, this blog would have a different name. I wondered whether the situation in Italy might be different because of the long history of Capuchins there and the fact that so many of the Order’s saints were Italian lay brothers. I put the question to the participants at the meeting of the lay friars of northern Italy. According to them, perceptions are no different in Italy than in the rest of the world. In retrospect, I should have realized this. I have lost count of the number of times I have had the following conversation* in Italy:

Person: Hello, Father Mark.
Me: Uh, hello. I’m Brother Mark. I’m not ordained, you see.
Person: Oh. Okay, Father Mark.

Most of the lay brothers I know are not terribly upset by people’s lack of understanding of their vocation. They merely sigh (at least figuratively) and go on with their lives. They are happily resigned to be, in the minds of others, just a brother.

* In fairness to the Italians, the word “Padre”, which I translated here as “Father”, is used only for religious priests and brothers. Secular priests are referred to as “Don”, short for “Dominus” or “Lord”.

Eleven Years After, part 4

Another topic that the Conferences were asked to report on at the 1996 gathering was the presence of lay friars in ministries of authority in the Order. Most Conferences reported having lay brothers serving as guardians. In a few Conferences, lay brothers had been elected to the Provincial Definitory. A few had been elected and confirmed as Provincial Vicars and, in one case, a lay brother had been elected and confirmed as Provincial Minister.

Today, the General Definitory receives a great number of requests each year for permission to appoint lay friars as guardians and vicars. The number of lay brothers elected as Provincial and Vice Provincial Definitors has also increased. In general, I would say that lay brothers today are fairly represented in the leadership of the Order.

The Order continues to request the Holy See to permit us to return to the original inspiration of our founder, St. Francis, by allowing us to elect both cleric and lay brothers to the office of major superior. In the meantime, many jurisdictions are not content to just patiently wait for the Holy See to change its stance. Instead, they are reviewing their own structures and traditions with a view to changing those that are more fitting for a clerical Order. For example, many, if not most provinces hold the installation of their newly-elected provincial definitory during a Mass, with the provincial minister as main celebrant and the definitors as concelebrants. This structure basically assumes that the provincial minister will always be a priest. To avoid this perception, therefore, several jurisdictions now have the installation of the newly-elected provincial definitory during morning or evening prayer. If we looked hard enough, probably we could all find other structures in our provinces that similarly presume a clerical orientation.