Order Update: General Minister Releases Follow-up Letter to Plenary Council

Maria Hayes Franciscan World

The following descriptions summarize recent news from the Order of Friars Minor. Additional details can be found by visiting the links to the news items mentioned as well as by following the Order of Friars Minor on Facebook and Twitter for information throughout the month.

►The July 2018 Tempo Forte, or meeting, included a discussion of the activities of the General Minister and his Definitory since the conclusion of the Plenary Council held from June 12 to 28 in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting included updates about the status of several foundations and fraternities dependent on the General Minister.

►General Minister Fr. Michael Perry, OFM, and the Definitory have sent a letter to all the friars titled “Moving from the Celebration of the Plenary Council of the Order to the Production of the Final Document.” It is available in English, Spanish and Italian on the Order’s website.

►In preparation for the 2018 Synod of Bishops (“Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment”) in October, the Order has launched a new series featuring the work that friars are doing to accompany young people in faith. The first of these articles features a Lenten youth mission in Malaysia, where 650 young people came together for a Lenten recollection. The most recent of these articles, titled “Accompanying Young People in a Digital Age,” features the ministries of Casey Cole, OFM, and Daniel Horan, OFM.

►The April – June issue of Contact, the quarterly bulletin for JPIC issues around the Order, is available on the OFM website in several languages.

►Bishop Fiachra Ó Ceallaigh, OFM, died July 29. Born in 1935, he was a native of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. He joined the Franciscan Order in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1961. Bishop Ó Ceallaigh ministered in education as well as several roles within the Order, including General Secretary for Formation and Studies. He was elected provincial minister of the Province of Ireland in 1987 and in that role, was instrumental in the creation of the Union of Friars Minor of Europe. In 1994, he was appointed to be an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dublin and was ordained a bishop on Sept. 17, 1994, the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis.

►BBC Radio 4 is airing a series of programs on the life and legacy of St. Francis of Assisi. Among the friars featured are Br. Alessandro Brustenghi, OFM, and Br. Eunan McMullan, OFM,in Assisi and Br. Caoimhín O’Laoide, OFM, in Rome. The final broadcast is scheduled to air on the feast of St. Francis in October.

— Maria Hayes is communications coordinator for Holy Name Province.

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