With the aim of deepening the collaboration between the animation efforts of the provinces and custodies, the Conferences and the Order, Br. Massimo Fusarelli, OFM, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, convoked the Secretaries for Formation and the Studies, Evangelization and Mission and JPIC Animators of the Franciscan Conference Brazil – Southern Cone to a meeting on January 27 and 28 of this year in the city of Brasilia, capital of Brazil.
The more than thirty brothers summoned were joined by the Secretary General for Formation and Studies, Br. Darko Tepert, OFM; the Secretary General for the Missions and Evangelization, Fr. Francisco Gómez Vargas, OFM; and the General Director of the Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Fr. Daniel Rodríguez Blanco, OFM.
These three friars presented their work based on the mandates and guidelines outlined in the General Chapter of 2021. They offered some proposals for the entities and the Conference, such as the commitment to the elaboration of the Ratio Evangelizationis of the Order, support for the Franciscan Network for Migrants in Latin America (RFM), and the course for formators that is about to materialize.
Secondly, the two Secretaries and the JPIC Animator of the Conference presented the projects prepared the previous year. Then, each entity described the hopes and obstacles that they had encountered within the work entrusted to them. Br. Fernando dos Santos, Custos of the Custody of the Sacred Heart of Brazil and vice president of the Brazilian Conference, the Southern Cone, presented the results of the meeting of the Union of Franciscan Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean that had just ended at the Sao Paulo city.
With everything completed, work was done in groups and then the plenary session that resulted in concrete actions to be carried out collaboratively between Formation, Evangelization and JPIC. It is worth mentioning that, among them, is the creation of theoretical and practical contents for each of the stages of the Initial Formation in the areas of evangelization and JPIC, an Ongoing Formation project that includes mission experiences and in which the Under Ten friars are emphasized. Furthermore, there is a commitment to the strengthening of the work of the Franciscan Network for Migrants from Latin America.
