Minister's ReportDivine Mercy Regional Fraternity

'CIOFS Visitors, NAFRA EC, Spiritual Assistants, Invited Speakers and Guests,and Regional Ministers, from all the USA Regions including Hawaii gatheredtogether at the Franciscan Renewal Center, "Casa de Paz y Bien" in Scottsdale

SPECIAL NAFRA INSERT SPECIAL NAFRA INSERT

NEWSFrom The2010

NAFRAChapter

Held InScottsdale, AZ

Oct. 26-31, 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I was blessed and a little overwhelmed to attend the Annual NAFRA Chapter in October. It was a jam-packed week full of fellowship in getting to meet my brothers and sisters from all 30 regions and full ofpresentations and commission reports on various issues, events and ministries. For those of you whothought we packed alot into our Annual meeting in August, all I can say is that we are amateurs comparedto what NAFRA packed in...and our own Mary Bittner made a great �Sheriff� in making sure that every-one kept to their allotted time.

A special "Thank You" goes out to the National Executive Council (NEC) for making the new regionalministers feel right at home and to Sue Simeone and the St. Thomas Moore Region for the wonderful jobthey did hosting NAFRA.

It would be impossible to convey all the information that we covered during the week, so I�ll try to givesome highlights here and maybe talk a little more about some topics at our April and August gatherings.

Our NAFRA Minister, Deacon Tom Bello, SFO, began by talking about the Vision of the Order. Our 4priorities are:

1) FRATERNITY - is a community of Love, our visible expression of the Church. Tom called us to build ahistory, a shared story of your fraternity, as a community of love. Our call is not an individual call, but afraternal one.

2) FORMATION - a lot of problems with our fraternities stem from a lack of formation or from poorformation. That is why the National Formation Commission is holding the "Forming the Formators"conference from May 12 - 15, 2011 to roll out the new Formation Manual that we should all be using. Asyou'll read in this newsletter, our Region, in turn, is holding our own "Forming the Formators"conference July 22-24.

3) COMMUNICATION - always needs improvement. How can we do better? Newsletters, In Person,Email, Mail, Telephone, Web, List Servers? We must communicate with other SFO's and we mustcommunicate with God. We also need to communicate with our dispensed members.

4) YOUTH - we need to attract youth because so much of the youth scene does not bring Peace & Joyand does not center around God. Tom challenged us to Live Christ, to Talk Christ, to Teach Christ andto Share Christ with our youth so they will be attracted...maybe not right away, in their busy 20's, butpossibly in their 30's, when they begin to settle down.

Please, bring these priorities, this Vision, into your local fraternity meetings. Maybe dedicate anentire meeting to talking about each and seeing how your fraternity can share this Vision. As was saidduring the conference... "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies those who are called!"

We were blessed to have a visitation from our International Council.The visit was conducted by Tibor Kauser, OFS, presidency counciloras the delegate of the Minister General, Encarnacion del Pozo, andby Fr. Amanuel Mesgún Temelso, ofmcap, representing theConference of General Spiritual Assistants. Both men are joyfulFranciscans, very personable, spiritual and knowledgeable.

Did you know that we have SFO Fraternities in 110 countries, 65 ofwhich can establish National Fraternities? There are 32 or 33Emerging National Fraternities. There are approximately 400,000professed members. Fr. Amanuel stated that in Zambia, the SFO'sare multiplying so fast they can't keep an accurate count. However,they lack the resources needed to keep up with the vocations. Thatis why we should support the Commissions and Projects whenNAFRA or CIOFS asks for donations.

Below are some excerpts from their report:

WELCOME CIOFS INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

Experiences and recommendationsWe have experienced, that the National Council coordinates andanimates the local fraternities well. We suggest to give an emphasison the help of the local fraternities in a more difficult situation. Thespirituality of the renewed SFO based upon the Vatican II has to bedeepened. While we�ve experienced a very vivid life among themembers of some local fraternities, particularly having beenmentioned the Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese fraternities, alsothe challenge of the revitalization of some local fraternities in difficultsituation has been shared with us. This missionary challenge requiresa very good collaboration between the SFO and the First Order andTOR.

AdministrationThe local fraternities shall have the documents of the canonical erection. It must be requested from thatmajor superior, who provides the spiritual assistance. All the local fraternities should ask for this document,if it is not present in the local archive. In cases where the date of the canonical erection is not detectable, thedocument is to be that of recognition issued by the major superior referring to the existence of the localfraternity for a historical period of time and the active life in the present.

Tibor Kauser, Presidency Councilor,Fraternal Visitor and Michelle Kim,NAFRA Councilor

Fr. Amanuel Mesgún Temelso, ofmcap,General Spiritual Assistant, PastoralVisitor and our Marie Amore, SFO

Marian R. Crosby. SFO

O, Good and Gracious God,God of mercy, compassion, generosity, and love,As we live our lives today in the model of St. Francis,

choosing daily to live the Gospel life,Help us to help others hear your call.Help us to help others to recognize

their vocation as a Secular Franciscanthat You have already planted in their heart.

Help us, so that together we all may workto bring the Gospel to life.

Amen!

(Adapted at the 2010 NAFRA-SFO Chapter in Scottsdale, AZ)

National Prayerfor Vocationsto the Secular

Franciscan Order

VOCATION PRAYER ADAPTED AT NAFRAThe National Fraternity discussed how to attract moremembers to our fraternities to see if they have a Vocationto the SFO. We also asked members for ideas on how canwe revive fraternities that are not attracting new members.Someone shared that their fraternity was not growing andthey prayed it back to life. The Poor Clares have a HolyHour for Vocations. It was suggested that we come up witha National Prayer for Vocations and ALL SFO's are askedto pray this prayer that Our Lord inspired and gave to oneof our Regional Ministers during Mass. Please, add it toyour daily prayers.

IMMIGRATION STATEMENT RELEASED...

NEWSNATIONAL FRATERNITYSECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDERIN THE UNITED STATES

Media Contact:Bob Stronach, SFO, 315-796-9468; Mary Stronach, SFO, 315-796-9284, stronach@kateriregion.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 29, 2010

U.S. Secular Franciscan Order Declares Solidarity with MigrantsThe U.S. Secular Franciscan Order declared its �solidarity with migrants in our midst� during its national gatheringOct. 29 at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, AZ.

The national body, representing 14,000 Secular Franciscans across the United States, unanimously approved astatement declaring �some current harsh attitudes towards migration� as intolerable and deploring �the fear andanxiety paralyzing our immigrant brothers and sisters.�

�As Franciscans, we intentionally chose to come to Arizona to stand in solidarity with the migrants in our midst,� thestatement reads.

The statement goes on to say:

! �We endorse the United States Catholic Bishops� urgent call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform,including their strong support for the DREAM act.�

! �We support and encourage all the humanitarian efforts to assist immigrants who are struggling to survive.�

! �We pray for peace and harmony, and we always remember in prayer families who are being torn apart.�

The Secular Franciscan Order is an order of single and married Catholics both Lay and Ordained, who profess tobring the Gospel to life in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.

After much discussion and education on Immigration, theNAFRA released this press release: I will have moredetails on what was discussed at a later date, but pleasepray for reform and for migrant workers and families.

MORE TO COME...� Reports from the JPIC Chair...plus the Divine Mercy Region needs a JPIC chairperson. Do youhave a passion for issues on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation? Do you know someone?Please let us know!� Many Apostolates were at NAFRA, so more to come on FAN (Franciscan Action Network),Franciscan Family Apostolates, Franciscan's International, NAFRA Archives, SALT, Our Histo-rian, Bill Wicks, the Ecumenical Committee, and anything else I might have missed when look-ing over my notes. May you all be abundantly blessed in the New Year and may God's Peace be with you!

Your Sister,