Provincial Letter- SPRING 2007

�

Dear Friars,

Peace and Good Things!

�Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.�� With these sobering words the Church inaugurates its annual retreat. They remind us that while Lent ultimately leads to new life and resurrection, it also invites us to reflect on our own mortality.� Just as there is no Easter without Good Friday, so there is no new life without the daily dying to sin and self to which baptism and our Franciscan life call us.

This dual theme of dying and rising has been much on my mind lately; not only as the Church prepares to enter into Lent, but also as I participate in and read about the proceedings of the regional gatherings that have been taking place throughout the Province. One focus of these meetings has been to consider proposals and recommendations that have potential for breathing new life and vitality into the Province.� We are being called to imagine ways by which we might invite others to partner with us in ministry; to consider ways in which we might give ourselves in a more direct way to service to the poor in our midst; and to re-awaken in ourselves and the Province a new zeal for the mission life of the Church and the evangelization that is an integral component of it.� These are all forward-looking possibilities that have the capacity to renew us in the living of our Franciscan life and that will respond to real needs in the Church and in the larger society of which the Church is a part.

A second focus of these regional gatherings has been to complete �The Five Wishes�, a document that allows us to determine what kind of care we want�and do not want�as we face death and the possibility of a prolonged or debilitating illness.� This forces us to face our own mortality and makes us more keenly aware of our aging and dwindling numbers.� As is often the case, this latter reality has the capacity to rob us of hope and prevent us from conceiving of any future, much less a future filled with possibilities and new life.� And to become stuck in that place is like being suspended in a Lent that never ends; to be invited to reflect on our mortality with no hope of resurrection and the fullness of life it promises.

In an interview on the occasion of the150th anniversary of the establishment of their Monastery, Sr. Nancy Bauer, OSB, Prioress of the Sisters of St. Benedict of Saint Joseph, MN, remarked that two of the questions she often faces both from sisters and people outside the Monastery have to do with planning for the future and with dwindling numbers.� The following, in part, is her response:

���� �I don�t worry about numbers.� Who�s to say that when we were a community of seven�or 300�or 1300�or 298 that any one of those times or people in that community were any more vital in preaching the Good News than now?� It�s not about numbers; it�s about fidelity.� It�s not about how many bodies you have; it�s about how many committed people you have.� I think the challenges have not changed that much over the years.� It�s always the challenge of staying committed to those values of sharing our resources, of living together.� Living together is still a challenge, even for religious people. . . . Faithfulness and fidelity to the life itself is a challenge in every generation.�

�As I read these words, I thought that Sr. Nancy could be speaking about our own community or any number of religious communities, for that matter.� Regardless of the initials we sign after our names, the reality and the challenges are the same.� The reality is dwindling numbers, an aging population, the inability to maintain commitments to ministries, and lack of hope for a vital future.� The challenge is to recognize that, in some way, we have always dealt with limitations and that a vital, hope-filled future rests in our faithfulness to a way of life that we professed 60 or 40 or five years ago; a way of life that entails constant conversion, dying to selfishness, and aligning our priorities with those of the gospel.� We cannot allow the reality to immobilize us or rob us of hope.

�

�Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.�� This is our other option as we are marked with ashes.� Turn away from the sin of hopelessness, the temptation to boredom, the preoccupation of wringing our hands wondering what will become of us, and live our Franciscan life in a vibrant way�faithful to the gospel and the journey it entails.

Fraternally in St. Francis

�

������������������������������������� (Very Reverend) Anthony M. Criscitelli, TOR
Minister Provincial

newsletter contents�

Providence Regional News

| Page Up |