IRISH FRANCISCAN MISSION MAGAZINE No.5 AuG/SEPT 2013 €1.00

Mercy andCourage:Pope Francis’Message

This Was MyMission!

Finding theRight Words

Chapter inZimbabwe

St Anthony Brief

St Anthony Brief

Spirit and Life

She was shelling peas,

apron-covered knees

spread wide to catch

each pea, each pod

I, shaky, needy

wandered near

Her ancient swollen hands

pushed back the hair

that hid my face

She set down the pan

and, patting her knee,

said:

Oh, child,

come on up here

and let me have a look at you.

Her voice was safe and so was I

sitting in the lap of God.

–– Martha PopsonMartha Popson

The Lap of God

2 Spirit and Life.

4 From the Editor.

5 The Light of Faith. As these extracts show, in his first encyclicalletter, Lumen Fidei, The Light of Faith, Pope Francis invites us tocelebrate and live more deeply the joy of believing.

8 Mutemwa: A Holy Place. Last year the friars in Zimbabwe under-took pastoral duties in the Mutemwa area which includes the leprosysettlement established by John Bradburne, martyred SecularFranciscan. Naison Manjovha, OFM, shares his reflections.

10 This Was My Mission! With a grateful heart and a touch ofnostalgia, Franciscan Sister, Agnès Somé, FMM, from BurkinaFaso, writes of her 30 year mission in the jungles of Senegal.

12 Church Brief.

13 New Churches in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean Marko Phiri looks atthe rapid growth of new churches in his country.

14 Chapter in Zimbabwe. For a week in June the friars of theCustody of the Good Shepherd in Zimbabwe gathered for Chapter,held every three years.

16 The Finding the Right Words. Our words can hurt or heal.Sr Mary Burke, FMDM, admits that she experiences difficulty attimes finding the right words.

18 Jubilee Celebration. Chris Connolly, OFM, has celebrated theGolden Jubilee of his ordination in Killarney.

19 What a Great Exchange! The feast of St Clare of Assisi iscelebrated on 11 August.

20 Blessed John XXIII: A Son of Saint Francis. Reflecting on thelife of Blessed Pope John, a Franciscan tertiary, Pat Conlan,OFM, recognises the spirit of St Francis.

22 News from Around the Franciscan World.

23 Madagascar: An Island Nation. The Franciscan presence isgrowing on Madagascar.

24 Mercy and Courage: Pope Francis’ Message. Francis Cotter, OFM,sees a clear pattern emerging in the teachings of Pope Francis.

27 The Search for Truth: Human Dignity and Freedom. 50 yearsafter the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, Gearoid ÓConaire, OFM, looks at its teaching on religious liberty.

30 Mission Digest.

31 Letters to the Editor.

Volume 73 No.5

Missionary Magazine of the Irish Franciscans. Published bi-monthly by the Franciscan Missionary Union, 8 Merchants Quay, Dublin 8.

Editor: Fr Bernard Jones, OFM.

Production: Fr Francis Cotter, OFM.

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Aug/Sept 20133

SStt AA nthonynthony BriefBrief

St Anthony Brief4

From the Editor…Clare: A Heart FreeFor the LordClare Offreduccio, born 1194, was the daughter of a noble, wealthy

family in Assisi. When she was eighteen years old she heard a sermon by Francis of Assisi and

was moved to follow the example of the Franciscan brothers and vow herself to a life of

poverty. One night she slipped out of the house through the "door of the dead" (a small side

door that was traditionally opened only to carry out a corpse) and went to the place where

Francis and the brothers lived. Later a home was found for her at San Damiano. There she was

eventually joined by two of her sisters, her widowed mother, her best friend Pacifica, and many

other young women.

They adopted a rule of life of contemplation and

of absolute poverty, both individually and collec-

tively. They had no beds. They slept on twigs with

patched hemp for blankets. They ate very little,

with no meat at all. Whatever they ate was begged

for.

Despite this way of life, or perhaps because of it,

the followers of Clare grew in number. The com-

munity of Poor Clares continues to this day with

many monasteries throughout the world. We are

indeed blessed to have the sisters praying for our

needs.

O God, whose blessed Son became poor

that we through His poverty might be rich,

deliver us from an inordinate love of this world,

that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Clare,

may serve you with singleness of heart,

and attain to the riches of the age to come. Amen.

– Bernard Jones, OFM (bernardofm@eircom.net)

Fr Bernard Jones

5Aug/Sept 2013

journey, for it comes from the risen

Christ, the morning star which never

sets.

Priceless Treasure

Christ, on the eve of His passion, assured

Peter: "I have prayed for you that your

faith may not fail" (Luke 22:32). He then

told him to strengthen his brothers and

sisters in that same faith. The Successor

of Peter, yesterday, today and tomorrow,

is always called to strengthen his brothers

and sisters in the priceless treasure of that

faith which God has given as a light for

humanity’s path.

New Eyes to See

There is an urgent need to see once

again that faith is a light, for once the

flame of faith dies out, all other lights

begin to dim. The light of faith is unique,

since it is capable of illuminating every

aspect of human existence. A light this

powerful cannot come from ourselves but

from a more primordial source: in a word,

it must come from God. Faith is born of an

encounter with the living God who calls us

and reveals His love, a love which pre-

cedes us and upon which we can lean for

security and for building our lives.

Transformed by this love, we gain fresh

vision, new eyes to see. We realise that it

contains a great promise of fulfilment, and

that a vision of the future opens up before

us. When we welcome that word, Jesus

Christ the Word made flesh, the Holy

Spirit transforms us, lights up our way to

the future and enables us joyfully to

advance along that way on wings of hope.

God or Idols!

Idols exist – they are a pretext for setting

ourselves at the centre of reality and wor-

shiping the work of our own hands. Once

man has lost the fundamental orientation

which unifies his existence, he breaks

down into the multiplicity of his desires.

Idolatry does not offer a journey but rather

THE LIGHT OF FAITHAs these extracts show, in his first

encyclical letter, Lumen Fidei, The Light of Faith,Pope Francis invites us to celebrate and live

more deeply the joy of believing.

The True Sun

The Light of Faith: this is how the

Church’s tradition speaks of the great gift

brought by Jesus. In John’s Gospel,

Christ says of Himself: "I have come as

light into the world, that whoever

believes in me may not remain in dark-

ness" (John 12:46). St Paul uses the

same image: "God who said ‘Let light

shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our

hearts" (2 Corinthians 4:6). The pagan

world, which hungered for light, had seen

the growth of the cult of the sun god, Sol

Invictus, invoked each day at sunrise.

Yet though the sun was born anew each

morning, it was clearly incapable of cast-

ing its light on all of human existence.

The sun does not illumine all reality; its

rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of

death, the place where people’s eyes are

closed to its light. St Justin Martyr writes:

“No one has ever been ready to die for

his faith in the sun." Conscious of the

immense horizon which their faith

opened before them, Christians invoked

Jesus as the true sun "whose rays

bestow life". To Martha, weeping for the

death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus said:

"Did I not tell you that if you believed,

you would see the glory of God?" (John

11:40). Those who believe – see! They

see with a light that illumines their entire

St Anthony Brief6

foundation on which all reality and its final

destiny rest. It is precisely in contemplat-

ing Jesus’ saving death that faith grows

stronger and receives a dazzling light;

then it is revealed as faith in Christ’s

steadfast love for us, a love capable of

embracing death to bring us salvation.

Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every

suspicion and enables me to entrust

myself to Him completely. We "believe"

Jesus when we accept His word, His testi-

mony, because He is truthful. We "believe

in" Jesus when we personally welcome

Him into our lives and journey towards

Him, clinging to Him in love and following

in His footsteps along the way.

In This World

Christian faith is faith in the incarnation of

the Word and His bodily resurrection; it is

faith in a God who is so close to us that

He entered our human history. So, far

from divorcing us from reality, our faith in

the Son of God made man in Jesus of

Nazareth enables us to grasp reality’s

deepest meaning and to see how much

God loves this world and is constantly

guiding it towards Himself. This leads us,

as Christians, to live our lives in this world

with ever greater commitment and inten-

sity.

Sincere Seekers

Because faith is a way, it also has to do

with the lives of those men and women

who, though not believers, nonetheless

desire to believe and continue to seek. To

the extent that they are sincerely open to

love and set out with whatever light they

can find, they are already, even without

knowing it, on the path leading to faith.

Anyone who sets off on the path of doing

good to others is already drawing near to

God, is already sustained by His help, for

it is characteristic of the divine light to

brighten our eyes whenever we walk

towards the fullness of love.

Community of Faith

It is impossible to believe on our own.

Faith is not simply an individual decision

which takes place in the depths of the

a plethora of paths leading nowhere and

forming a vast labyrinth. Those who

choose not to put their trust in God must

hear the din of countless idols crying out:

"Put your trust in me!" Faith, tied as it is to

conversion, is the opposite of idolatry; it

breaks with idols to turn to the living God

in a personal encounter. Believing means

entrusting oneself to a merciful love – a

love which always accepts and pardons,

which sustains and directs our lives, and

which shows its power by its ability to

make straight the crooked lines of our his-

tory.

A Perfect Love

The word which God speaks to us in

Jesus is not simply one word among

many, but His eternal Word. God can give

no greater guarantee of His love. Christian

faith is thus faith in a perfect love, in its

decisive power, in its ability to transform

the world and to unfold its history. "We

know and believe the love that God has

for us" (1 John 4:16). In the love of God

revealed in Jesus, faith perceives the

In the light of faith: We walk towards the fullness of love.

Aug/Sept 2013

believer’s heart, nor a completely private

relationship between the "I" of the believer

and the divine "Thou", between an

autonomous person and God. By its very

nature, faith is open to the "We" of the

Church; it always takes place within her

communion. Tertullian puts this well when

he describes the catechumens who,

"after the cleansing which gives new birth

are welcomed into the house of their

mother and, as part of a new family, pray

the Our Father together with their broth-

ers and sisters.” Baptism makes us see,

then, that faith is not the achievement of

isolated individuals; it is not an act which

someone can perform on his own, but

rather something which must be received

by entering into the ecclesial communion

which transmits God’s gift. No one bap-

tises himself, just as no one comes into

the world by himself. Baptism is some-

thing we receive.

Serving the Common Good

Precisely because it is linked to love, the

light of faith is concretely placed at the

service of justice, law and peace. Faith

does not draw us away from the world or

prove irrelevant to the concrete concerns

7

of the men and women of our time. Faith

is truly a good for everyone; it is a com-

mon good. Its light does not simply

brighten the interior of the Church, nor

does it serve solely to build an eternal

city in the hereafter; it helps us build our

societies in such a way that they can

journey towards a future of hope. The

hands of faith are raised up to heaven,

even as they go about building in charity

a world based on relationships in which

the love of God is laid as a foundation.

Integrity of Faith

Since faith is one, it must be professed in

all its purity and integrity. Precisely

because all the articles of faith are inter-

connected, to deny one of them, even of

those that seem least important, is tanta-

mount to distorting the whole. Each

period of history can find this or that point

of faith easier or harder to accept. Hence

the need for vigilance in ensuring that the

deposit of faith is passed on in its

entirety. Indeed, inasmuch as the unity of

faith is the unity of the Church, to sub-

tract something from the faith is to sub-

tract something from the authenticity of

communion. nn

Prayer to MaryMother, help our faith!

Open our ears to hear God’s Word

and to recognise His voice and call.

Awaken in us a desire to follow in His footsteps,

to go forth from our own “land” like Abraham

and so receive God’s promise.

Help us to be touched by His love,

that we may touch Him in faith.

Help us to entrust ourselves fully to Him

and to believe in His love,

especially at times of trial,

beneath the shadow of the Cross,

when our faith is called to mature.

Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe are never alone.

Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus,

that He may be light for our path.

And may this light of faith always increase in us,

until the dawn of that undying Day

which is Christ Himself, your Son, our Lord.

Amen.

The Heart"One believes with the heart"

(Romans 10:10). In the Bible, the

heart is the core of the human

person, where all his or her dif-

ferent dimensions intersect: body

and spirit, interiority and open-

ness to the world and to others,

intellect, will and affectivity. If

the heart is capable of holding all

these dimensions together, it is

because it is where we become

open to truth and love, where we

let them touch us and deeply

transform us. Faith transforms

the whole person precisely to the

extent that he or she becomes

open to love. Faith’s understand-

ing is born when we receive the

immense love of God which

transforms us inwardly and

enables us to see reality with

new eyes.

8St Anthony Brief

On 28 December 2012, I foundmyself singing Psalm 122: “Irejoice when I heard them say: Let

us go up to God’s house. And now my feetare standing within your gates,” OMutemwa! Rarely does Scripture come sotrue, real and fulfilled. This has been partic-ularly true for me as I found myself at theHoly Place of Mutemwa. Indeed, I rejoicedand was glad for it is here the Christianscome, the People of God to pray and praisethe Lord’s name. When God finished Hisgreat work of creation, He saw that is wasgood, in other words holy (holiness impliesthat something is as God intended).Mutemwa was part of that creation whichwas acclaimed holy (good). Yet someplaces are made holier than others due tosome phenomena. Mount Sinai, for exam-ple, was made holier than others becauseGod spoke to His people there; at Horeb,God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals,for the place where you are standing is holyground.” This holy place therefore reflectsthe place where John Bradburne met Godand a covenant was made. Indeed, it is aplace where thousands of Christians meetGod today and daily covenants are made.

the story of leprosy in our time inZimbabwe and indeed the whole worldwithout John Bradburne would be incom-plete. He completes the story in a trulyinspiring fashion. He leaves everythingbehind and entered a covenant with theabandoned, giving them dignity and pur-pose. That is why Fr Dove, SJ, his biog-rapher, called him “The StrangeVagabond”, a title that could be fitting forFrancis of Assisi and indeed Christ.There was something strange andunusual about John Bradburne, strangeenough to make an impact, strangeenough to remind us of Christ, strangeenough to make a difference. It is thecontact between John Bradburne andGod in this place that has elevated it, or

Covenant with God

I met my God here and thus I pen myexperience. What happens when an indi-vidual makes a covenant with God? Heis changed and will never be the sameagain. At this place called MutemwaJohn was changed and was never to bethe same John again. There was acovenant of love and service, love thatentails the washing of feet, yet not ordi-nary feet, but the worst feet of all times,feet that were bleeding, bleeding yes butnot ordinary blood, blood with leprosyinfection. John Bradburne is seen as theSt Francis of our time.

The story of leprosy in the 13th cen-tury would not be complete without themention of Francis of Assisi. Likewise,

Last year the friars in Zimbabwe undertook pastoralduties in the Mutemwa area which includes the leprosy settlement established by John Bradburne,martyred Secular Franciscan. Mutemwa is now a placeof pilgrimage in Zimbabwe. Naison Manjovha,Naison Manjovha,OFM,OFM, shares his reflections on living there.

Mutemwa: A Holy Place

Friar Patience Tigere at a gathering.

mountain is a path – an avenue ofjacaranda trees with the chapel on oneside and the clinic on the other. You willnot miss the beautiful sound from theclinic of one crying or singing, not forget-ting the unique smell of flowers that takesyour heart into another world.

My final place of priceless value isMount Chigona. The most inspiring thingof the Mutemwa experience is that theway you use to climb Chigona was usedbefore by John Bradburne. Exploringyour way up the mountain, you need to

be conscious and feel alive to what youare doing. You cannot sleep-walk; every-thing, as you climb the hill, reminds youof John Bradburne and your personalintention. On top of the mountain is thegiant cross dedicated to our brother JohnBradburne. A deep pool of water cannotbe missed as you reach the top near towhere an altar has been built to theKNOWN God, Yahweh. This is Mutemwafor me, a goldfield ready to be mined forthe betterment of our souls and for theglory of our great God. Amen. nn

rather made people realise the holinessof this place; and now my feet are stand-ing within your gates, O Mutemwa!

As a priest stationed here, I am lefthumbled and challenged with the num-bers of pilgrims that flock here, thou-sands and thousands come and I am leftwith questions; what will become of thisplace? Yet the answer is here, this placewill become a meeting place. A meetingplace, yes, of people from all over thecountry, of all denominations, a realchance for real ecumenism. It is a meet-ing place between God and humanity. Myexperience here presents me with thevulnerability of humanity, the intensity ofthe need and hunger for a holy life in theChristian fold. It is amazing to realise thatpeople drive from the furthest corner ofthe country searching for a religiousexperience; it shows how empty the peo-ple feel. It is breathtaking to see a manor a woman on crutches trying hardagainst all odds to climb Chigona moun-tain, that towers over Mutemwa, elderlypeople and five-year-olds all looking forthis glimpse of holiness, a real need ofour time.

A Goldfield

The most interesting thing about thisplace is not what it has achieved alreadybut rather the vast potential buried in andaround this place. Mutemwa is like anewly discovered goldfield. Given achance who would not want to buy anun-extracted goldfield? There are fourplaces in Mutemwa that for me arebreathtaking. First is the John Bradburnehut, a visible reflection of holiness andsignificance. It is as if John Bradburnestill moves around the place, you canactually feel his presence somehow. It isnot going to become a holy placebecause it is already one.

The second place for me is the littleleper chapel, possibly the holiest placefor me. This chapel is my Mount Sinai!Celebrating Mass every day, looking intothe eyes of the lepers, preaching everyday to the lepers, and most of all placingthe Body of Christ on their tonguesbecause they have no hands to receive,is more than fulfilling to me as a priest.Mass in this small, simple chapel is likeMass in heaven for me, it is a dreamcoming true; it is the holy of holies forme.

My third place is the wood path. Fromthe John Bradburne hut to the foot of the

The chapel:“My Mount Sinai.”

Aug/Sept 2013

MMy mission was in Salimata, a vil-lage in eastern Senegal near theKonakri Guinea border, some

850km from Dakar. You reach it in thedepths of the jungle where the Bassaripeople live, after two days of “normal”travel. The FMM mission of evangelisationbegan there in 1980 at the request of thelocal bishop, for, in his words, “TheFranciscan Sisters go where others do notwant to go!”

What an adventure! I had come fromBurkina Faso, where I was born, and mycompanion, Sr Marie Paule, was fromSwitzerland. Before leaving, I had dreamtof a beautiful mission in Senegal. I hadalready made a trip by plane for a pilgrim-age, and that was not so easy to do with abig group of pilgrims. But now it was mymissionary trip and I was going to Dakar!When we reached there we were warmlywelcomed by the Sisters in the ReceptionHouse who assured me I would do goodwork in this new foundation, Salimata. Iknew already that the language was differ-ent, but later realised that everything wasdifferent: culture, climate, the sea closeby…

The Journey

Two days later, I had to go with my com-panion to fetch the car that was to bringus to our dear mission. At Caritas, insteadof a car, we found a huge crate that hadcome from Germany, with the car insideit… in separate pieces! We had to wait at

St Anthony Brief10

With a grateful heart and atouch of nostalgia, FranciscanSister, Agnès Somé, FMM,from Burkina Faso, writes of her 30 year mission in the jungles of Senegal. She is nowon a well-earned sabbatical in Rome.

least three weeks before seeing the mili-tary jeep on four wheels – perfect joy!Finally we set out on a road, not knowingwhere we were going, but we becamestalled at nightfall. All that effort only to goto procure the necessary papers so wewould be allowed to drive! It was an epictrip, we kept stalling. In the end, we wentback to Dakar, towed by some soldiers wemet on our way, with no hope of everbeing able to use this vehicle. We madeour real missionary journey in the middleof the luggage on a small military plane.The priest came in a car to fetch us,80kms from Salimanta and we “navigated”streams of water, holes and ravines sincethere was no road. At last, tired and dust-covered we arrived at our “convent,” hid-den among tall grass, the former missionhouse, where our two FMM Sisters werewaiting for us with joy.

So there I was in my mission inSalimata, in a ravine surrounded by fourquite high hills. The visit without delay to aneighbouring village was a huge surprise.There was only one family present, all theothers were working in the fields; the cowswere the ones who welcomed us. It wasthe “wintering” season! But in every villagethere was a hut for the Father and anotherfor the Sisters – and for the termites, too!It was only a little later that we met thepeople who lived there; they were fright-ened of us and took time to approach us.After all these adventures, and seeing theconditions people lived in, I picked up my

suitcase and said, “I’m going back toBurkina!” My Sister said kindly to me:“Don’t be discouraged; I too, am suffering,but this is really a mission for us. Wait fora little while!” The wait lasted thirty years!And my departure occasioned tears onboth sides!

Gardens

The first thing to be done was to see toclothing and feeding our friends, withcountless packages from Caritas. Thepeople grow millet, corn and cereals, butthey are obliged to sell the grain to buynecessities, and after the harvest, sincethey have nothing to do, they go to workin the city. To keep busy during this “dead”time, our three communities: the Fathers,the Brothers, the Sisters each made asmall enclosed garden, with a henhouse.Our friends came to have a look, toinspect, to appreciate and to ask for somevegetables in the desire to “do like that”also. I taught them first of all to make afence for a real garden; when they sawthat, the other villages wanted to imitate it.A real course in gardening, and one thatyielded fine vegetables they could sell!The women, who each have their owngarden in a common plot, are delighted tobe financially independent now.

We organised a group of women inevery village, and in the winter season allthe groups cultivate together a field held incommon. The amount raised by the har-vest is placed in a common fund, from

is Was My Mission!

Companions in mission: Sr Agnès Somé (left) with Sr Marie Paule.

Aug/Sept 2013 11

tor to go down the other side, and whirr!We went back down at full speed to thestarting point in a cloud of dust! My com-panion hid her head, she was terrified. Wehad to start over again twice, and finallywe reached the foot of the second hill wehad to cross over. Fortunately, the cate-chumens received us with joy on the otherside! But I thanked our Heavenly Fatherfor His incredible protection during thesedangerous rounds in the land of the hills.

Many other adventures added to theserounds, such as wheels sunk in sands, butwe learned little by little. We, the catechistVictor, and two Sisters, set out with thepriest; we climbed one hill; at the top, thegrass was taller than us. “Where is theroad, Victor?” asked the Father. “Wait,

Father, you have to look at the top of thetrees. When you see a big stone set in thefork of the branches, there is where the roadis; that’s where you have to turn, looking forthe next stone!” Another time we weresearching in the forest at night for a man whohad fallen from a palm tree and we heard theroaring of lions. Another “pleasure” – the visitof a huge boa that had come down from themountain and had secretly settled in the treenext to our chapel. It was less menacing thanthe lions that come and carry off the cowsand sheep in the wintertime!

Rich Harvest

Isn’t that a stupendous mission? We do seethe results of all those years of shared effort:after thirty years that passed very quickly,you see women happy to manage things forthemselves, they even sell their tincturesabroad; women active during meetings andcelebrations; the men like “gentlemen;” aswarm of children attending school; andunderstanding between the two ethnicgroups. After a persevering preparatoryeffort, in which we ourselves showed no dif-ference in our treatment of the people, theynow chat together and celebrate manyevents together. We rejoice in the Baptismscelebrated after having seriously preparedthe candidates, and also in the rich harvest:two priests, two deacons, several seminari-ans and three FMM Sisters!

Salimata had the reputation of being adifficult, if not impossible mission. And yet allthose years of self-offering when faced withsacrifice, and of perseverance despite all tri-als, allowed the Lord to do good work amongour people. The very great suffering of thebeginnings has been transformed into joyand gratitude.

Thank you, Lord! nn

which they can draw when necessary,instead of asking for a contribution fromeach one. But since they did not keep thechickens in a closed area, the henhouseproject did not succeed! On the otherhand, the very first thing we did on arrivalwas to dig one metre holes to plant fruittrees, and they grew by themselves; a“forest” of mango trees taught the peoplein neighbouring villages to imitate us! Littleby little, life in the village became organ-ised: there is now a dispensary, which oneof our Sisters, a nurse, looks after. In thebeginning the Brothers were in theschools; the Fathers replaced them.

Catechism

Catechism was organised by the priest, inrounds of one week in a village, him andthe catechist, and that duty fell to me!Every weekday, except Saturday when it ishere at the mission, I used to go therounds of the villages where catechismwas taught in groups. A catechist alwayscame with me because of the languagewhich is picked up by hearing rather thanfrom any book. The priest, who is notBassari, composed a hymn book but,unfortunately, the Bassari Brother was notable to understand it!

Another adventure related to cate-chism: I will never forget my first round!When we started I was with a woman inthe convent car, a convertible but heavyvehicle, at the foot of a high, very steephill. The villages are perched at the top ofthese hills. How were we to climb it? Withdifficulty I reached the top of the slope; inmy nervousness, I leaned on the accelera-

Bassari women: growing in leadership within the community.

“My people”: the Bassari people of eastern Senegal.

Christians in Syria

On Sunday, 23 June, the Syrian priest

François Murad was killed in Gassanieh,

in northern Syria, in the Franciscan friary

where he had taken refuge. Fr François,

49, had taken the first steps in the reli-

gious life with the Franciscan friars of the

Custody of the Holy Land, but then felt

called to be a monk. He continued to

share close bonds of spiritual friendship

with the friars. After being ordained a

priest he had started the construction of

a monastery dedicated to St Simon

Stylites in the village of Gassanieh. After

the start of the civil war, the monastery of

St Simon had been bombed and Fr

Murad had moved to the friary for safety

reasons and to give sup-

port to the remaining few

friars, along with religious

Sisters.

The Custos of the

Holy Land, Pierbattista

Pizzaballa, OFM, asked

people to pray “so that

this absurd and shameful

war ends soon and that

the people of Syria can

go back to living a nor-

mal life. Unfortunately

Syria has now become

a battleground not only

between Syrian forces,

but also between Arab

countries and the inter-

national community.

And those paying the price are the poor,

the young and the Christians. The inter-

national community must put a stop to all

this. The world must know that the sup-

port of gunmen by the West is helping

extremists in killing Syrians. With such

stances, not a single Christian will

remain in the East. Fr Murad was just

one of the many men and women reli-

gious putting their faith on the frontline in

Syria, refusing to abandon the communi-

ties they serve, Christian and Muslim.

They stay because they want to be a

sign of hope, light and comfort to people

in the midst of destruction.”

Zim), an ecumenical group. The pro-

gramme aims to train about 5,000

Christian leaders. "We are part of a

broader group of organisations affiliated

to the Zimbabwe Council of Churches

that have embarked on various strate-

gies to minimise violence and torture as

part of our normal pastoral work in

Zimbabwe," said Rev Levee Kadenge,

President of CAT-Zim. "This programme

seeks to complement the efforts already

underway by three Zimbabwe main

Church organisations: the Catholic

Bishops Conference, Evangelical

Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the

Zimbabwe Council of Churches to

address Zimbabwe’s perennial legacy of

violence before, during and after elec-

tions." President Robert

Mugabe has set, without

consulting other political

forces, 31 July as the

date of the election.

The Smell of

Sheep

To evangelise according

to Pope Francis’ words

who said that: "Pastors

must have the smell of the

sheep" – this is the chief

pastoral perspective of the

Archbishop of Seoul,

South Korea, Andrew

Yeom Soo-jung. The terri-

tory of the diocese, with

over 10 million people, includes about

1.5 million Catholics, and is served by

930 priests, about 540 members of reli-

gious orders and about 2,000 nuns. The

Archbishop intends to put a “pastoral

army” at the service of the proclamation

of the Good News. The Archbishop said:

“Pope Francis said that priests should

become ‘shepherds living with the smell

of the sheep’. We intend to bring the

healing power of God's grace to every-

one in need, and stay close to the mar-

ginalised. That way, we can touch the

hearts of others and spread the Good

News of the Lord around.” nn

St Anthony Brief12

Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo

said that "the whole story of Christians in

the Middle East is marked and made

fruitful by the blood of the martyrs of

many persecutions. Lately, Fr Murad

sent me some messages before his

death that clearly showed how conscious

he was of living in a dangerous situation,

and he offered his life for peace in Syria

and around the world.”

Zimbabwe Elections

Over 200 Christian religious leaders,

including priests and bishops, have been

trained to follow the upcoming presiden-

tial election in Zimbabwe. The pro-

gramme was sponsored by Southern

Africa Crisis Management Agency, a

non-government organisation, and by

Christian Action Trust Zimbabwe (CAT-

Church Brief

Syria: a destroyed church.

Fr François Murad.

13Aug/Sept 2013

13

The Catholic Archbishop of Harare,Robert Ndlovu, was interviewedrecently on wide ranging issues by a

local, privately-owned paper. He spokeamong other things about the many newchurches, mostly Pentecostal, that areflourishing in Zimbabwe. These churcheshave sprouted virtually everywhere acrossthe country, and “traditional” churches havewoken up to the realities of their own con-gregations moving to these “fire and brim-stone” outfits, something ArchbishopNdlovu acknowledged was happening inthe Catholic Church.

From the central business district tocrowded working-class townships, posterson trees and fliers distributed by hand,advertising some miracle crusade of onesort or another, have become commonplace. This brings the Christian faith rightinto people’s faces and homes with energynever seen before. One new pastor saidthere is a growing need amongZimbabweans to find meaning in their livesand this is the need his church seeks to ful-fil. In a country where millions have suf-fered under harsh economic conditions forthe past twelve or more years, it is perhapsunderstandable that the affected would turnto religion to find meaning.

The problem is that this service comeswith appeals to give generously to the pas-tors who seem to have answers for every-thing. This phenomenon has also broughtwith it a rise of pastors living “the good life”.When challenged, the pastors reply: “Jesusdid not say we should be poor.” Nevermind the abject poverty of the people towhom the Gospel is being preached! Thecontradictions here are many, with onechurch asking members to make tithes inthe form of electronic bank transfers! Thepastor explained that this reduces the riskof carrying huge amounts of money aroundwhen thieves are ever lurking in the shad-ows. Makes sense doesn’t it?

In Zimbabwe, as “prophets” and “bish-ops” have sprouted across the country inthe past few years, questions have beenasked. And not surprisingly, the peopleraising these questions have been simplydismissed by the “prophets” and the “bish-

ops” as doing the Devil’s bidding by askingthose questions. Therefore, anyone whoquestions the practices is working to derailthe “Jesus project” and is essentiallyagainst the “Kingdom.” What is interestingabout all this is that while all matters offaith are ultimately between the Creatorand Man, desperate folks have investedthe little they have in the “Jesus project”with promises of abundant riches becomingavailable. Many of these churches preacha “prosperity Gospel” – a version of theChristianity imported from USA.

So while others say their faith is waningbecause of the tough questions they sayremain unanswered by going to their tradi-tional churches, the new Pentecostal

churches appear to be seeing a boon aspews fill up. It is curious that some whodabble in the sociology of religion say thatin poor communities, religion or belief insome esoteric being tends to thrive. Itwould appear to me that so does gullibility!It is no wonder then that Zimbabwe is noexception as the same people who seekanswers from religious quacks can still befound lining up outside the homes of char-latans who predict the future and traditionalmedicine men who are able to treat everyailment under the sun. It is a sad indict-ment of human nature, but that’s life as weknow it, and Zimbabweans are not alone inthese rather unorthodox searches foranswers. nn

Zimbabwean Marko Phirilooks at the rapid growth ofnew churches in his country.

Pentecostal prayer: Members of a new church.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR PROMOTERS OF OUR MONTHLY DRAWWe are looking for supporters of our mission who will take one book of tickets a month.

Please help us. Buy a book yourself. Write for a book to sell to your friends.

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New Churches in Zimbabwe

Witnesses of Love and MercyIt is a great joy to know that the brothers are making everyeffort to live the Gospel life and to give witness to hope andpeace in a very difficult context and moment in history. Mayyou never lose courage or hope: may you never doubtwhether God is present to you and to your people, our peo-ple, and that we your brothers are also present to you inprayer and in our hearts.

As you evaluate your current life together, and your missionto the people of God of Zimbabwe, may God give you thecourage to take whatever decisions necessary for the futureso that your Franciscan lives, fraternities and mission mightbe strengthened.

May we all seek to listen to the voice of the Lord Jesus speak-ing to us, to the Order and to each of the brothers, so that wemight become greater witnesses to the love and mercy ofGod in our lives and in the life of the Order.

May God bless and keep you, the Custody and the Provincenow and forever!

From the Letter of the Minister General, Michael Perry, OFM.

St Anthony Brief14

New Service: Custos Alfigio Tunha.

Chapter in ZimbabweFor a week in June the friars of the Custodyof the Good Shepherd in Zimbabwe gatheredfor Chapter, held every three years. Eighteensolemnly professed friars took part, in addi-tion to Hugh McKenna, Minister Provincialfrom Ireland, who presided. Vincent Zungu,OFM, a South African friar who is GeneralCounsellor for Africa, also attended.

Trio: Nicholas Banhwa, Hugh McKenna and

Onward Murape.

The Fire of the SpiritThe work of evangelisation is at the heart ofthe Custody – spreading the Good News.The Franciscan message has a specialappeal among the people – a message ofpeace and reconciliation. The friars workhard in their various ministries. This min-istry can benefit very much from continualon-going formation. We need to ask our-selves how we can continue to developsmall Christian communities, provide thenecessary resources, foster more training forour catechists, learn perhaps from thePentecostal churches who draw many awayfrom Catholic practice, continue the promo-tion of our parish councils and youth out-reach, make further use of the media,develop retreat and mission ministry.Keeping in mind the words of St Francis –“Go and preach and sometimes use words!”living faithfully our Franciscan life.

The words of Pope Francis challenge us: “Anew evangelisation, a Church that evange-lises must always begin from prayer, fromasking, as did the Apostle in the UpperRoom, for the fire of the Holy Spirit. Only afaithful and intense relationship with Godallows us to go out of our closures andannounce the Gospel boldly.”

From the Report on Evangelisation.

Aug/Sept 201315

Authentic DisciplesI would like to kindly remind you brothers of the great things wehave promised to the Lord through our Religious Profession inour Order, to pass from “good to better, and better to best.”Through our Franciscan vocation, for which we must continuallygive thanks to God the Father of all Mercy, we committed our-selves “to live according to the Holy Gospel of our Lord JesusChrist, in obedience, without anything of our own and inchastity”… I expressed my gratitude for the amount of work youdo in the work of evangelisation. Your ministry among thePeople of God is highly appreciated by the local bishops, theclergy, religious men and women and the laity. I invite you tocontinue to reflect upon new forms of diverse ministries andpresences that will respond better to the signs of times and placeswhere friars are evangelising. Your work in the areas of educa-tion, health, retreats are all important forms of apostolate andmeans of evangelisation. I suppose there are many other socialchallenges in your beloved country that can be turned into newopportunities for evangelisation.

Vincent Zungu, OFM, General Counsellor, Rome.

Working for JusticeThe work of Justice Peace and Integrityof Creation is every friar’s business. Toquote the former Minister General,“Justice Peace and Integrity of Creationis part of our DNA”. All of us are sup-posed to be involved because it is partand parcel of our Franciscan spirituality,it is our identity. In Zimbabwe there aremany groups involved in the area of jus-tice and peace and also the area of envi-ronment, but their message often falls ondeaf ears. The Minister of Environmenthas talked about the dangers of veldfires and deforestation but nothingchanges. He has spoken about not build-ing on wetlands. However we continueto see veld fires and the cutting of treesby the new farmers for firewood andcuring their tobacco… We now have anew constitution, and we hope and praythat our leaders will continue to preachthe message of peace before, during andafter the elections. Above all, despite thepolitical and economic challengesZimbabwe remains a better place to live.All of us who are Franciscans need toremember always and everywhere thatJustice, Peace and Integrity of Creationare part of our spirituality.

From the Report on Justice, Peace andIntegrity of Creation.

Live FaithfullyIn building up the Church we see how the spirit of St Franciscan bring peace and joy to many. For all this I thank God, and Ipray that the Good Shepherd whose title we gladly bear maywatch over all of us in a special way and help us to live faith-fully our Franciscan calling. And I pray a special blessing on thenew administration who will lead us all into the future.

Emmanuel Musara, OFM, out-going Custos.

New Council takes oath of office: Ndabaningi Sithole, Xavier Mukupo, Fanuel Magwidi, and Naison Manjovha, with Hugh McKenna, Provincial Minister.

sr mary burke, fmDma fresh look

Finding the Right Words

Our words can hurt or heal. Sr MaryBurke, FMDM, admits that she experiencesdifficulty at times finding the right words.

unexpected physical illness such as a

stroke can be a reminder to us all of what

a gift it is to be able to express ourselves

freely in a way which allows us to commu-

nicate our needs, wishes and desires with

others.

Recently I found myself talking to a

young mother whose two-year-old son

had not yet begun to speak. Her concern

was obvious. She had already consulted

her doctor and other professionals who

had advised her to wait a little longer

before doing further tests. Here was a real

example of a worried mother waiting for

her child to speak not even the right

words, but just any word which would allay

her fears, and give her the joy of hearing

this child she loved speak his first words;

words which would comfort her and tell

her everything was alright.

Words Make A Difference

We live in a world where words are so

important, where words can make such a

difference to how we see and understand

life. We look endlessly for the right words

to console, to tell others of our love for

them, to speak the truth without causing

AApriest friend of mine recently had

a small stroke. This has been a

difficult time for him and one of

the greater difficulties has been the slow-

ness in being able to put words together. I

imagine for someone who is used to using

words both to express themselves and to

preach the Word of God this is not an

easy place to be. Personally it also

brought to mind a similar situation when

my own father had a stroke many years

ago. He knew what he wanted to say but

often the words did not come out as his

mind intended them to. And so finding the

right words can become a struggle

because of the inability of our brains to

function in ways which make this process

easy. However, for many of us this is a

process which is mostly unconscious and

which we generally take for granted. An

16St Anthony Brief

hurt and to simply express what is deep-

est in our hearts. Indeed, the deepest

things of our hearts are often beyond

expression in language. We remember

kind words spoken to us in time of need,

as we do harsh words spoken to us when

what we most needed at that moment

were words of kindness and compassion.

Some of our cultures make it easier to

express our feelings in words. Others for

different reasons deem some words too

emotional and not for public display. We

grieve or express joy in words in public or

private according to our upbringing or tem-

perament. Where it may be acceptable for

a woman or man to express such feelings

as sadness or delight in words, in other

instances it may be frowned upon or be a

topic which is silenced into the void of

“wordlessness”.

Our TV screens are alive with words

and we use interactive media to communi-

cate with our families and friends in ways

which would not have been possible

twenty years ago. And, yet, I sometimes

wonder how much consideration we give

to the words we speak regardless of the

means we use to speak them. Do we con-

sider how our words will affect the person

who receives them?

Hurt or Heal

In my own experience finding the right

words is not always easy. There have

been times in my life when I have said

things that I have since come to regret.

Such words may have been uttered in

haste, or in passion, or because I felt I

was trying to uphold a certain value.

These words once uttered cannot be

retrieved and sometimes the struggle to

put right what might have been avoided by

a few carefully chosen, quietly spoken

words has been at a cost to both myself

and the person to whom these words

were spoken. Words can indeed have

powerful messages and can hurt, heal,

teach or sanctify.

It is said that St Francis, when giving

advice to his brothers on how to preach,

told them: “Preach and if necessary use

words”. This call to preaching by our

actions is also a reminder by Francis to

his followers to use words with care ensur-

ing the spreading of Good News and not

to use words indiscriminately.

Often this particular quote can be used

to encourage the spread of the Gospel

without the use of too many words. While

it is true that the overuse of words without

the deeper love of Christ behind them is

rather like offering words to the wind, it is

nonetheless equally true that without

words the Good News cannot be spread.

It is undeniable that words, when used in

a beautiful and compassionate way, can

also bring us into the mystery of God’s

own heart and offer us the comfort and

companionship of a “Godly” intimacy with

others on the same journey.

Comfort and Challenge

Francis of Assisi offered many words of

challenge, comfort, love and healing in his

lifetime. His words were offered not from a

place of noise, as may be the danger for

us in today’s world, but rather from a place

of deep silence. As followers of Christ we

can take comfort from the fact that Jesus

Himself needed to escape from the world

of words and of encounter to be on His

own with His Father. These times of

silence provided Him with strength to be

able to offer words appropriate to the real

life situations which He encountered.

Instances of this include His words of

comfort to those bereaved such as the

widow of Naim, His words of healing to

those who were ill and His words of love

and challenge to His followers in teaching

them how to love one another.

Words offered after prayer and from

the heart have a way of touching our lives

at its very core. All of us know the experi-

ence of hearing words that have behind

them a concern for our best interests.

In our desire to find the right words we

can worry about what to say in certain situ-

Heart space: Speaking from a place of stillness.

ations. There can be much agonising over

words in our lives. As both Christ and

Francis did, we will often need words for

those who have lost someone they love,

for those who are ill or in some kind of

need. There will have been many times in

our lives when we have been able to offer

the right words at the right time and when

just a simple message of “I understand

how you must feel” or “I hear your pain

and I am here for you” can be a real bless-

ing for those who turn their hearts towards

us in a moment of suffering or need.

A Heart Word

Finding the right words is mostly about

finding a “heart word”; it is about taking

that person and their situation into our

own “heart space”, praying for them and

desiring to understand life from their per-

spective rather than our own. This could

prove to be the most important guiding

principle in our having the right word at

the right time which can then be offered

lovingly and peacefully. Mother Teresa

reminds us that “kind words can be short

and easy to speak but their echoes are

truly endless.”

Our desire and need to communicate

in words is part of who we are; its

absence a real loss and its presence a

blessing we can share with those around

us. The words we speak can indeed be

gift and are therefore best unwrapped

slowly and with care. Care and thoughtful-

ness in speaking can be a real help to

finding the right words to affirm life and

bring happiness to ourselves and others in

our daily encounters. nn

17Aug/Sept 2013June/July

Jubilee

CelebrationChris Connolly, OFM,

has celebrated the

Golden Jubilee of his

ordination in the

Franciscan church,

Killarney. Pictured with

him are the friars Joe

Condren and Pádraig

Breheny. Chris has

spent the last 20 years

in Killarney. After his

ordination in 1963 he

served as a missionary in

Zimbabwe for 20 years.

La Verna Retreat Centre

Tuesday 6th to Tuesday 13th August 2013

Retreat: THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER AND DEVOTION

Facilitators: Fr Paschal McDonnell, OFM, and Treise O’Callaghan.

Friday 30th August to Sunday 1st September 2013

INNER HEALING WEEKEND RETREAT

Friday 27th to Sunday 29th September 2013

Weekend Retreat: ST FRANCIS AND THE COMPASSION OF GOD

Facilitator: Fr Loman MacAodha, OFM.

For more information contact:

La Verna Retreat Centre,Franciscan Friary,

Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal. Tel: +353 (0)71 9852 572

Email: lavernarossnowlagh@hotmail.com Check out:

www.lavernaretreat.com

18St Anthony Brief

Be strengthened in the holy service you have undertaken

out of an ardent desire for the Poor Crucified,

who for the sake of all of us

took upon Himself the Passion of the Cross.

O blessed poverty,

who bestows eternal riches on those

who love and embrace her!

O holy poverty,

to those who possess and desire you

God promises the kingdom of heaven

and offers, indeed, eternal glory and blessed life!

O God-centred poverty,

whom the Lord Jesus Christ

who ruled and now rules heaven and earth,

who spoke and things were made,

condescended to embrace before all else!

What a great laudable exchange:

to leave the things of time for those of eternity,

to choose the things of heaven for the goods of earth,

to receive the hundred-fold in place of one,

and to possess a blessed and eternal life.

From the First Letter of St Clare to St Agnes of Prague.

The feast of

St Clare of Assisi

is celebrated on

11 August.

What a GreatExchange!

Aug/Sept 2013

St Anthony Brief20

Fifty years ago good Pope John diedon 3 June 1963. Angelo Roncalli wasborn in Sotto il Monte in the diocese

of Bergamo, northern Italy. He was the old-est boy in a family of thirteen, simple farm-ing people. Angelo lived within earshot ofthe bells of the Franciscan Friary of OurLady of the Assumption at Baccanello. Hebecame a lay Franciscan tertiary attachedto the fraternity at Baccanello at the age of14. Angelo loved the atmosphere of the fri-ary church and deeply appreciated the sim-plicity and humility of the friars. TheFranciscan influence appears throughouthis life. He had a Conventual friar to guidehim in his retreat in 1931 and a Capuchin in1933, in 1953 and again in the Vatican in1961. He believed in the simplicity of theGospel way-of-life and found it first of all inThe Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempisbut also in the Little Flowers of St Francis.He considered the poverty and humility ofSt Francis an ideal way of getting close tothe poor Jesus. He liked to meditate on thewords of St Clare that we should pour outour alms to the poor and then these veryalms would pray for us.

The curate in Sotto il Monte invited himto go to Rome for a Holy Year pilgrimagein 1900. They returned through Loreto andAssisi, where Angelo prayed at the tomb ofSt Francis and furthered his devotion tothe Saint of Assisi. As Pope John herepeated his pilgrimage to Loreto andAssisi on the eve of the opening of theSecond Vatican Council in 1963. Angelogot a scholarship to study for the priest-hood at the Apollinare in Rome. In whatmay be a manifestation of hisFranciscanism, as a priest he would seekto deal with others in serenity, calm and

Jews escape to Palestine. Isaac Herzog,Grand Rabbi of Jerusalem, former ChiefRabbi in Dublin, sent the blessings ofJerusalem and Sion to Roncalli for his workfor the Jews.

By 1944 Charles de Gaul was headinga provisional government in Paris. Heasked Rome to re-appoint a nuncio there.Bishop Roncalli was chosen. The new nun-cio slowly rebuilt Church structures. He gotgovernment agreement for the appointmentof a large number of bishops. He investi-gated bishops accused of working with theNazis and found three guilty. He got propertreatment for German prisoners-of-war.These included hundreds of theological stu-dents who had been forced into theGerman army. He arranged their transfer toa camp where they could resume their stud-ies before returning to minister in Germany.

Bishop Roncalli was created a cardinalin January 1953. It was anticipated that hewould work in the curia in Rome. Howeverthe Patriarch of Venice had died andCardinal Roncalli gladly accepted an offerto replace him. He won the esteem of bothpeople and priests. He undertook a visita-

joy, acting with dignity, humility, mildness,forbearance and particularly patience.

Different Roles

Having got a doctorate in theology, he wasordained in 1904. Fr Angelo studied canonlaw and was appointed secretary to the newbishop of Bergamo, James M. Radini-Tedeschi. He also began teaching at thediocesan seminary in Bergamo. His starwas rising and Fr Angelo was summoned toRome to become Director of the Society forthe Propagation of the Faith in Italy. In 1925Fr Roncalli was appointed Apostolic Visitorto Bulgaria, resident in Sofia. He was con-secrated as titular archbishop of Areopolisin Rome on 19 March 1925. He was trans-ferred to Turkey and Greece in 1934 asadministrator of the Vicariate Apostolic ofIstanbul. World War II brought its own prob-lems. He tried to persuade the Allies toease the food blockade that was causingfamine in many parts of Greece. The mili-tary situation prevented him working inGreece after 1942. He did set up an organi-sation in Istanbul to locate prisoners-of-waror missing people. He also helped Italian

Blessed John XXIII: A Son of Saint FrancisReflecting on the life of Blessed Pope John, a Franciscan tertiary, Pat Conlan, OFM,

recognises the spirit of St Francis.

21Aug/Sept 2013

edge of the Church’s doctrine and a whole-some increase of Christian morality. In shorthe prayed that the Kingdom of the DivineSaviour be one of truth, justice, love andpeace. This sounds Franciscan. John diedfrom cancer on 3 June 1963 before the sec-ond session of the Council resumed andwas buried in the crypt of St Peter’sBasilica. Pope John Paul II beatified him in2000.

Franciscan Spirit

Returning to our quest to find the influenceof the Franciscan charism on Pope John,we recognise the importance of his pilgrim-age to Loreto and Assisi before the openingof Vatican II. Commentators saw the visit toAssisi in terms of Pope John’s wish that theCouncil would focus on the church of thepoor. St Francis, the poor man of Assisi,was an obvious patron. In preaching atAssisi, the Pope linked two interests of StFrancis, poverty and peace. He claimedthat only when the good and beautifulthings that Providence had placed in thisworld were equitably shared out could therebe true peace.

Pope John, everybody’s priest, was afollower of St Francis of Assisi for sixdecades. Like Francis, he was a man ofevangelical simplicity and deep humility.Francis always talked of living the Gospeland that was what Pope John tried to doduring his life. He had true Franciscanhumility, aware of his dependence on thepower of the Father in all he did. He soughtpeace in following the will of God. AgainPope John had the Franciscan hunger forsouls and for leading others into a deeperlove of God. Also in the Franciscan tradi-tion, he showed respect for all those he

tion of the parishes, particularly those inworking-class areas.

Pope John

Pope Pius XII died on 9 October 1958 andthe Patriarch of Venice left for Rome. Hewaved a return ticket to show his intentionto come back to his beloved Venice. The51 cardinals met in conclave. In three daysthey elected Roncalli as Pope. He chosethe name of John. It was anticipated that hewould be a transition pope, since he wasnow seventy-seven years old.

At a meeting of cardinals held at StPaul’s Basilica on 25 January 1959 to markthe end of the week of prayer for ChristianUnity, John XXIII proposed three majorundertakings: a synod of the diocese ofRome, a new ecumenical council and arevision of the code of canon law. With asmile on his face and perhaps a mischie-vous chuckle, he invited people to throwopen the windows of the Vatican and let inthe fresh air of the Spirit. The first synod ofRome was held in January 1960. The newcode of canon law finally appeared in 1983.Vatican II is seen as good Pope John’sgreatest achievement. He always claimedthat, out of the blue, the Holy Spirit hadinspired him to summon the council. Hesaw its immediate aims as renewing thespiritual life of Catholics, bringing the teach-ing and organisation of the Church up todate and working towards the unity of allChristians. In his prayer for the council heasked that the light and power of theGospel be more widely defused in humansociety. He prayed that a new vigour beimparted to the Catholic religion and itsmissionary function. He wished that wemight all acquire a more profound knowl-

met. His quiet and gentle way of dealing withpeople enabled him to work miracles ofpeace in most unlikely places.

On 16 April 1959, as part of the 750th cel-ebration of the founding of the FranciscanOrder, the four Ministers General from the dif-ferent branches of the Order renewed theirvows before John XXIII at the LateranBasilica. Pope John issued a letter to com-memorate the anniversary on 4 April. Hewrote of the great doings of St Francis andhis Order. He encouraged the friars to followthe spirit of Francis in their ministry. Headdressed the friars as brothers because he,from his youth, was a member of theFranciscan family. Pope John gave a longerteaching at the renewal of vows on 16 April.He spoke of the relation between St Francisand the Lateran Basilica, particularly as asign of his dedication to the Pope. He alsomentioned that during the ceremony he satunder a mosaic in the apse depicting both StFrancis of Assisi and St Anthony of Padua.

He recalled his great delight in beingreceived into the Third Order of St Francis on1 March 1896. After all it was the Order of thebrothers and sisters of peace. He linked thiswith his reception of the clerical tonsure laterthat year. He spoke warmly of the friars atBaccanello, particularly of their simple, hum-ble and quiet way of life. This made a deepimpression on those they met, particularlywhile out on the quest. When home on holi-days, he loved to visit the friary to find peaceand comfort. Pope John also linked theseevents with his canonisation of theFranciscan friar Charles of Sezze on 12 April1959. Today followers of the Poor Saint ofAssisi can find inspiration in the life of anotherhumble tertiary who, like Francis, changedthe Church of his time for the better. nn

Assisi: Pilgrimage on the eve of the Council.

22

News from around the . . .

Franciscans in AmazoniaIn a Franciscan retreat centre in Peru, ameeting of the missionary Franciscan fam-ily in the Amazon took place in June.Convened by the Minister General,Michael Perry, OFM, the assembly wasmade up of about 50 friars and Sisters,namely, the Friars Minor, Sisters and laypeople. They all came from different locali-ties of the boundless Amazon region:Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, andBrazil. In addition to the missionaries, pre-sent from these countries were the respec-tive Provincial Ministers and twoFranciscan bishops.

The theme of the meeting was “TheFranciscan Presence in the Amazon,Yesterday, Today, and in the Future”, withthe subtitle a challenging question: “Whereis the Spirit Leading our Presence in theAmazon?” The attention was constantlydrawn to the Amazon Project, launched bythe General Chapter of the Order in 2009.The mandate said that the project mustconsider "the humanising power of theGospel, the protection and the integrity ofcreation, and the defence and promotion ofindigenous cultures."

The Minister General, at the concludingcelebration, said that “it was stated during

Mission: Minister General, Michael Perry, with Franciscan missionaries.

Franciscan World

the meeting that our presence here in theAmazon is like a grain of sand on thebeach. Yes, but even a grain of sand canmake a difference in the world, for everyperson who experiences the grace, love,mercy, peace, and hope of God spread bythe living experience of the Franciscanmissionaries and their collaborators here,in the Amazon. It is the quality of our pres-ence, our closeness to the people, espe-cially the least and marginalised, thatmakes the Franciscan difference.” nn

Bishop MichaelLenihan, OFM,celebrates thefeast of StIsidore theFarmer, thepatron saint ofthe new Dioceseof La Ceiba,Honduras. TheVigil Mass forthe feast tookplace on 14 Mayafter a large processionthrough the city.

College in BethlehemStudents and teachers at TerraSancta College in Bethlehem cele-brated in June the completion ofanother school year, renewing hopefor Christians in the Holy Landthrough the study of art and music.The college was established by theFranciscans in the 1500s as anextension of their ministry in theregion and today offers an alterna-tive to traditional education. Trainingin the arts and music provides hopeto marginalised Christians in thearea, particularly in Bethlehemwhere unemployment amongChristians exceeds 65 percent, andthose who do have jobs work forsubsistence-level wages. Travel forChristians in Bethlehem and otherparts of Israel is so highly restrictedthat people often cannot get to theirjobs, to school or to medical facili-ties. The Franciscan Foundation forthe Holy Land provides programmesthat offer education, housing andemployment opportunities forChristians. Thirty-five years agoChristians made up 80 percent ofthe population of Bethlehem. Todaythat number has dwindled to lessthan two percent.Check out: www.proterrasancta.org nn

St Anthony Brief

23

MMadagascar, officially the Republicof Madagascar, is an island coun-try in the Indian Ocean, off the

eastern coast of Africa. The nation com-prises the island of Madagascar (thefourth-largest island in the world), as wellas numerous smaller peripheral islands.Since 1992 the nation has officially beengoverned as a constitutional democracyfrom its capital at Antananarivo. In 2012,the population of Madagascar was esti-mated at just over 22 million, 90 percent ofwhom live on less than two dollars per day.Malagasy and French are both official lan-guages of the state.

The Franciscan presence in the countryis growing. The Custody of the ImmaculateConception has 30 solemnly-professed fri-ars. In the post-novitiate house inAntananarivo there currently are 14 tempo-rary-professed friars who are studying phi-losophy and theology and two studyingnursing. In the postulant house inAntsirabe there are eleven postulants inthe second year and five who are in thefirst year, and in the novitiate communitythere are three novices. There is also ahouse used for aspirants who live togetherfor six months prior to postulancy. The fri-ars are struggling financially in the con-struction of new houses to welcome thegrowing number of candidates and to pro-vide for the young friars engaged in variousstudy programmes. In the houses fornovices, postulants and aspirants, thereare carpentry workshops and agriculturalprojects to help ease financial pressure.

In a visit to Madagascar in June,Minister General Michael Perry, OFM, aswell as spending time with the friars alsowent to the monasteries of the Poor Claresand participated in meetings organised bythe Franciscan family, including theCapuchins, Franciscan Missionaries ofMary, several other Franciscan Sisters’congregations, the Secular Franciscans,the JUFRA (Young Franciscans Movement)and a children’s group associated with theJUFRA. The central theme that emergedfrom these discussions focused on learninghow to live more faithfully the Franciscancharism today. The emphasis was on thecore of the Franciscan identity and inexploring the nature of the charism andrelationship with the Lord Jesus in the con-text of the world in which Franciscans inMadagascar find themselves. nn

Aug/Sept 2013

Madagascar: An Island NationThe Franciscan presence is growing on Madagascar

experience this divine goodness within theChurch. “Let the Church always be a placeof mercy and hope, where everyone is wel-comed, loved and forgiven.”

Apostolic Courage

This experience of tender love is notinward looking but leads to apostoliccourage. Pope Francis speaks of two wayswe “go out, make an exodus from our-selves” – one to the “wounds of Jesus” tofind grace and new beginnings, the other to“the wounds of our brothers and sisters.”He speaks often of “touching the flesh ofJesus” in those in physical and spiritualneed. There is a real danger, he knows,that we have all the Christian theory but lit-tle of the practice in our lives. “We cannotbecome starched Christians, those over-

St Anthony Brief24

fr francis cotter, ofm

Mercy and Courage:Pope Francis’ Message

he repeated: “He always watches over uswith mercy. Let us not be afraid ofapproaching Him! If we show Him our innerwounds, our inner sins, He will always for-give us. It is pure mercy.”

A favourite word, often repeated, is ten-derness. “How beautiful is the gaze withwhich Jesus regards us – how full of ten-derness!” And again: “Closeness and ten-derness! The Lord loves us in these twoways, He draws near and gives all His loveeven in the smallest things, with tender-ness. And this is a powerful love, becausecloseness and tenderness reveal thestrength of God’s love”. Another time hequoted St Anthony the Great: "To say thatGod turns away from the sinful is like say-ing that the sun hides from the blind." ThePope’s great desire is that people can

Francis Cotter, OFM, sees a clear patternemerging in the teachings of Pope Francis.II

n an interview some months before hewas elected Pope, Cardinal Bergogliosaid that the two great needs of the

Church in our time are mercy and courage.He explained that “we all need to experi-ence the transforming mercy of God atdepth, then, renewed by divine compas-sion, the Christian people can share, withapostolic courage, the Gospel of grace.”

Since becoming Pope, mercy andcourage have been constant themes. Onhis first Sunday as Pope he told us: “Godnever tires of showing mercy but we canget weary of asking for mercy. Never tire ofasking for His mercy, never!” Pope Francisspeaks of his own experience: “In my ownlife, I have so often seen God’s mercifulface, His patience. The mercy of Godchanges everything. This is the best thingwe can feel; it changes the world.” Againand again he comes back to this basicmessage: “Let us not forget that the Lordalways watches over us with mercy.” And

25Aug/Sept 2013

educated Christians who speak of theologi-cal matters as they calmly sip their tea. No!We must become courageous Christiansand go in search of the people who are theflesh of Christ, those who are the very fleshof Christ!”

Such was Pope Francis’ own outreachon 8 July when his first papal visit outsideRome was to the small Italian island ofLampadusa. In June African refugees haddrowned trying to cross to Europe in smallboats, just the latest in some 20,000drowned since 1998. After meeting the sur-vivors, Francis explained why he hadcome: “When I first heard of this tragedy afew weeks ago, and realised that it hap-pens all too frequently, it has constantlycome back to me like a painful thorn in myheart. So I felt that I had to come heretoday, to pray and to offer a sign of mycloseness, but also to challenge our con-sciences lest this tragedy be repeated.”

This apostolic outreach has its origin inGod’s unceasing, self-giving love. Indeed,we are all part of a great love story. “TheChurch begins there in the heart of theFather – so this love story began – a storythat has gone on for so long, and is not yetended. We, the women and men of theChurch, we are in the middle of a lovestory: each of us is a link in this chain oflove. And if we do not understand this, wehave understood nothing of what theChurch is." Therefore “apostolic courageand zeal is not a drive for power but some-thing that comes from inside, that the Lordwants from us.”

Pope Francis believes that “a timidChristian is incomprehensible: courage andmagnanimity are part of the Christian voca-tion. Nothing is more opposed to the Spiritthan settling down, shutting oneself in.”Therefore he prays that the Holy Spiritmight “give all of us apostolic fervour; mayHe also give us the grace to feel uncom-fortable about certain aspects of theChurch which are too relaxed, the grace togo forward to the existential outskirts. TheChurch is in great need of this!”

Open Doors

Pope Francis, especially in his unscriptedhomilies at the daily Mass in the Vaticanresidence, Casa Santa Marta, constantlypresents, often in forceful words, a vision ofa Church with open doors, a Church that“moves out” in humble service. He speaksfrequently of the dangers of the Churchbeing, what he calls, “self-referential”, thatis inward looking, caught up in itself.“Christians who are afraid to build bridgesand prefer to build walls are Christians who

are not sure of their faith, not sure of JesusChrist. When the Church loses this apos-tolic courage, she becomes a stalledChurch, a tidy Church, a Church that isnice to look at, but that is without fertility,because she has lost the courage to go tothe outskirts, where there are many peoplewho are victims of idolatry, of worldliness,of weak thought, of so many things.”

He realises that “going out” in lovingaction can be risky but it is a risk we musttake. “A Church that does not go out,sooner or later gets sick. The self-referen-tial Church falls victim to a kind of narcis-sism that leads to spiritual worldliness andto sophisticated clericalism – great obsta-cles to the sweet and comforting joy ofevangelising. It is true that something canhappen to a Church that ‘goes out,’ just asthings can happen to someone who leavesthe safety of home; accidents can happen.But I wish to say to you frankly that I prefera thousand times an injured Church than asick Church.”

On the vigil of Pentecost, speaking to agreat gathering of the members of the vari-ous ecclesial movements, he used theimage of a stuffy room: “Please do notwithdraw into yourselves! This is a danger:we shut ourselves up in the parish, with ourfriends, within the movement, with the like-minded. But do you know what happens?When the Church is closed, she falls sick.Think of a room that has been closed for ayear. When you go into it there is a smell ofdamp, many things are wrong with it. AChurch closed in on herself is the same, asick Church.”

Refugees on Lampadusa: “A sign of my closeness.”

He refers to a line from the Scriptures,Revelation 3:20. “Jesus stands at the doorand knocks, knocks to be let into our heart.But ask yourselves this question: how oftenis Jesus inside and knocking at the door tobe let out, to come out? And we do not letHim out because of our own need for secu-rity, because so often we are locked intoephemeral structures that serve solely tomake us slaves and not free children ofGod.”

And what of the timid, those fearful ofmaking mistakes – they are told bluntly:“But you might say: ‘But Father, we mightmake mistakes.’ Well, get on with you: ifyou make a mistake, you get up and goforward: that is the way. Those who do notwalk in order not to err make the more seri-ous mistake.” So, it’s official – from thePope himself – it’s OK to make mistakes!

Obstacles to Mission

Pope Francis is not naïve about hindranceswithin the Church and within each heart tothis sharing of divine compassion with gen-erosity. One issue can simply be people’sdesire for comfort, an easy life. “The Lordalways wants us to move forward, forward,forward, not to take refuge in a quiet life orin cosy structures.” The Pope tells us toask for the grace to be annoying! “We canask the Holy Spirit to give us the grace tobe annoying when things are too quiet inthe Church. This threatens our comfortzones, even Christian comfort zones, right?It irritates us. The Church doesn't needcouch-potato Catholics; it needs believerswith apostolic zeal, willing to preach the

26St Anthony Brief

sations and structures, than about the truegood of the People of God.”

Speaking to priests on Holy ThursdayFrancis did not mince his words. He spokeof priests “who do not go out of them-selves, instead of being mediators, gradu-ally become intermediaries, managers… hedoesn’t put his own skin and his own hearton the line.” And the end result, they “endup sad – sad priests – in some sensebecoming collectors of antiques or novel-ties.” Instead, using a powerful image, heasked priests to live in such loving serviceof God’s children that they have “the smellof the sheep” on them. “This I ask you: beshepherds, with the smell of the sheep,

make it real, as shepherds among yourflock.” He tells the Italian bishops they arenot just to go ahead of “the flock, withouthesitation in leading” but also to stay closeto those who find it hard to keep up.“Therefore, being pastors also means to beready to walk in the midst of and behindthe flock: capable of listening to the silentstory of the suffering and bearing up thesteps of those who are afraid of not suc-ceeding; be careful to raise up, to reassure,and inspire hope.”

Witness of Life

In all this words alone are not enough. “Letus all remember this: one cannot proclaimthe Gospel of Jesus without the tangiblewitness of one’s life. Those who listen to usand observe us must be able to see in our

actions what they hear from our lips, andso give glory to God! Inconsistency on thepart of pastors and the faithful betweenwhat they say and what they do, betweenword and manner of life, is undermining theChurch’s credibility.” Lack of joy alsolessens credibility. Francis speaks of “thosemelancholy Christian faces that have morein common with pickled peppers than thejoy of having a beautiful life.” Another timehe said: “Long faces cannot proclaimJesus. Joy alone and praise of God are theonly way to advance the Gospel You can-not advance the Gospel with sad, hope-less, discouraged Christians. You cannot –not with a funeral face.”

Mercy and courage – the core ofFrancis’ Gospel message to us. Meetingwith the pastoral workers of the diocese ofRome, he reminded them that sharing ourfaith in Christ is something every Christianshould do. “Being with Jesus demands thatwe go out from ourselves, that we move onfrom living a tired and habitual faith.”Francis concluded that talk with an impas-sioned plea: “Dear, dear brothers and sis-ters, let us be not afraid! We must go out toreach the flesh of the Lord who sufferswherever and in whatever circumstancesthe suffering one happens to be. Let us goforth to tell our brothers and our sisters thatwe are under grace, that Jesus gives usgrace and that it costs us nothing: only wemust receive it.” And Francis concludedwith one Italian word: Avanti! “Forward!” nn

uncomfortable words of Christ.” You mightwell ask: what if this causes tensions?Francis answers: “If we annoy people,blessed be the Lord!”

Another temptation is the desire to“take possession of the Lord” – to controlwho has access to Him! Francis gives aconcrete example. “Think about a singlemother who goes to parish church and tothe secretary she says: 'I want my childbaptised'. And then this Christian, thisChristian says: 'No, you cannot becauseyou're not married!’ But look, this girl whohad the courage to carry her pregnancyand not to return her son to the sender,what is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! Itis far from the Lord! It does not open doors!And so when we have this attitude, we donot do good to the People of God.” In thiscontext Francis speak of an “eight sacra-ment”. He goes on: “Jesus instituted theseven sacraments but with this attitude weare establishing the eighth: the sacramentof pastoral customs! We think today ofJesus, who always wants us all to becloser to Him, we think of the holy Peopleof God, a simple people, who want to getcloser to Jesus and we also think of somany sincere Christians who are wrong.Why? Because instead of opening a doorthey close the door of goodwill. So we askthe Lord that all those who come to theChurch find the doors open, open to meetthis love of Jesus.”

Worldliness

Another obstacle can be the different formsof what Francis calls “the spirit of worldli-ness.” “When a priest, a bishop goes aftermoney, the people do not love him – andthat's a sign. St Paul did not have a bankaccount, he worked, and when a bishop, apriest goes on the road to vanity, he entersinto the spirit of careerism – and this hurtsthe Church very much – and he ends upbeing ridiculous: he boasts, he is pleasedto be seen, to be all powerful – and thepeople do not like that! Pray for us that wemight be poor, that we might be humble,meek, in the service of the people.”

The problem of careerism within theChurch is a frequent theme. He warns:“The lack of spiritual vigilance – we know –makes the pastor lukewarm; he becomesdistracted, forgetful and even impatient; itseduces him with the prospect of a career,the lure of money, and he compromiseswith the spirit of the world; it makes himlazy, turning him into a functionary, a clericworried more about himself, about organi-

Wedding blessing: Irish couple Sean and Áine Ascough.

BBased on reflections given by theAmerican Jesuit theologianLadislas Orsy in Rome in

January this year, I wish to reflect on theSecond Vatican Council in the light ofone of its declarations, entitled Dignitatis

Humanae (DH), on the theme ofReligious Liberty.

When Vatican II began Fr Orsy was ayoung priest teaching theology at the

faith in actionfr gearóiD ó conaire, ofm

27Aug/Sept 2013

The Search for Truth: Human Dignity and Freedom

Gregorian University in Rome. As a the-ologian, canon lawyer, a Church histo-rian, he is now in a privileged position togive an authoritative reflection of the sig-nificance of this major event in the his-tory of the Church and salvation, duringwhich 16 documents were promulgated.The 91-year-old Fr Orsy admitted thateven after 50 years he is only beginningto better understand some aspects of

Vatican II. The more he learns, the morehe realises how much he doesn’t know.The Council was a quest for reason andtruth seeking understanding. It opensinto mystery, with an unfolding of knowl-edge of the Kingdom on earth.

On the final working day of theCouncil, 7 December 1965, the last doc-ument of Vatican II on religious libertywas promulgated by Pope Paul VI. It

50 years after the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, Gearoid Ó Conaire, OFM, looks at its teaching on religious liberty.

St Anthony Brief28

nearly didn’t make it out of the Council,as a sizable minority of Council mem-bers were uncomfortable with its contentand hotly contested it up to the very end.In fact, as we will see from this article,the document radically changes Churchthinking and practical responses inregard to the freedom of conscience ofeach person to freely choose his or herreligion.

Freedom

Writing in 2010, Pope Benedict, com-menting on the Council, following onfrom a reflection on Gaudium et Spes

(The Church in the Modern World),shared that in his opinion the encounterwith the great themes of the modernepoch did not happen in the greatPastoral Constitution, but instead in twominor documents, the Declaration onReligious Liberty and the DeclarationNostra Aetate on the Relation of theChurch to Non-Christian Religions. ForPope Benedict, what was at stake was“the freedom to choose and practise reli-gion and the freedom to change it, asfundamental human rights and free-doms.” He went on to say that “theChristian faith demanded freedom ofreligious belief and freedom of religiouspractice in worship, without thereby vio-lating the law of the State in its internalordering; Christians prayed for theemperor, but did not worship him. To thisextent, it can be said that Christianity, atits birth, brought the principle of religiousfreedom into the world.”

It was providential, the Pope added,that a few years after the conclusion ofthe Council, Pope John Paul II arrivedfrom a country in which freedom of reli-gion had been denied by Marxism, aparticular form of modern philosophy ofthe State. The Pope had come, to anextent, from a situation similar to theearly Church, so that “the inner orienta-tion of the faith towards the theme offreedom, and especially freedom of reli-gion and worship, became visible oncemore.”

Truth and Charity

The Declaration on Religious Freedomcontained the fruit of four years’ work. Itmay be the most mature product of theCouncil. Other documents emerged outof the reflection on this theme, as didorientations for practical application. DHis full of complexities and paradoxes. Itis not an easy read. The language is dif-

ficult. However it reveals a clear vision,simple, not simplistic, and for this reasonis beautiful. DH is rooted in ancient tradi-tion. It sweeps away the old and opensto new vistas. It contains the wholerange of theologies and experiences ofthe Church, from classical, to scholastic,to recent Biblical scholarship. Fr Orsymused about writing an article, which henever got around to doing. The insightwould have been how Vatican II cor-rected some earlier magisterial declara-tions!

There is a respect for truth, butrecognition that charity has a prioritybeyond truth. The development of doc-trine depends on the development ofminds. As a teacher, he believes that thebiggest obstacle to change is mentality.Mentalities determine structures.Structures won’t change unless peopleare open to having their ideas chal-lenged and are willing to make the nec-essary adjustments in their ideas.Vatican Council II says truth is asupreme value in its own realm.However, giving priority to charity overtruth is a new attitude in the Church. Itcombines the paradigm of truth with theparadigm of charity. It was the first timein history that this happened.

The Greatest is Love

This is not a paradigm change, but acompletion of the paradigm. To affirmtruth alone led to the Inquisition, whenthe Church could oppress or even killsomebody who did not accept the normof objective truth. Vatican Council IIaffirms that truth with love will lead to theembracing of the person in error. Thereis a respect for the dignity of the personover sweeping and hurtful declarationsof the truth. The conclusion is not toimpose truth, but to embrace the person.

Vatican II objectively changed theway of thinking in the Church. It helpsthe Church move to a higher level oftruth, already present in St Paul’s teach-ings. It gives instruction on how to buildGod’s Kingdom and, like Jesus, doesnot impose. St Paul writes: “If I speak inthe tongues of men and of women or ofangels, but do not have love, I am only aresounding gong or a clanging cymbal…Love never fails… And now these threeremain: faith, hope and love. But thegreatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians13). Behind every wholesome humanoperation is the operation of the Spirit.God establishes a divine covenant tohelp the human family build theKingdom. A Divine Energy sweeps

Fundamentalright: Freedomto choose andpractise one’sreligion.

29Aug/Sept 2013

same substance as the Father, led todeep divisions. St Jerome recognised in359 that most Christians had rejectedthe Council teaching. The Council teach-ings were kept alive mainly by the laity,not by the hierarchy. Now what is hap-pening 50 years after Vatican II? Thesame Spirit of God that was present inNicea is present at Vatican II and contin-ues to sweep through the Church andthe world today. The Spirit led theChurch to eventually embrace theNicean Creed. It is interesting that allChristian Churches accept the NiceanCreed and it is a point of unity. There isa lot of confusion, even denial today assome try to explain away the Council.But this has no long-term power over theSpirit that guided the Council. The Spiritwill prevail and Vatican II will be imple-mented. It may take 100 years for peo-ple to recognise that indeed we haveentered a new era, the era of Vatican II.

If readers of St Anthony Brief wishto deepen their understanding of the his-tory of Vatican II, as well as the theologi-cal insights which emerged, and thesubsequent conflicts arising from theCouncil, I recommend two books:Ladislas Orsy, Receiving the Council:

Theological and Canonical Insights and

Debates, (Liturgical Press, Minnesota,2009) and John W. O'Malley, What

Happened at Vatican II, (HarvardUniversity Press, Boston, 2010). nn

gfoconaire@yahoo.co.uk

humble community that seeks no tempo-ral privileges. It uses instead the Word ofGod alone to spread the Good News.So, DH proposes no secular privilegesfor the Church, a real turning point in thelife of the Church. With time we will dis-cover what this implies. We are called tobe a humble Church, announcing theKingdom, without force and allowing theSpirit to do her work.

Freedom of Religion inside the

Church: The person through baptism iscommitted to a community. The commu-nity has its understanding of the Word.What happens when a person of goodfaith does not see as the communitysees which subsequently provokes aconflict? It is a situation where two con-sciences compete: the conscience of theperson and the conscience of the com-munity. Fr Orsy’s conclusion is that hehas not found a general rule to coverthese situations of conflict between theindividual and the community. In suchcircumstances wise people are neededwho understand both sides, the individ-ual and the community. Every case isunique. There is also a need to avoidstrict judicial procedures and to developinstitutional models of reconciliationwithin the Church.

The Spirit Will Prevail

The Council of Nicea (325) and VaticanII are similar in authority. What Niceaproclaimed, that Jesus Christ was the

through the Church, liberating andredeeming those who live in the valley ofdeath. DH is a transition from abstracttruth to charity in which the dignity of theperson is respected.

Some Key Elements

A Fresh View of the Person: In honour-ing the human, God is honoured.Humans are “replicas” (images) of Hisbeing. For this reason they are entitled tofreedom and respect. By acknowledgingthe freedom of a human person we hon-our a divine quality in them. We areinvited to assume responsibility for ourinternal and external development. Thereis a duty to use intelligence and creativityso we can be true “replicas” of God.

Conscience: It is not dictatorial, whichobliges one to be followed blindly. It is notan external regulator. Conscience is partof who I am and is accessible. It is like alight, an internal capacity, a spirit orderinside to guide one to perfection, toknowledge of “the good” at an increas-ingly higher level, an unfolding light.

Perception of the Church: DH providesa fresh vision of the Church. It is basedon Chapter 2 of The Letter to thePhilippians, which has kenosis, Christ’sself-emptying, as its central message.The Church has received God’s revela-tion and therefore, somehow, has a privi-leged position. But it should not graspthis privilege, but empty itself to be a

New era: the Spirit

will prevail.

Mission diGest

30

Patience Tigere and Liam McCarthy.

Brothers in the Lord: Fanuel Magwidi,

Alfigio Tunha (Custos), Xavier Mukupo,

Nicholas Banwha andThomas Makamure (front).

Gathered

in

Chapter

Br JuniperO’Brien, aged 88, greets

his newCustos.

Fanuel Magwidi plays for the Lord.

A time ofEucharisticAdoration.

Please write your letters,

comments and suggestions, to:

the editor, st anthony brief,

franciscan missionary union, merchants’ Quay,

Dublin 8.

Letters to the Editor

Aug/Sept 2013

Dear Father,

A few lines to say how pleased I was to seethat advertisement for the Rossnowlaghretreat centre in the last issue. I did notknow that it was open again and hope, Godwilling, to spend some time there this year. Ihad a wonderful retreat there some yearsago and was sad when I heard La Verna hadclosed. I remember in particular a sunnymorning spent looking out at the beautifulbeach from Calvary hill and feeling veryclose to heaven!

With every good wish,Sr Mary Bosco,Co. Mayo.

Dear Fr Bernard,

I enclose a postal order to renew my subscription

plus a lile for the missions and an additional

amount from my daughter to thank St Anthony for

a request granted.

I look forward very much to receiving your excellent

publication and the varied and most informative

articles it contains. When I feel crushed by the

never-ending stream of depressing news coming at

us from all directions I find it most helpful to sit

down with a cup of tea and “The Brief”. I nearly

always find that I come across an article that is of

particular interest to me.

I am also pleased that my grown-up children like to

read it and comment on their favourite article of a

particular issue.

Again thank you for an excellent magazine.

Yours sincerely,Alice Flinn (Mrs),Co. Cork.

Dear Fr Editor,

As a member of the Third Order and a “client” of StAnthony for many years I was both surprised anddelighted when I read the article “St Anthony: Guidefor the Spiritual Journey”, taken from the words of ourrecent Holy Father, Pope Benedict. I was surprised because I was never told in all mymany years going to the novena on Tuesdays thatbooks of sermons written by St Anthony existed, letalone heard quotes from them. At the recent annualnovena I attended in my local friary – I will not saywhere – I once again had to listen to the life story of StAnthony (spread over nine days!) – something I hadheard so often before. I was also delighted with thearticle because the quotes given by the Holy Father werebeautiful – practical Franciscan wisdom about how wetake the path to God.

Could I humbly suggest that the friars who preach on StAnthony make use of this obvious rich resource? I hopethat this suggestion from a member of the “Family” willbe received in the spirit in which it is made. St Anthonyis “our saint” – let us hear his voice!!May God bless all your work.Yours sincerely,Anonymous.

BrLynch_GardaAD27922 28/01/2010 12:43 Page 1