Sorry it's been so long

ROME
I wrote an update the other evening and lost in in trying to publish it! Needless to say, IT is not my forte!
The meeting of the Constitutions' Commission has just finished and a communique will appear shortly. It was during the previous meeting of the same commission that I wrote my last blog, so in a sense we have come full circle!
After holidays in August I went to Algeria to visit the French friars there. Because of circumstances their presence there is a very discreet one, but they have been given permission to act as chaplains to the Catholic students from sub-Saharan Africa who attend the university in Tiaret, the city where the fraternity is situated.

Visitation of the French province in October was an opportunity to revisit Strasbourg, where I had studied many years ago, and also to visit friaries I had never seen before. There are still over two hundred friars in the provinces, but more than one hundred are over eighty years old. But there is still plenty of energy, as witnessed by the new presence in Algeria (which began two years ago), and the preparations for a new multi-cultural fraternity in a poor area in the Paris region. Preparations are underway for the chapter in February 2009.

November saw the entire definitory headed for Dar es Salaam to meet the African conferences, and then on to Bangalore to meet the Indian conference. From there we headed to Penang in Malaysia to meet the Asia-Pacific conference. Each of the visit was very short but gave us an opportunity to have some insights into the the positive and negative sides of Capuchin living in these areas.
Coming from the ageing region of Europe, for me it was very invigorating to see so many young friars, especially in Africa and India. Also fascinating was to see first hand the variety of ways in which the Capuchin charism has been incarnated, while all the time retaining the simplicity and fraternal spirit which characterised our family. It was a great trip, tiring but satisfying, which hopefully has helped to create a new sense of unity and purpose in the wider Order.
Happy Christmas to one and all. Nollaig fe shean is fe mhaise dibh go leir, as we say in Gaelic!

Recent travels

BLOIS : The friars of the Province of France met for their Chapter of Mats at the sanctuary of Notre Dame de la Trinite in the Loire-valley town of Blois from the 9th to the 13th of June. The main item on the agenda was the preparation of the ordinary Provincial Chapter which is due to take place next February. The chapter closed with the celebration of the Perpetual Profession of Br. Jean-Louis. Photo above shows part of the group on a visit to the Benedictine abbey of Saint Benoit -sur-Loire, where the body of Saint Benedict is in the crypt.

BEIRUT was the setting for the closing session of the Chapter of the Vice-Province of the Near East from the 16th to the 18th of June. The main items for discussion were the re-organisation of the friars' presence in Beirut itself, in the rest of Lebanon and in Syria, as well as a proposed statute for the schools in the care of the friars. The cease-fire was just one month old, and fervent prayers were offered that it would hold. The city and the country were en fete for the beatification of the Capuchin friar Br. James of Ghazir which took place in the Square of the Martyrs the Sunday after the Chapter.

I went back to Rome for the week of the Definitory meeting which began on 23rd June. The previous meeting had finished before Palm Sunday so a long time had elapsed. The agenda was packed but we managed to get through all the important points. Then I headed for the Province of Eastern Canada which covers all of the French-speaking part of Canada.

LAC BOUCHETTE, about 250 km north of Quebec city, was the beautiful setting for the canonical chapter of the Province (30th June to 4th July). We had rain, it was not warm and the black stinging flies were buzzing. But none of this prevented the chapter from being a great fraternal exercise at which the friars tried to discern how to use their diminishing resources for the good of the Church in that part of the world. A great source of hope and encouragement for them is the presence of a number of friars from the Province of Saint Francis, Kerala in India (pictured above). The was a very significant moment at the chapter when one of the Indian friars (Br. Manual 2nd from right in photo) was elected one of the definitors.

I am now back in Rome once again where, this morning (14th July), we began the meeting of the Commission for the Constitutions. It looks as though we have three weeks hard work ahead of us in the heat of the Roman July. Orate pro nobis!