One of the ever-present aspects of my life is attending Chapter meetings. So far it has been about one a month. In my experience these are normally up-beat, positive events where the business of the order is transacted in each province. I have a voice and vote on every provincial Chapter. During the first week of June I attended the Chapter of the European Province. In addition to the Chapter meeting the European Province also has an All Brothers Meeting, so I got to see pretty nearly all of the brothers from the European Province. Br. Colin gave a wonderful lecture called "Rebuild My Church." In it he suggested 5 "strategies" for Franciscan life and work: to be humble; to invest our emotional and financial resources in community life; to seek to live in unity with each other as Franciscans and all other people and constituent parts of creation;
to seek to live stable lives, rooted in prayer and care for all even when we live mendicant or itinerant lives; and to be accessible to others, seeking to show in simplicity and joy what it means to be a Franciscan.
Pictured at left are brothers Hugh and Philip Bartholomew, during the All Brothers Meeting. At right are Austen and Raymond Christian, waiting for Colin's lecture to begin.
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