DIRECTOR OR ASSISTANT?
Carl Schafer OFM
I would like to clarify some points that are important for a correct understanding of the Secular Franciscan Order, so that the friars can give the spiritual assistance that the SFO Rule of 1978 and the SFO General Constitutions of 2002 expect us to give. These comments are based on my replies to friar-priests who have shared their problems.
The Secular Franciscans everywhere have adopted the Rule of 1978. Therefore, they consider that they form a single Secular Franciscan Order and a single National Fraternity. They no longer accept the idea of, for example, a "Conventual" or "Capuchin" National Minister, but they understand correctly that they elected a single National Minister who does not belong to any jurisdiction of the friars. The Secular Franciscans are not friars. They are not members of our religious Fraternities or of our Provinces. They are members of their own local Fraternities, of their Regional Fraternities, and of their own National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order.
Each local Fraternity should have a priest appointed as its Spiritual Assistant by the Minister Provincial of one of the four Orders of friars (OFM, Capuchin, Conventual or Third Order Regular) (cf. Rule, 26). If the Spiritual Assistant is not a Franciscan priest, he is to be a priest nevertheless, according to the General Constitutions, Art.91. If he is unable to attend the Fraternity regularly, he can have the cooperation of a Spiritual Animator.
The Spiritual Assistant is not the Director of the local Fraternity, or its Secretary or its Treasurer. He is a member of the local Fraternity Council, with the right to vote in all matters, except in financial decisions. His vote counts as one, just as the vote of each secular Councillor counts as one (cf. Const. 89).
If these are the ideas and the practice of the leaders and members of the SFO in your country, they are in accord with the Rule and the General Constitutions of their Order. They should not be interpreted as a rejection of the Spiritual Assistant or of the priest. Juridically, the Secular Franciscans are a legitimately constituted secular Order recognized as such by the Roman Catholic Church (cf. Const. 1). They are autonomous in so far as they are governed by their own fraternity councils at the various levels, from local to international (cf. Const. 31).
If the Ministers Provincial and the Assistants are ignored by the Secular Franciscans, it is not the fault of the Secular Franciscan Order or of the Church that recognizes it as a universal and international public association of the laity. It could be the fault of certain persons who are not ideal Secular Franciscans, or it could be the fault of the Ministers Provincial and Assistants themselves who do not know the legislation of the Church in relation to the SFO, or who do not implement it.
It can happen that the Secular Franciscans oppose a spiritual Assistant because he behaves like the former spiritual Director of a Third Order Fraternity, thinking that the local SFO Fraternity belongs to him and his Order. The priest will certainly be opposed if he fails to understand the difference between a spiritual Director of the former Third Order and a spiritual Assistant of the present Secular Franciscan Order. But the Secular Franciscans have no right to exclude him from the meetings of the Fraternity Council. If they have problems with him, they should refer their difficulties to the SFO Regional Council, if it exists, or else to the National Council, who should take up the problem with the Minister Provincial, through the Provincial Assistant or directly.
Many of the Assistants' problems are concerned with local situations that should be referred to the SFO local Fraternity Council or, if they cannot be resolved at the local or regional levels, to the SFO National Council. The General Assistant would be involved only if the National Council cannot resolve a serious problem and if it refers the case to the Presidency of the International Council.
I want to thank those friars who have shared their concerns with me. It helps me to understand the difficulties that face priests in changing their role from spiritual Director of the Franciscan Third Order Secular to spiritual Assistant of the Secular Franciscan Order.
