After the return from India we went straight into a meeting of the Constitutions' Commission, to work on a text for Chapters 7 and 9 - which we managed to do. It is now in the hands of the translators, and no doubt will soon see the light of day in seven languages. The work is tedious and time-consuming but, hopefully, worthwhile although some doubtless well-meaning friars tell us that the commission should be prepared for a negative reaction fromt he Order as a whole. No sign of any major negative tsunami so far. So we continue the work we were asked to do by the General Chapter.
That meeting was followed by a visitation of the two German provinces, which are preparing to unite in May of this year. Br. Ephrem Bucher of the Swiss province had agreed to help, and Charles Serignat, our excellent linguist, came with me to uphold my drooping German! Snow, freezing temperatures but warm welcome awaited us everywhere. With the rising age-average and few vocations most of the friars see the forthcoming unification as inevitable, It has been well prepared over a number of years, and the hope is that it will give some new energy to a part of the world where the Capuchin presence has a very long and rich history. The was much beer, herring salad and sausage, much to the delgiht of Charles, but he remains committed to his first love, i.e. Apfelsaft, or apple-juice for the uninitiated!
