August 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! It is hard to believe summer is half over! I was in the car with one of my granddaughters yesterday and as we passed her school she said how much she missed school and wanted summer to end. Music to a grandpa’s heart… I said it is wonderful that you love to learn. She said in her adorable way “Grandpa, I don’t like learning, I miss my friends!” as it should be. The same is true with our fraternities, we are friends, we are family we should love to gather and be together. Including just having fun!
As you know we took a short break from Initial Formation in July’s letter to discuss ongoing formation. Well, it is time to get back to initial formation. As you know we were discussing Inquiry and using the Pathways to Profession Chart1 to bring order and constancy to our journey and the exploration of Secular Franciscan spirituality. Everything we do and teach should be based on this concept and founded in the FUN Manual and the Regional Guidelines. If we do this we will know we are on the correct path.
So, when we left off in June, we were discussing Inquiry. Inquiry is the first true step in initial formation for the Secular Francians. Orientation is important but is just that, it is meant to give a person some terms and a basic understanding of what will be happening. But by now your “Inquirer” should have had time to get familiar with some of the language we use (in orientation) and you, the formation team and the members of the fraternity should be getting to know the Inquirer. And please note I called them an “Inquirer” not Postulate or Novice. Since regionalization and the adoption of the new rule (forty years ago) the correct terms are Inquirery and Candidacy or Inquirer or Candidate. While we are on that subject, the Minister or president of a fraternity (at any level) is no longer referred to as a Prefect, it is either minister or president, more places use minister. But I digress, I apologize.
Back to the Inquirer, by now you should have collected all of the Spiritual Inventory, sacramental records and other important documents. There should have been at least one formal interview and possibly two. In my fraternity we frequently have a BBQ or Picnic with the inquirers and the council instead. This make the situation much less threatening. As your Inquirer nears the end of the inquiry phase, they should be invited to request Candidacy (in writing) including why they feel called to a Franciscan vocation.
Once that is done, the formation team and the fraternity council should review all the documents including the home work where appropriate and have a discussion as to whether they see a vocation in the individual. Once discussed a council vote should occur and there should be no doubt the individual should continue. If there is any doubt, a further discussion needs to happen. What do we do now?
Next month we will continue the discussion on Inquiry and tips on progressing thru the process.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
