Sunday, March 19, 2017

The Governance of the Order and the Role of Ministers in Fraternal Animation


Mindful of the Admonitions of St Francis, of the Letter to a Minister and the Letter to Brother Leo, we know that the exercise of fraternal ministries is a constant call to individuals and fraternities to grow in their free commitment to follow Christ. It is the task of fraternal ministry to foster the growth of personal responsibility in fraternal life, to promote and sustain unity and communion among the brothers, to recognize the gifts that exist among us, stimulating mutual, inclusive love for all those we encounter, and to sustain the brothers on their journey of conforming themselves to the poor and humble Christ.


For this purpose, Ministers should use every means to promote the shared discernment of the will of God, coresponsibility, fraternal dialogue, joint planning, subsidiarity and solidarity. A basic, indispensable tool in this process must be, above all, the local chapter. In addition they should cultivate an attitude of listening to the brothers and gladly acknowledging the personal journey of each one, remembering the words that Francis used to describe fraternal ministries: to visit, admonish and correct
 Those who occupy positions of authority should be in all things ministers and servants of the brothers, without dominating in fraternal relationships and avoiding all partiality. Mindful of the words of St Francis they should, in a spirit of mutual service, not appropriate any office; they should, moreover, show in practice a healthy detachment from their own role, which will enable them to give disinterested service
 

Chapters and superiors, as expressions of the spiritual and visible unity of the Order, nourish the bond of communion among the brothers. In a spirit of service and with pastoral solicitude they exercise authority received from God through the ministry of the Church in accordance with universal law and the constitution 

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