Rules for CREATING
A FRANCISCAN CHRISTIAN FRATERNITY
(For: Franciscan Christian Fraternities)
CHAPTER ONE (INTRODUCTION)
1: The weakest link to Christianity is the human factor
itself (it is not God or our heavenly saints or our beloved departed). We
humans can be selfish, political, hateful, angry, manipulative, critical,
indifferent and prideful. Through our human weakness, Franciscan Christians should
only (humbly) desire to be small before God and come to God’s table of plenty
as hungry beggars. We beg for food not for ourselves but for others. Let us not
experience any personal ego growth but instead experience the Christ Spirit
from within us that is crying for the needs of others. We humbly ask God to allow
Christ to open our hearts and inspire family formation between potential
brothers and sisters who want to experience Jesus as Francis did. We ask God to
do this without unrealistic human obstacles that block the movement of the Holy
Spirit within the Franciscan Christian movement and our ability to form
new fraternities with new members.
2: Our Franciscan way should not create problems for our own
people or our loved ones (when creating new fraternities); it should instead
comfort our people when problems occur. We do not wish for members of our
movement to become solely people of the “Franciscan Law” (strictly emphasizing
regulations) but instead we should be people of “Christian Love” through
Franciscan expressions of that love.
3: The purpose of these guidelines is to simplify the
process that new fraternities must go through in order to be established.
CHAPTER TWO (HAVING A CHRISTIAN HEART)
4: We should have an easy to understand guidelines in one place
for establishing new fraternities. We do not want to come across as rigid and
legalistic with confusing rules, statues and articles in various places
concerning creating new fraternities. When a request is made to form a new
fraternity, these guidelines and our general rules should be sent to help those
“Evangelizing” new territories.
5: When helping new fraternities to form, we do not want the
appearance of something that goes against our basic principles of generosity,
kindness and charity. Without the clarity and simplicity that these guidelines
give; something would be missing in our Franciscan rules. What would be missing
is St. Francis himself or his life example. Like Christ, Francis would listen,
understand, give value to others and attend to their needs. We do not want to
be bureaucratic in our expression of faith as we help our own to greater and
better things.
CHAPTER THREE (BEING OPEN TO NEW IDEAS)
6: We should do whatever we can to open our doors wider to include
the vast diversity of the faithful. We should be accommodating to parents with
children, to young adults, to single people and to senior citizens. We should
not expect them to completely come to us only (under our conditions). The Franciscan Christians are important but they could also be a gateway of
interest into higher leadership within the greater Church or the Franciscan
movement when we show our sincere faith through loving hearts.
CHAPTER FOUR (THE FIRST STEP)
7: Organize yourselves for about one year of being a fraternity on
probation. You need five officers to start a new fraternity on probation.
An operational President needs to be chosen (the duties are like a President of
any organization). This position serves as a servant of all. An operational
Vice President is needed to function as President when the President is absent
or to assist the President with their duties. A Formation Director is needed to
lead potential members in their formation. A Secretary is needed to take notes
during meetings. A Treasurer is needed to keep account of the finances. The
central purpose for these officers (at this time) will be to create a new
fraternity with new members through this formation process. These temporary
officers need to be individuals who are interested in going through the
formation process and wish to share their leadership and organizational skills
with others. The temporary officers form the fraternity council and they can
add other positions to the council (for example, like a service committee head
or a refreshment committee head). The formation material to be studied can be
the discussion topics (provided on the blog below) or any of the materials that
your Christian denomination can provide that educates about Franciscan
Spirituality. During this stage of development the fraternity-to-be can be guided
or helped by another local fraternity if you need help. This help can be by
occasional visits, video conferencing, letters or emails. Once you are
organized, you recruit new members.
CHAPTER FIVE (THE SECOND STEP)
8: Before your first meeting find a spiritual adviser (for
Catholics fraternities someone from the 1st or 2nd orders or a TOR member would
be helpful but not required). Since the Ecumenical Lay Franciscan Movement is
local church based, your church Pastor, Assistant Pastor, Deacon or church
elder for some Protestant Churches will do. If this is not possible, see if
video conferencing (like skype) and email form of advising can occur. A
fraternity needs to be approved by higher church denominational leadership
(like the Bishop or the District Superintendent for some Protestant
denominations). If there is none, then the approval stops with your local
church Pastor.
CHAPTER SIX (THE THIRD STEP)
9: You can now start the Franciscan formation process in your church.
This is your recruitment process for it introduces Franciscan spirituality
through faith sharing. My suggestion would be the following: The first month
(orientation) could be on discussing what makes you interested in Franciscan
Spirituality. Personalize your discussion by explaining what this means to each
of you in your personal life. The second month of discussion could be on
Franciscan Beliefs and Symbols. The third month of discussion could be about
“Simplicity”. Place emphasis on how to balance your life from the excesses
within our society. The forth month of discussion could be about “Producing
Peace”. Place emphasis on peace through forgiveness and peace through
sacrificial love. The fifth month of discussion could be about “Living the Gospel
Life”. Place emphasis on developing a spiritual ability to move from the gospel
into life than from life into the gospel - over and over again. The sixth
month of discussion could be on “Poverty”. NOTE: There is a blog with the
Rules, Discussions and devotions - you can go to
https://www.fransiscanchristians.blogspot.com for more information. Enter the name of
the site in the top box on your computer screen to avoid a long list of
unrelated sites. During this step of formation, you will have a good idea of who
is interested in joining your fraternity.
CHAPTER SEVEN (THE FORTH STEP)
10: Start your fraternity meetings by accommodating the needs of
those showing interest - as much as possible. (For Catholics, model your
formation to reflect the RCIA process that the Catholic Church uses. For
Protestants it should be like a Sunday school class). Shorter weekly meetings
are better than longer monthly meetings for younger people or parents with
children. The first three weeks of each month (meeting about one hour each
time) should be the presentation of a formation lesson for that week. The
lesson can come from the discussions on the Franciscan Christians blog site: https://www.franciscanchristians.blogspot.com for more
information. For Catholics, you could choose an approved Secular Franciscan
book like “The Franciscan Journey” by Lester Bach, OFM, CAP if you wish.
However, you would be professing to our rules (not theirs) and you would be a
member of your local fraternity (not one of theirs). The fourth week can be a
council and business meeting.
11: If possible, you could allow some time at each weekly meeting
to be a snack & social time in order to form personal bonding. Any fifth
meeting can be spent planning service projects or planning ways to help the
church that you meet in. Once the fraternity is established for several
years, professed members do not have to attend the three formation meetings
(each month) unless they are a sponsor or on the formation team. Instead, they
could choose a book or video series or another continuous education project.
The suggested physical environment of the meeting room should be chairs
arranged in a circle with a small table containing a candle (could be an
electrical candle) in the middle of the room. Franciscan symbols should also be
on display to inspire all the members and remind you of your Franciscan roots.
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