Formator's Conference

From the moment I arrived in the United States June 24 until I left again July 20 my time was consumed with the Formator's Conference. I worked on the plans for this conference for many months, pecking away in internet cafes and using my cell phone to make arrangements with different participants. It was an amazing experience. At the end of the three week program Sr. Joyce and I wrote an introduction to the new internaional curriculum, which I have excerpted here:

"It gives us great pleasure in introducing this curriculum to you. It is the result of the input, experience and hard work together of participants in this Formators’ Conference. Those who participated came to Little Portion, Long Island, from all Provinces of SSF and from CDC, Zimbabwe. This was an historic occasion!

The participants were: Clifton Henry and Samson Siho (Province of the Solomon Islands); Lester Meso and Philip Etobae (Papua New Guinea Province); Bhekimpilo (CDC, Zimbabwe); Donald Campbell, who could only attend for half the conference, and Nathan James (Australia/New Zealand Province); Pamela Clare and Eric Michael (Province of the Americas); Jenny Tee, Desmond Alban and John (European Province), together with us Ministers General.

The impetus for this meeting came out of the last Chapter of the First Order, September 2008, where there was much concern expressed about Formation, especially up to Life Profession. The goal was to produce a ‘road map’, something that would be flexible enough to cross the boundaries of our different cultures and contexts in order to build up confidence especially for those given the direct responsibility for Formation. As Don Bisson said, “if you are in Formation, you are in formation”. However, we also recognized that the formation of our newest members lies with all of us. Each new member who joins us is expected to change in the process of development, but unless the Community changes too there is the likelihood of slow strangulation or torture of the new member.

So we undertook some formative experiences around some core Franciscan values to hear some ‘parables of formation’, to open our understanding to what might be possible and how to do formation by listening to those who work for environmental justice, social justice, and ecumenical and inter-faith relations. First we met with Don Bisson, Marist Brother, about how to do Formation. Travelling by van, and some sleeping on church hall floors, we met in New York City with the West Harlem Environmental Initiative, the Poverty Initiative at Union Seminary and the parish of St. Mary’s in Harlem. We then went to Graymoor as the guests of the Brothers of the Society of the Atonement to discuss ecumenical relations. We visited the Chaung Yen Buddhist Monastery to experience inter-faith relations. We also had the opportunity to meet with the Sisters of the Atonement and the Franciscan Missionary Sisters at Peekskill (where the founder of CSF died as a member of that Roman Catholic congregation). We travelled on to Boston and the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Ecclesia Ministries, and a meeting with Dr. Kwok Pui-Lan at Episcopal Divinity School.

On returning to Little Portion, we received advice on curriculum development from Wendell Chu, Superintendent of Islip School District on Long Island, Lucas Benitez, founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Derrick McQueen of the Poverty Initiative who gave us very valuable help in facing some of the challenges in developing this curriculum..."

So it is finished; let the good times roll!

O to be a bird!

Because I studied theatre (among other things) in England when I was in college, I always associate England with theatre. But I was in a student's paradise all those years ago, and have never been able to afford to see many plays on return visits to the UK. But while I was in Canterbury last week the brothers got a chance to go to a performance of Dario Fo's "Francis, the Holy Jester." We trooped off to Margate (a small town about 15 miles outside Canterbury, on the sea coast) to the ancient (okay, Eighteenth Century--I am an American after all) Theatre Royal. I was happy to be going to a play, and knew nothing of who Dario Fo was nor much about the play except it was about Francis. I really had a treat! The actor, Mario Pirovano was electric, and supplemented a manic text with pointed asides (i.e. "It is all allegory: the wolf of Gubbio was a rapacious politician!"). Fo aimed to liberate Francis from the birdbath and unleash some of the Good News in contemporary hearts. Here is a passage from the play:

"It is almost sunset and Francis's companions, exhausted as they are, drop to the ground and fall fast asleep. Francis stands under a huge tree--it's enormous, with a lot of branches, full of leavews, and little birds hopping and chirping, flying around looking for a good place to spend the night. Francis looks at them: 'oh, birds, how blissful you are, what a marvel! So light you are, and overflowing with joy, you don't have a care and you fly, flapping y0ur wings in the wind, in the air, so easily and in harmony. In the air which is so close to God that surely it is His very breath...perhaps the breeze itself is God...and the wind...and God raises you with His hands and makes you fly!' While Francis is speaking the words of this prayer, many other birds arrive from all around, birds of all kinds: finches, crows and hawks, even buzzards and eagles from the mountains and birds from the sea and the rivers. The tree fills up with birds--so many that you can't see a single leaf--and they all listen: 'Oh blissful birds, who are free and light, who live without possessions, with no burdens to weigh you down and no power to enslave you! Oh if men too could be so light, without any loads crushing us--men who brag, full of greed, and thirst for possessions, and desire for glory; crazed to the point of overpowering each other, clambering on other people's heads in order to appear bigger and taller than everybody else--lies! Rogueries! Wickedness and lack of love! Oh, if we could free ourselves from this burden, be stripped of this wretched passion, we could be so light as to levitate up into the sky, and the puff of a child would be enough to make us fly!' While still speaking, Francis turns slightly and notices that, on the wide road behind him, a crowd of people are listening to him. There are women crying, men holding their breath, unable to applaud. And Francis looks up at the sky and says: 'How strange this world is! To make people listen to you, you must speak to the birds!'

Francis the Holy Jester has inspired and agitated many people over the years. Here Matthew and Vaughan become novices at Hilfield May 30. During my time at Hilfield I spent some time reading Br. Bernard's autobiography "My God, My All: A friar's journey". I dog eared several pages of the book, impressed how he sometimes sounded a bit like me. Or perhaps how there is something universal in our vocation? At any rate, he wrote about his desire to be a

brother which reminded me of why I wanted to be a brother and perhaps why I loved Fo's play so much: "One afternoon in my third year at Cambridge, standing in the sitting rom of my digs, I quite suddenly felt in my deepest self that God was asking me to become a friar. I had very mixed feelings. Perhaps the first was horror: 'Oh no Lord!' I then moved onto self exploration...I was attracted by the itinerant mission of the brothers, the desire to serve the most needy, and the life of communal prayer and meditation'(page 108). I think my call was something like that. It has been an unfolding adventure, and even required me to do things I'd rather not, like deal with money and help make decisions about things like that, and help extend and maintain buildings which we use to roost in between our travels. At the Central Fund meeting in London after my time in Canterbury, the Solomon Islands province requestd some money to extend their chapel since the current one only seats 80, and so many come to listen to the brothers and share in their worship (inspired by birdsong a brother once told me). But it was a lovely soaring feeling to present their case to the trustees and get the funding. (I just learned today they are taking the Franciscan message to a new place, Vanuatu.)This is a picture of Brother Gerardo, one of our itinerant novices (from Mexico)

A new stop on my UK travels this visit has been the Poor Clares convent in Freeland, outside Oxford. I wonder if Fo knows them? They seem very free, ordering their life to protect their passion for prayer (and jam making, chicken farming, card making) and carrying out radical hospitality. I was surprised by the diversity of folks I met in the space of a few short days, and heard some of the stories of the sisters' ministry. Itinerancy is not always just about moving around physically; it includes a wide open attitude. Spiritual freedom recognizes no barriers, I think.

From Oxford I flew north on the Cross Country railroad to Alnmouth. Here too, the community practices radical hospitality. And I can run along the bluffs, and dip down and skim the tidal flats (some might say lumber like a water buffalo, but it is what I feel inside that counts).



All the brothers at the annual brothers meeting at Hilfield June 2

Home for Chapter

I flew back to USA Wednesday, after staying in a slightly creepy (cheap, alas) B & B in Rome. It's only attraction was that it was close to the Termini, and thus made it possible to catch my early flight.

Long Island is reveling in a beautiful spring. The trees are leafed out, the grounds are GREEN. I felt a deep sense of relaxation, a deeply felt "shift" in my body: home. Honoring this, I asked if my "home base" could be shifted back to Long Island, and Chapter granted this. Come the new year, I'll go get my stuff in Berkeley and schlepp it to Long Island.

Other big events at Chapter included some sad farewells to brothers who are leaving the community, welcoming others who are coming to test their vocation, another who transferred to SSF from another order. The most significant piece of legislation was the adoption of a system of finances which created a central provincial fund and linked the friaries together for mutual support. Apart business of Chapter, we were observing and celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Province of the Americas. We were started by Fr. Joseph in Merrill, Wisconsin. Consequently, we spent a lot of time dreaming big dreams for our future and committing ourselves to specific, measurable steps we will take before next year's chapter.

The best part of it all was being together. We laughed together, wept at each others painful stories, we joked around and I got teased unmercifully the way only your brothers can tease. It was really sweet.

Today I went and picked up my tickets for my next trip (Friday to UK).

I'm looking forward to that too.




In the pictures, from top: Brothers Ivanildo and Max, Clark and Leo, and Ambrose at our Memorial Day picnic at the end of Chapter.

Pizza Ecumenism

Last night Br. Thomas Anthony and I bought a stack of pizzas and went to have dinner with the brothers of the Society of the Atonement. They have been very friendly and generous to me during my stay in Italy, so I thought a celebration was in order. As we ate and drank, the conversation began to flow, crazy stories about our everyday lives, memories of events that happened in our past: the kind of conversation that happens whenever people are getting together to enjoy each other.

These kinds of gatherings are really important for my work, pleasant as they sound. Because at the heart of the Franciscan life is the effort to help people to learn how to live differently on the planet today. And part of that differentness is to create strong bonds across different divides. Pizza based friendships will very likely open to deeper levels of conversation and shared endeavors. Real friendships will never be satisfied with any kind of complacency about winners and losers in the Gospel life. In "Centro" a newsletter from the Anglican Centre in Rome Mary Reath writes: "Mary Tanner rightly says in the preparatory book for the conference [called Receptive Ecumenism and Ecclesial Learning held in Durham, England, in January 2009] that the personal and the relational is always prior, and that needs to be built up for all people, not just the theologians and leaders." Never was a pizza party so important!

Wednesday midday I was given a tour of some of the behind-the-scenes places in the Sacro Convento, the "friary" at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. After admiring the Papal Apartments and marveling at the ancient books in the library we dashed down a colonnaded walkway to the refectory. My host was modest about it, apologizing for it's "unattractiveness." Staring around the cavernous baroque space I said, "For a guy from Snohomish, Washington, I think it is amazing!!" It is all in one's perspective. And when I was introduced to the brothers, a group of young men at the center table turned and stared and started to whisper to each other. After checking my fly I sat down and started talking to the brothers seated next to me. When lunch was over the young men all crowded around me. They are the postulants for the OFM Conventuals in this part of Italy. "We've heard of Anglican Franciscans," one said in English,"But never met one before!" They peppered me with questions in Italian and after translation I answered in English and hoped the translator got it right. They wanted to know about our rule, and origins, how many of us are there, where do we live. Some wanted to know about Anglicanism and how we came to be. I gave them the abridged version while they looked at me with fascination, making amazed comments to each other. How is it, I thought to myself, they know nothing about Anglicanism? Our "birth" was a pretty significant world event in the 1500's. We took a photo, shook hands. Mary Reath goes on to say: "We should be in each other's churches, explaining who we are, sharing ashes, singing Christmas carols, renewing Baptismal vows, and on and on."

Amen!

Up From the Grave He Arose!

From time to time a hunch proves correct.

Over the weekend I sent an e-mail to the Communita di Sant' Egidio asking if I could come visit them during my brief day trip to Rome which was scheduled for Tuesday. I didn't hear Monday, and Tuesday, as I was riding a bus to visit the Catacombs of Priscilla I got a call on my cell phone inviting me over that afternoon.

I met with Fr. Roberto Cherubini in the beautiful private garden of their Roman house, located in the heart of the Trastevere. A friend had been very enthusiastic about this community, but I retained only a vague memory of what he told me. It was really delighted by what I learned. They were founded in 1968 by a young man (aged 16 I think) who wanted to live a Gospel life, as a secular lay person, not as a member of a traditional religious order. He and his friends started to read the Bible and pray after school. Inspired by St. Francis they began to look for ways of serving the poor. And then as often happens they were radicalized by this encounter with Jesus and the poor. And their lives haven't been the same since. Over the years other groups of people have contacted them about living a Gospel life of service with the poor, and the Community has become a world-wide family. It is not a religious order. It sounds as if there are very few structures, no Rule per se. Their President must be a lay person, and there are only 6 people in the world who serve the community as paid workers. Roberto works at a University in Rome and works as a parish priest as well. As we talked he kept stressing the centrality of the Gospels to their life and spirituality. He talked about the need for all of us who read the Gospels to be converted by our encounter, and that the Gospel life is for everybody: "we have groups of very old people," he told me. "And youths. Poor people and people who are better off. It is for everybody. We can all do something with and for the poor, we can all read the scriptures and pray together. It is simple." He said this with lovely Italian expressiveness, opening his hands and smiling at me.

I had spent the morning at the Catacombs of Pricillus, wandering around in the dank volcanic tunnels peering at the fragments of frescoes and bits of tiles. The early Christians were down there not escaping persecution, as the popular story goes, but praying at the graves of the martyrs. The catacombs (the guide told me) were not good as hiding places because the Roman authorities knew all about them, as they had to have permission to dig them in the first place, and then the smell would have been overwhelming. Basically, she said they came in and out as quickly as possible. Martyrdom was a very high ideal, and if you could be buried in proximity to a martyr or pray at the tomb of one your prayers were better, or more assure of being answered. At any rate the effort and stamina of praying in such circumstances might have been reward enough. But the radical witness and deep commitment of the early Christians was still palpable. The frescoes were of Baptism, Eucharist, the Resurrection and symbols reminding them of God's forgiveness. It was a perfect preparation for my visit to Sant' Egidio.

In their own way the members of Sant' Egidio are continuing that radical witness of the Early Church. It is good to be reminded that the Gospel life is about prayer, Scripture, service with the poor and being in communion and community with the living and the dead. I felt a bit chastened by my own preoccupations with other things. I want to spend more time with the Scriptures; I want to spend more time with the poor; I must give thanks always for the community I have (and not be hankering after somebody else's!). There is nothing stopping me or any of us from embracing this call to conversion and a deeper walk with Jesus Christ.

As I travel around the Anglican Communion and talk with the brothers who are confronted by the realities of the stresses and challenges facing Anglicans I am reminded that I have no control over what any Bishop says or does, almost no opportunity to make a contribution to the conversation, yet I am responsible for being as open, generous and attentive as I can be. The Gospel life is for everybody, persecutions and troubles will wrack the Church from within and without. But my first job must be to pray, serve without discrimination and be thankful.

La Dolce Vita

Last week I was in Florence for the weekend. I did a lot of touring the sites,with Richard Quaintance and Peter Casparian balanced with some much needed time for conversation with a dear friend, Barbara Crafton. Barbara is the interim rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Florence, which is why I went to Florence in the first place. She has been a friend for a long time (she preached at my installation as Minister General).

All the brothers of the Province of the Americas have received a form from our Minister asking that we find somebody to talk to about our life in SSF. He gave us some specific questions to wrestle with. Barbara and I sat in the rectory of St. James (built by J. Pierpont Morgan in the 20's). "Would you do it all again?" she asked, reading from the list. Yes, absolutely. Of course I wonder what another path might have led me to in my life, but judging by the sense of joy I feel, I am not really committed to searching out another path.

Perhaps it would be nice to abridge the journey and go from height to height, skipping the messy, painful bits.

I returned to Assisi with the idea of my life journey very much on my mind. I got a chance to think about it even more when I was invited to go along the Franciscan pilgrimage route with Sr. Maureen, CSF, who has been in Assisi on a long planned two week visit. We have taken two incredibly long walks: on Tuesday from Valfabbrica to Assisi (about 14 kilometers, I think) and then a whopping long walk Friday from Spello to Assisi (24 Kilometers). Tuesday evening we joined other pilgrims for a blessing at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels inside the tiny original Little Portion. After that we joined the guiding light of the Franciscan pilgrimage route, Angela Maria Seracchioli, in a community meal. She cooks huge dinners every night for the pilgrims staying in the hostel. We were Americans, English, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish. My life journey has brought me into company with a great diversity of people and presented me with challenges and great blessings.

I highly recommend the walks. Angela has written a book called "Di qui passo Francesco." Neither Maureen nor I read Italian, but we used the maps and made guesses about the information in the text. We didn't really need the book. The scenery was amazing, and we were like two big bumble bees going from flower to flower, exclaiming over the beauty of all the species we saw, stopping to listen to the birds, and in-between telling long rambling stories about our life in community. Tired and footsore when we got home each day, we asked the question: "Want to do it again?" Definitely. It was easy to imagine Francis walking along these paths, looking for somewhere to be alone and pray, or talking with Br. Leo, fretting about what was going on in the brotherhood.

Assisi is in the grip of its annual May Festival called the Festa di Calendimaggio. It is a chance to wear medieval costumes, dance and sing in competition with other groups in town. It is very colorful. People of every age participate. It is an interesting blend of old and new: colorful costumes, trumpets and archery, Ray Bann sunglasses and cell phones, cigarettes and motorcycles. I really like Italy!

Franciscans International

I spent this past week in Geneva, Switzerland. I had a terrific train and bus trip through the Alps and arrived in the early evening on Monday. I went to Geneva to meet with Franciscans International, the Franciscan NGO at the United Nations (pictured above). I have worked with them in the past through their New York and Bangkok offices. This was my first time to visit the Geneva office.

Everything about my time in Geneva was excellent. I was met at the station by Sr. Denise Boyle, the Executive Director. She took me to my accommodations (a room at the John Knox Center that was a dead ringer for my 70's era fraternity house in college), and then we went to dinner with some of the staff members of Franciscans International. The next two days were full of meetings; the visit culminated in a bowling trip with the staff. They were saying good-by to a colleague/intern, and I got to go along for the fun.

The purpose of my visit was to learn more about how Franciscans International works and to introduce myself to the staff and to develop a closer working relationship between SSF and Franciscans International. Over the two days it became clear to me that we have much to offer each other, and that in fact the brothers and sisters in the Anglican Franciscan family will be a great resource to FI. I was very excited to learn about the Universal Periodic Review documents done in conjunction with the Human Rights Council. Through Franciscans International we can make direct input into these reports. Our daily experience in every country where we live and work could be a rich contribution: caring for the environment, participating in work with people living with HIV AIDS, immigration issues, domestic abuse; the list of things the brothers and sisters care about goes on and on and these are precisely the sorts of testimony FI needs to feed into the system. Specific stories of real people and situations carry tremendous weight. Even if information is not included in the official Human Rights Council Periodic Review, it gets fed into the UN system in other ways.

The other exciting possibility with Franciscans International is their training sessions on human rights and other topics. They train Franciscans to be effective advocates in their countries.

For my part I gave them a thumb nail sketch of our Anglican Franciscan family, and shared some of the realities of life in the Anglican Communion.

Bowling! I'd forgotten how much fun it is! I bowled a couple of strikes even. The electronic monitor/scoring device gave lots of encouragement, flashing: "Way to go dude!"

In Geneva, no less.