Formation for members of SFO Fraternities in

India

This draft is for submission to all members who participated in

the First Conference of Major Superiors of Franciscans in India
held at Alverno Province Goa from August 29-31, 2014

Br. Dr Jerry Joseph OFS

National Formator. India

jjpuliken@gmail.com
+919895210727

Dr Jerry Joseph OFS. National Formator. India 2014

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1) Introduction
2) Present state of formation for members of SFO in India
3) Forming the formators
4) Difficulties in Implementation
5) Proposed suggestions
6) Conclusion

Dr Jerry Joseph OFS. National Formator. India 2014

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1) Introduction
There does not exist any profession, occupation or work which
does not demand a continuous perfecting of ones ability. The
necessity of an effective initiation and continuous development in
our times finds its justification in the fast changes in social and
cultural conditions and in the new acquisitions of the sciences,
both mundane and ecclesiastical, and of the history and
spirituality of any order. Our Secular Franciscan Order is in no
way different. Steps in initial formation and ongoing formation
consents to maintain the youth of the spirit which each and
every single member should take care of in herself/ himself. Only
he who keeps alive the desire to learn and to grow maintains this
youthfulness.
Nobody is allowed to renounce her/his own growth, be it human
or religious. At no phase of our lives are we allowed to consider
ourselves so secure and fervent that we can exclude from our
attention, guarantee perseverance in fidelity, as if there is an age
where we can say that our human maturation is complete and
fulfilled. The Christian matures in the aspiration to knit Gods holy
people together for the work of service to build up the Body of
Christ, until we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of the Son
of God and form the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of
Christ himself. (Ephesians4:12&13).
Too often, especially in the past, candidates were admitted into
the Order simply because they were good and pious people or
because they held in great esteem some holy friar or because
they liked Saint Francis. Often, until today, people ask to enter the
Order because they feel lonely or because they need to feel part
of a group or simply out of devotion. Obviously this is not enough.
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Entering into a form of life such as the Franciscan form of life is

not just one of the many optional decisions we make in our lives.
It is the result of a very precise call of God to become Franciscan
with a very precise purpose. Becoming Secular Franciscan is/
must be the result of an authentic vocation. Along with it comes
a precise mission, in communion with the entire Franciscan
Family, sustained by the very charism of Saint Francis, which
enables us to accomplish the mission in our secular state.
It is absolutely necessary to rediscover and to live to its full extent
the vocational dimension of us being members of Secular
Franciscan Order. It is no longer acceptable (in present or future)
to become Secular Franciscans out of devotion or without a true
and authentic vocation. In the absence of a real vocation there
are many ways to share in Saint Francis spirituality and in our
own secular Franciscan spirituality, without entering the Order as
a professed member.

2) Present state of formation for members of SFO in India

To be without any reservations attached, to put it in plain terms,
up to now there is no unified, organized, systematic formation
program that is being imparted on any level, be it initial formation
of candidates under preparation or ongoing formation of the
already professed members of the order. To state a simple
example, in a gathering of local fraternity representatives of 13
regions in 3 different instances, totaling to a maximum of 500
members, all of them being professed, only 1 in 150 of them had
courage to raise their hands to the question: How many of you
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have read The present rule of the Secular Franciscan Order, AT

LEAST ONCE! This is one among the many things that needs to
be addressed on a war footing in our national-regional-local
fraternity levels.
People do become members of the order, not based on a
vocation, but with the good interest of being member of a pious
organization. At many local units; orientation, inquiry, candidacy
and profession are time bound events and has nothing to do with
assessment of vocation and imparting the sense of being first a
CHRISTIAN, then a CATHOLIC and later a SECULAR
FRANCISCAN. Finally a simple HUMAN BEING reorganized in
the Trinity.
None of our fraternities seems to be in anyway focusing on The
One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church or happenings in the
Ecclesiastical contest. To retrospectively examine the above facts:
We were earnestly requested as a part of the year of New
Evangelization for Transmission of Christian Faith to study
Catechism of The Catholic Church and Documents of Second
Vatican Council. How many of our fraternities, local or regional
have taken an earnest attempt to introduce these to their
members?. Has an attempt been made to enrich the members of
our order with the Apostolic Exhortation of our supreme pontiff
Francis EVANGELII GAUDIUM (The Joy of The Gospel). Are
we aware and have we taken interest in the upcoming
extraordinary synod of Bishops on Pastoral challenges of the
family in the context of Evangelization at Rome in October 2014
and a continuation of it as ordinary synod in October 2015. The
Linamenta and Instrumentum Laboris are already published to
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public. More than anyone interested in general, it is about families

and meant for the families. Even after being well aware of the fact
that we are members of an order, by Francis, for seculars, for
those in the world, for those leading family life; are we maintaining
a glorified ignorance, and considering it a bliss?. It is high time to
reconsider our preferences as members of an Order!
For most of us, formation, whether initial or ongoing consist in a
one day recollection or two days retreat just before final
profession or with a rare luxury of one before being inducted for
candidancy. Francis still remains for us a great saint with ability
to talk to wolves and birds; having a crib created with live people
for Christmas and still more, the one who received THE
STIGMATA, for the first time ( It is now known that Francis was
not the first to receive stigmata ), and Clare as his best friend. His
actions appears adorable, but far from being able to put into our
real life protocols in this present age.

3) Forming the Formators

The growth of a particular person in maturity and sanctity of life
requires a suitable atmosphere in the fraternity and a determined
attitude on the part of the persons involved in the formative
process of the personality of the candidate and in the formation of
his conscience.
Since the future of the evangelization and the renewal of
community life depends on ongoing formation, it is necessary that
the persons concerned are offered the opportunity for continuous
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growth in fidelity to the charism and the mission of the Order. If

the so-called indications are valid for all those who have
answered the call of Christ, then these concern first of all the
formators at various stages of development. The formators and
educators, as teachers must be aware that the formation of the
students depends much on their way of thinking and acting, that
this formation is tied to their mature and strong personality as
seen under the human and evangelical profile.
In Evangelii Nutiandi (On Evangelization in the Modern World):
Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Paul VI (1975), it is clearly stated
as follows: Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than
to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they
are witnesses (EN 41). All of us are called to be witnesses and
there by to be formators, not by our own choice, but by vocation.
It is God who calls. When from God, everything has a purpose.
But a yes from us is essential.
4) Difficulties in Implementation
There are various difficulties in implementing a unified, organized,
systematic formation program and formation manual in a vast
country like India. The following are a few, but not all, of them:
a) The number of Secular Franciscan members. This amounts
to more than 18,000 members, professed and those who are
being initiated.
b) Many members of the national council have participated in
formation programs on International-National levels, but the
dispensation of information, to the local fraternities has not
take place from all those who participated with sponsorship
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of the National Council from time to time ( with very few

exemptions). Multiple reasons are mentioned as to, why no
attempt has been made for fare use of resource persons, but
all of them are/were rectifiable, except persistent ill health or
demise of a member.
c) There are a wide variety of languages spoken. Materials
available in English or only in selected few regional
languages will serve only less than three-fourth the
population of SFO members.
d) A system of implementation of formation from NationalRegional-Local Fraternities is in practice, but never been
reviewed on a regular basis.
e) There have been regular formation programs at least in few
of the states in India and on Regional levels, but resource
persons are few.
f) Financial situation of all regions are not equally stable;
hence a sound National Council is yet a dream to come true.
g) At many local units, the average population is over the age
of 60years or more and very few new members are
introduced

5) Proposed suggestions
The following are the proposed suggestions for
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Implementation of formation program by International

Presidency Council of The Secular Franciscan Order to the
individuals of the local fraternities in accordance with the needs
and constrains of The National Council of India.
A. Regular part taking in Formation Programs by the
International Presidency.
B. Transmission of information, in the most palatable way
from the National Council to the Regional Council and
there after to each members of Local Fraternity is
essential.
C. Making formation materials available in as many regional
languages as possible.
D. Members of National Council, Regional Council and Local
Councils are to take classes on respective levels. A set of
18 classes over a period of 3 years tenure is regarded to
be essential from the part of all the office bearers.
E. Formation team and its programs at all fraternal levels
should include not only office bearers, but any person
with a willingness and ability to present materials to the
fraternity upon request by the formation team.
F. Formation for formators are to take place on an average
of once every six months or if possible more frequently.
G.Time bound program of candidancy and profession to the
Order should be discouraged. It should be vocation

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based, so that right candidate is professed at the right

time only.
H. The assessment of candidates at each level of formation
should be a task of local council in association with
Spiritual assistants.
I. Within local fraternities, it is ideal that family members of a
professed member be given opportunity to have exposure
to the activities of the fraternity. If this cannot be fulfilled,
one of the probable reason being the member
himself/herself is not a witness as a practicing Catholic.
J. Wise use of media
K. Routinely books/ readings are mentioned depending on
the stage of formation in which the candidate is present.
But since all of us are in continuous formation through out
our life, we may need those books we used during
orientation phase, at any time.

Books, materials and facts for formation are classified into 3

sections and are to be made available in regional languages

1. Those pertaining to being a Christian

Holy Bible
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History of Christianity
Heresies though the ages
Mary our mother
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
Ecumenism
Introduction to Liberation Theology

2. Those pertaining to be a practicing Catholic

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Compendium, Youcat
Councils of the church, with emphasis on Second Vatican
Council
and
its
documents.
Role of Laity
Family and Evangelization, the synod of Bishops in Oct 2014
Sacraments
Liturgy: Holymass, Divine praises as per the time of the day.
All this should be in accordance to the rite of the local
fraternity (Latin, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara)
Christology
Trinity
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Canon Law
Apostolic Exhortation: The Joy of the Gospel and encyclicals
promulgated from time to time by the Holysee
Pope Francis
Missionary Role of the Church, poor and needy& Church as
the mystical body of Christ
Eucharist
Prayer
3. Those pertaining to Franciscanism and Secular Franciscan
Order.
Penance through the ages
Christianity in Middle-ages
Life history of Francis and Clare: a legenda and one in
chronological
Brief history of Franciscan Orders
Detailed history of Secular Franciscan Order and Rule
Pauline Rule of 1978
General Constitutions of SFO
Franciscan Mission and Role of SFO as an Order in service to
the church
Franciscan vision of poverty, care of sick and as a model of
human liberation
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Franciscan Formation
Writings of Francis and Clare
Call to evangelization in a Franciscan perspective
Responsibility of Secular Franciscan to earth and nature
Franciscan prayer life

7) Conclusion
Our intention of being a SFO member is, not to end by
following Francis, Clare, or Anthony... Our destination is our
Lord Jesus Christ. The above mentioned saints and a host of
others are in a position to guide us. We are all called to be
something for someone in need, at the right time at the right
place, beyond boundaries of religion, nationality, gender or
financial status .

This conclusion part is intentionally left blank.

The whole idea of presenting this draft to all the members of
this Conference of Major Superiors is that we will have a
healthy meaningful outcome which is concrete, practical,
unified and goal oriented; suiting to the needs of our sisters
and brothers united in Christ as Secular Franciscans in India.

Dr Jerry Joseph OFS. National Formator. India 2014

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(I would like to thank many in, helping by various possible

means, in preparation of this draft. Special thanks are to the
International Presidency of OFS, National Council of India.
No words are sufficient in thanking, Fr Alfred OFM Conv,
Rector of Kolbe Ashram Aluva and all the brothers there, for
giving me a free hand in using the library and providing an
atmosphere mingled with faith, hope and love)

Dr Jerry Joseph OFS. National Formator. India 2014

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