To read the Article from the CIOFS website click:
http://www.ciofs.org/per/1995/lc95en02.htm
ROLE OF THE ASSISTANT in the pastoral visit to the local Fraternity and as witness of the elections in the Fraternity
By Carl Schäfer OFM
I. ROLE OF THE ASSISTANT IN THE PASTORAL VISIT
A. The Visits
The SFO Rule in Art. 26 speaks of the pastoral and the fraternal visit:
To promote fidelity to the charism as well as observance of the Rule and to receive greater support in the life of the fraternity, the Minister or President, with the consent of the Council, should take care to ask for a regular pastoral visit by the competent religious Superiors as well as for a fraternal visit from those of the higher fraternities, according to the norm of the Constitutions.
The SFO General Constitutions (GC) in Art. 92 define the purpose of the visits:
1. The purpose of both the pastoral and the fraternal visits is to revive the evangelical Franciscan spirit, to assure fidelity to the charism and to the Rule, to offer help to fraternity life, to reinforce the bond of the unity of the Order and to promote its most effective insertion into the Franciscan Family and the Church.
2. In the visits to the local Fraternities and to the Councils at the various levels, the Visitor will verify the evangelical and apostolic vitality, the observance of the Rule and Constitutions and the insertion of the Fraternities into the Order and into the Church.
3. In the visits to the local Fraternities and to the Councils at the various levels, the Visitor will communicate the object and the program of the visit to the interested Council in ample time. He or she will examine the registers and the acts, including those relative to the election of the Council and to the administration of goods. He will draw up a report of the visits carried out, appending it to the acts in the appropriate register of the Fraternity visited, and will inform the Council by whom the visit was requested.
A pastoral and/or a fraternal visit can be made to an entire Fraternity or to the Council of a Fraternity. It is important that the object of the visit be defined clearly and that the Visitor communicate this object to the Council concerned.
The purpose and area of verification common to both visits are clear from the first three paragraphs of Art. 92.
The common purpose is: to revive the evangelical Franciscan spirit; to assure fidelity to the charism and to the Rule; to offer help to fraternity life; to reinforce the bond of the unity of the Fraternity; to promote its most effective insertion into the Franciscan Family and the Church.
The common area of verification is: evangelical and apostolic vitality; observance of the Rule and Constitutions; insertion of the Fraternity into the SFO, the Franciscan Family and the Church; examination of the registers and the acts, including those relative to the election of the Council and to the administration of goods.
An informational questionnaire and another for evaluation purposes are available: the Visitors can forward these to the Fraternity some months in advance of the visits. The questionnaires are of great help in conscientising the Fraternity and in the verifying to be done by the Visitors. Also available is a form for evaluating the Fraternity, to be filled in after the visits.
Let us continue with Art. 92:
4. In the visits to the local Fraternity, the Visitor will meet with the entire Fraternity and with the groups and sections into which it is divided. He or she will give special attention to the brothers and sisters in the period of formation and to those brothers and sisters who may request a personal meeting. Where required, he or she will proceed to the fraternal correction of the shortcomings which they had to confront.
In the visits to the local fraternity, provision is made for a meeting, at the outset, with the Council of the Fraternity, for the information of the Visitor, and for another meeting at the end for the information of the Council itself, for the presentation of the immediate recommendations of the Visitor and for planning together for the future.
In addition to the time for personal meetings, provision is also made for other meetings: with the Assistant; with the entire Fraternity (and its various groups); with those in the period of initiation and of initial formation; with the Council of the Franciscan Youth associated with the local Fraternity of the SFO. Moreover, thought should be given to a meeting with the parish priest, whether he is a Franciscan or not, and with the Guardian when the Fraternity is connected with a Franciscan house.
The SFO General Constitutions then describe separately the fraternal visit and the pastoral visit. In regard to the pastoral visit, Art. 94 says:
1. The pastoral visit is an expression of the "altius moderamen" and of the pastoral care of the SFO entrusted by the Church to the First Order and the TOR. It is carried out in the name of the Church and serves to guarantee and promote the observance of the Rule and the Constitutions and fidelity to the Franciscan charism.
According to Art. 94, the pastoral visit is an exercise of the power of jurisdiction, i.e., an expression of the altius moderamen which Articles 85.2 and 86.1 of the SFO General Constitutions speak about:
Art. 85.2: The spiritual and pastoral care of the SFO, entrusted by the Church to the Franciscan First Order and the TOR, is the duty above all of their General and Provincial Ministers. The "altius moderamen", of which canon 303 speaks, belongs to them.
Art. 86.1: The General and Provincial Ministers exercise their office with respect to the SFO through: the establishment of Fraternities; the pastoral visit; the spiritual assistance to the Fraternities at the various levels. They may exercise this office personally or through their own delegate.
Regarding the power of jurisdiction, the Code of Canon Law in canon 129 says:
§1. Those who are in sacred orders are, in accordance with the provisions of law, capable of the power of governance, which belongs to the Church by divine institution. This power is also called the power of jurisdiction.
§2. Lay members of Christ's faithful can co-operate in the exercise of this same power in accordance with the law.
The delegate referred to in Art. 86.1 of the SFO General Constitutions, to be able to exercise the power of jurisdiction in making a pastoral visit, must himself be "in sacred orders". Therefore, an Animator is not permitted to make a pastoral visit to an SFO Fraternity.
The General Constitutions in Art. 94 continue:
4. The Ministers of the .... local Fraternities, with the consent of the respective Councils, request the visits from the religious Superiors according to their own Statutes at least every three years.
5. For urgent and serious reasons or in case of failure on the part of the Minister or the Council to request it, the pastoral visit may be carried out upon the initiative of the competent religious Superior.
B. Role of the Assistant in the pastoral visit
We are not talking here about the Assistant of the local Fraternity. He, in fact, is among those visited. We are talking about the Assistant Visitor. Regarding the role of this Assistant in the pastoral visit, the SFO General Constitutions in Art. 95 say:
1. The Visitor will carry out his task with respect to the organisation and the law proper to the SFO.
2. Having verified the canonical establishment of the Fraternity, he will concern himself with the relations between the Fraternity and its Spiritual Assistant and the local Church. He will meet the pastors (bishop or parish priest) when this is opportune for fostering communion and service for building up the Church.
3. He will promote collaboration and a sense of co-responsibility among the secular leaders and the religious Assistants. He is to examine the quality of the spiritual assistance given to the visited Fraternity, encourage the Spiritual Assistants in their service and promote their continuing spiritual and pastoral formation.
4. He will give special attention to programs, methods and experiences of formation, to the liturgical and prayer life and to the apostolic activities of the Fraternity.
It is specified that the pastoral visit is an expression of the altius moderamen and of the pastoral care of the SFO entrusted by the Church. Carrying out the pastoral visit in the name of the Church, the Visitor must guarantee and promote the observance of the Rule and the Constitutions and fidelity to the Franciscan charism.
The pastoral Visitor verifies the canonical erection of the Fraternity. If it has not been canonically erected, the Visitor will propose the steps to be taken. He gives particular attention to the programs, methods and experiences of formation; to the liturgical and prayer life; to the apostolic activities of the Fraternity.
The pastoral Visitor takes an interest in the relations between the Fraternity and its Spiritual Assistant and in the relations with the particular Church, meeting the pastors for fostering communion and building up the Church at parochial and diocesan level. He promotes the collaboration and the sense of co-responsibility between the secular leaders and the religious, verifying the quality of the assistance of the friars, encouraging the local Assistant in his service, promoting the continuing spiritual and pastoral formation of the Assistant.
It is important that the pastoral Visitor hears the Fraternity at a meeting, giving to everyone the opportunity for dialogue in a question-and-answer exchange, sharing faith, hope and fraternal love with them.
It is essential for the role of the pastoral Visitor that he prays with the Fraternity by means of the Liturgy of the Hours and the Eucharist or in other ways (e.g., spontaneous shared prayer, the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary) and that he proclaims the Word of God in well prepared homilies and at the time of instruction based on the Rule, on the Ritual and on the General Constitutions.
II. CONNECTION BETWEEN PASTORAL VISIT AND FRATERNAL VISIT
The SFO General Constitutions in Art. 92 say:
5. If it is useful for the service of the Fraternity, the two Visitors, religious and secular, may make the visit at the same time, agreeing beforehand on the program, in a way most consonant with the mission of each of them.
There are some advantages in making the fraternal and pastoral visits together. When the visits are combined, the opportunity is there of comparing personal impressions, of discussing attitudes to be adopted, and perhaps of avoiding making some mistaken judgements. When they are together, the Visitors have a greater opportunity of listening and evaluating. If the pastoral Visitor is on his own, he has less chance for dialogue with the secular leaders. In the face of more demanding situations, the simultaneous presence of both Visitors means that initiatives entailing more responsibility can be taken.
However, the shared visit often creates a difficulty in understanding the importance of the two visits. The freedom should remain of being able to make separate visits as well, when this is deemed to be necessary or useful.
It often happens that the participants give greater prominence to one Visitor. In some cultures, little attention is paid to a lay Visitor or to a female Visitor when a priest-Visitor is present. Or, if both Visitors are men, it can happen that the one who is the secular finds it hard to consider himself on a par with the religious priest.
The situation should be avoided in which one Visitor overshadows the other. The Visitors themselves should be constantly sensitive about maintaining the balance between two visits of equal importance and to ensure that each has the opportunity of introducing himself and of carrying out his own task.
Each of the two visits is very important and serves a specific purpose. To disregard the importance of one visit or the other, whether fraternal or pastoral, would give bad example to the Fraternity and to the Assistant.
One single report can be given on the fraternal and pastoral visits. However, each Visitor is left free to express himself or herself in a separate report. In fact, the visits are different in purpose and there are some things which should be said either by one or the other Visitor.
III. ROLE OF THE ASSISTANT IN THE ELECTIONS
A. The elections
The Rule of the SFO says little about the elections. In Art. 21 we read:
On various levels, each Fraternity is animated and guided by a Council and Minister (or President) who are elected by the professed according to the Constitutions.
The SFO General Constitutions in Art. 76 say:
2. The elective assembly, or Chapter, will be presided by the Minister of the Council of the immediately higher level, or by his or her delegate, who confirms the election... The Spiritual Assistant of the immediately higher level or his delegate is to be present as a witness of the communion with the First Order and the TOR.
3. The President of the Chapter and the Assistant of the higher level do not have the right to vote.
B. Role of the Assistant in the elections
Being a member of the Council (cf. GC, Art. 89.4), the Assistant of the local Fraternity has active voice in the same Fraternity (cf. GC, Art. 77.1).
The Assistant of the immediately higher level does not act as President of the elective Chapter, neither does he vote.
This Assistant is present as a witness of the communion which should exist between the secular leaders and the friars, and between the local Fraternity and the Order of friars which erected this local Fraternity, thereby assuming responsibility for giving it spiritual assistance and for making pastoral visits to it.
His specific competence lies in the spiritual and apostolic animation and in the formation of the secular leaders (cf. Statutes for Assistance (Stat.Ast.), 36), using the occasion of the Chapter. He promotes the active interest of the Chapter in the pastoral problems and plans of the Church (cf. Stat.Ast. 42).
To present himself as a witness of the communion between the seculars and the religious, the Assistant should live this communion, portraying it in his attitude, words and deeds. It is necessary for him to understand and appreciate the one Franciscan vocation and the Franciscan charism shared by both the religious and the seculars, demonstrating a lively sense of the one Franciscan family.
His service as witness of the communion is of great help but he does not replace the President of the Chapter to whom the guidance, the co-ordination and the animation of the elective Chapter belong (cf. GC, Art. 86.2).
IV. CONNECTION BETWEEN THE VISITS AND THE ELECTIVE CHAPTER
Experience emphasizes the necessity of connecting the two occasions: the visits and the elective Chapter. In this way the fraternal Visitor takes on the additional role of President of the elective Chapter and the pastoral visitor takes on that of the Assistant of the immediately higher level or his delegate.
The connection between the visits and the Chapter can be made in two ways. The visit(s) can be made immediately prior to the elective Chapter for practical reasons, e.g., to cut down on travel expenses; to avoid long-distance journeys; because of lack of available time.
However, making the visit(s) at least three months prior to the Chapter is more effective. In this way, an opportunity is offered of reflecting fully on the Fraternity itself and on the role of the Council, and adequate preparation can be made for the Chapter, involving not alone the Council in office but all the members of the Fraternity. Thus also the people prevented from participating in the election (e.g., the elderly, the sick, those absent at the time of the Chapter) can be consulted with regard to indicating nominations for the proposed lists. It is important likewise to involve the whole Fraternity in a program of prayer asking for discernment according to the Spirit and full adherence to his prompting.
