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Posted By Kate Kleinert, on October 1st, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
October 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi. All peace and good be with you! Blessed Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. May the peace and joy of our seraphic Father be yours in ever greater abundance as we journey with Francis in imitating Jesus and Mary.
I know I said in my last letter to you that we would start the discussion on Candidacy, the Rite of Admission and tips on progressing thru the process. But something important has come up that I feel needs to be discussed. That is what do you do when a really nice person that seems to be a strong, loving Catholic with strong social convictions is in formation but there is that nagging sense that “maybe they should be part of the Dorothy Day group” the Blue Army or some other catholic organization. The Franciscan Order is one way of approaching God. As our rule of life says: “The Franciscan family, as one among many spiritual families raised up by the Holy Spirit in the Church, unites all members of the people of God — laity, religious, and priests – who recognize that they are called to follow Christ in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi. In various ways and forms but in life-giving union with each other, they intend to make present the charism of their common Seraphic Father in the life and mission of the Church.1”
An example of this really “Nice Person” could be a simple one. As stated above, they are good Catholics, very involved in many things. Holy and noble things like the Rosary society, the Blue Army, maybe the Saint Vincent DePaul Society, AA, NA2 and so on. So much so that they have a hard time committing to the process, committing to Fraternal Life and the life of the region and national fraternities.
In the Franciscan Journey3 it says: “Initial Formation (Inquirery / Candidacy) prepares you for permanent profession as a Secular Franciscan. Our way of life MUST TAKE PRIORITY in your life. When choices must be made between SFO requirements and other groups, SFO takes priority”
Now, if a person seems to be in this situation and is willing to put those other “Holy” things aside for the Order, no problem. But if not, they may need to make a difficult choice. And if they can’t or will not, the council must make the choice for them. Fraternity and the Order must take priority. Obviously there are exceptions for Family Life and special occasions. But even family life can be a concern. If a person has a spouse that is not participating and not supportive there can be problems. The spouse could start getting upset if their partner is fully engaged in the order and they don’t like it!
Another good example is a person has a strong personal devotion to a noble Saint or other aspect of the faith, could even be something like “Fatima”. And that person tries to proselytize the fraternity and has them commit to the same devotion. So someone might say “how can that be bad?” In the “Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order”4 it explains that as Franciscans we are bound to liturgical pray. It lists the approved forms of prayer we are to use focusing on the Liturgy of the Hours. The Rosary and Franciscan Crown are suggested to be said in May and October5.
When someone who is a “really Nice Person” and even a good Catholic has a hard time complying with any aspect of the rule, constitutions, statutes and other governing documents there is a very real possibility they should not be professed. This is hard, I know. It is not like someone who obviously shows signs that they have no vocation. But this needs to be done to protect the fraternity and actually the individual. Next month we will continue the discussion on Candidacy, the Rite of Admission and tips on progressing thru the process. I promise!
Pax et Bonum Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS SKD
Regional Formation Director
1 SFO Rule, Chapter One – Rule 1
2 Alcoholics Anonymous & Narcotics Anonymous
3 The Franciscan Journey, Chapter One, Page 2, last paragraph
4 The Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order, Appendix II, Pages 103 & 104
5 The Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order, Appendix II, Page 104, number 7
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on September 1st, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
September 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi. All peace and good be with you! As summer comes to a close, and school starts again we enter into another cycle of change! Soon we will see the leaves change color and the air start to get cool and crisp. And so as the seasons change so do we. We grow and learn all our lives. It should never stop.
As we said in August’s “Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director” we were going to continue the discussion concerning the Inquires and the interview process. We had said that there should be no doubt in the minds and hearts of any of the council and formation team before a person is moved on into candidacy. That does not mean that the discernment process is over by any means. All it means is that there are no obvious concerns that the person is not ready or does not have a possible vocation!
When there is some objection by one of the council and or formation team this must be resolved before any action is taken. So, now that we have an individual or several individuals voicing some concern, what do you do? A lot of talking and even more listening. The council and formation team must explore the objections or concerns in a loving and charitable way but also focus on truth. A very good tool to use are the two lists in the resource “The Franciscan Journey i called “Signs that may indicate the presence of a vocation to the SFOii” and the invers, “Signs that may indicate that a vocation to the SFO is not present”. The council and the formation team should prayerfully go thru those lists and ask if any of the signs of vocation are there and if any of the signs that a vocation is NOT present are there.
Now, any one of us could read the lists and look at the signs that a vocation is not present and apply some of them to our own lives. After all we are all human and in need of grace ourselves. The question should be, does an individual live in those signs or perpetually act them out, not occasionally fall into one or two of them. After a thorough discussion and evaluation another vote should be taken. By the way, only the council votes, that is the Minister, Vice Minister, Formation Director, Treasurer, Secretary, Spiritual Assistant and any elected Councilors at Large. If any members of the formation team are not elected, they do not vote.
In all cases, if there is still any doubt, the person should not move to candidacy. The next thing to do is ask “What Now?” Should the individual be asked to continue some other form of initial formation? If the individual lacks basic Catholic understanding, maybe they should be asked to attend a local RCIA program, then come back. It may be a simple although hard, as to honestly discuss with them why the council voted the way they did and give them the opportunity to correct their behavior. But do not leave it to chance thinking that they will “get it” in candidacy. That only hurts them and the fraternity.
Next month we will continue the discussion on Candidacy, the Rite of Admission and tips on progressing thru the process.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
iPages 15 ‐ 18
ii SFO is now referred to as OFS “Order of Franciscan Seculars”
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on August 1st, 2018 August 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! It is hard to believe summer is half over! I was in the car with one of my granddaughters yesterday and as we passed her school she said how much she missed school and wanted summer to end. Music to a grandpa’s heart… I said it is wonderful that you love to learn. She said in her adorable way “Grandpa, I don’t like learning, I miss my friends!” as it should be. The same is true with our fraternities, we are friends, we are family we should love to gather and be together. Including just having fun!
As you know we took a short break from Initial Formation in July’s letter to discuss ongoing formation. Well, it is time to get back to initial formation. As you know we were discussing Inquiry and using the Pathways to Profession Chart1 to bring order and constancy to our journey and the exploration of Secular Franciscan spirituality. Everything we do and teach should be based on this concept and founded in the FUN Manual and the Regional Guidelines. If we do this we will know we are on the correct path.
So, when we left off in June, we were discussing Inquiry. Inquiry is the first true step in initial formation for the Secular Francians. Orientation is important but is just that, it is meant to give a person some terms and a basic understanding of what will be happening. But by now your “Inquirer” should have had time to get familiar with some of the language we use (in orientation) and you, the formation team and the members of the fraternity should be getting to know the Inquirer. And please note I called them an “Inquirer” not Postulate or Novice. Since regionalization and the adoption of the new rule (forty years ago) the correct terms are Inquirery and Candidacy or Inquirer or Candidate. While we are on that subject, the Minister or president of a fraternity (at any level) is no longer referred to as a Prefect, it is either minister or president, more places use minister. But I digress, I apologize.
Back to the Inquirer, by now you should have collected all of the Spiritual Inventory, sacramental records and other important documents. There should have been at least one formal interview and possibly two. In my fraternity we frequently have a BBQ or Picnic with the inquirers and the council instead. This make the situation much less threatening. As your Inquirer nears the end of the inquiry phase, they should be invited to request Candidacy (in writing) including why they feel called to a Franciscan vocation.
Once that is done, the formation team and the fraternity council should review all the documents including the home work where appropriate and have a discussion as to whether they see a vocation in the individual. Once discussed a council vote should occur and there should be no doubt the individual should continue. If there is any doubt, a further discussion needs to happen. What do we do now?
Next month we will continue the discussion on Inquiry and tips on progressing thru the process.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on July 1st, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
July 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! Well summer is here! It is only 8:00 AM here in Summit Hill and it is 80 degrees already! Hot and humid, but watch, come December we will be saying it is too cold!
I would like to take a short break from Initial Formation for July. Those who know me will know how important I think Initial formation is! It is the bedrock on which our order is built and stands firm. But ongoing formation is also important and needs our attention. Just like initial formation, ongoing formation should be for seculars by seculars. What do I mean by that? Great question.
What that means is that that since regionalization in the 70’s we are intended to be an order true to ourselves and governed by ourselves. Therefore formation of all types should primarily be led by the seculars at a local fraternity level, a regional fraternity level and so on. Does that mean there is no place for our beloved First, Second and Third Order Regular Brothers and Sisters in formation? Absolutely not! They just should not take the lead nor should they be giving formation on a regular basis. That is the job of the Council and Formation Director at all levels.
This might seem like a daunting task, but just like with Initial Formation, there are incredible tools out there. You are not alone! What I have found is that an occasional journey back to basics “The Franciscan Journey” is always a good thing. Take one of the chapters and break it down to 15 – 20 minute small group discussions and then summarize at the larger fraternity level. This is good for several reasons; first, there is always room for refresher and renewed commitment to our rule. Secondly, there are sisters and brothers out there that for one reason or another didn’t necessarily get the best initial formation. This process helps them grow.
Besides the Franciscan Journey, there is a lot of material right on our Regional web site1 under formation resources. Just remember, we should keep it Franciscan. What I mean by that is there are a lot of good and noble Catholic things out there, but we are distinctly Franciscan. We should focus on Franciscan Spirituality. Another good guideline, use only material approved by the Church.
Next month we will continue the discussion on Inquiry and tips on progressing thru the process.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
1 http://www.skdregion.org/ under formation resources
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on June 2nd, 2018 Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! It appears that spring has actually arrived and we are now heading towards summer! It is time to pick up where we left off in April, our discussion about Initial Formation and in particular, Inquiry. » Click to continue reading “Thoughts from Your Regional Formation Director – June 2018” »
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on May 6th, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
May 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! It finally looks like spring has arrived. NEPA, north of the tunnel, hasn’t had snow or ice for several weeks and our flowers and trees are blooming praise God.
On April 22, 2018 Holy Cross Fraternity had the privilege to profess two candidates1. It was a wonderful experience and a joy filled time for all! But it got me thinking, along with some other events, about profession and the deeper meaning. It got me thinking it is time to remember what profession means and what we all actually did during that priceless Mass.
I want to start with something I know you all are familiar with but is always worth repeating. That is Father Cangelosi words, “Indeed, most people have foggy ideas2 on the value of Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order and because of this many Secular Franciscans do not live the “grace” of Profession for what it really is. A true nuptial alliance with Jesus Christ3 aimed at a further consecration to God and at accomplishing a closer bond to the Church to reach the perfection of love and the realization of Saint Francis mission.4”
We must work hard to not let our Fraternities be “Foggy” places or not fully embrace all that profession is; “A true nuptial alliance with Jesus Chris aimed at a further consecration to God and at accomplishing a closer bond to the Church to reach the perfection of love and the realization of Saint Francis mission.” As Father Cangelosi said, we have been professed into a nuptial relationship for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God and by that relationship firmly bound to each other, the Church and all that the church is! We are not alone, nor are our fraternities. We are all bound together and journeying together.
As a reminder to what we actually say during our profession is important, all of it is important, but here I will focus on the actual “words of profession”.
“I, (Name), by the grace of God, renew my baptismal promises and consecrate myself to the service of his kingdom. Therefore, in my secular state, I promise to live all the days of my life the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Order of Franciscan Seculars, by observing its rule of life. May the grace of the Holy Spirit, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our holy father Saint Francis, and the fraternal bonds of community always be my help, so that I may reach the goal of perfect Christian love.5”
Those words are powerful and full of significance. What does it mean to consecrate oneself?
{Verb (used with object), consecrated, consecrating6. 1 – to make or declare sacred; set apart or dedicate to the service of a deity: to consecrate a new church building. 2 – To make (something) an object of honor or veneration; hallow: a custom consecrated by time. 3 – To devote or dedicate to some purpose: a life consecrated to ministry. 4 – To admit or ordain to a sacred office, especially to the episcopate. 5 – To change (bread and wine) into the Eucharist.}
In our case number 3 is the definition to use. We promised to dedicate ourselves to the church, the order and the rule. We made that promise to each other, to the Church thru the ecclesial witness and to those participating other than our sisters and brothers. We should never forget we are family and an ecclesial order bound to each other and our higher fraternities by our promise!
Next month we will continue the discussion on Inquiry and beyond.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
1 Media presentation available on the HCF web site: www.holycrossfraternity.wordpress.com or on the HCF You-Tube Channel: https://youtu.be/74KqWOZfDB8
2 Emphasis mine
3 Emphasis mine
4 Emphasis mine
5 Taken directly from the “Ritual of the SFO”
6 Modified from the New Catholic Dictionary (On Line) Emphasis mine
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on April 2nd, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
April 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! In my March letter I was optimistic and said as
we say “goodbye to winter and hello to spring”, well here we are on April 2, 2018, the
day after Easter and old man winter just dumped at least six inches of snow north of the
tunnel! Praise God it wasn’t on Easter Sunday.
Last month we started talking about what we do with all the paper we collect!
And we discussed the chart “Pathway to Profession(i)” as your road map to proper Initial
formation. At the risk of repeating myself, we will continually return to that document as
a guide! And as we said last month the reason we gather all this documentation is to
assist in the discernment process for the council and the individual. It is the local
council’s responsibility to decide to accept or not accept the individual into profession(ii)
and they need all the help they can get!
This month we will focus more on the start of formal initial formation with Inquiry.
I have been asked why we say initial formation doesn’t formally start until Inquiry, I like
to say that orientation is just that. We are helping a person to get to know the
“Franciscan” language and some of our customs. The real meat of the matter starts in
Inquiry and never ends! By this time, the individuals should have made their written
request to enter formation, and that request should have been discussed among the
formation team and then with the council. If no issues arise that would prevent
continuing the person is invited into Inquiry starting with the “Ceremony of Introduction
and Welcoming(iii)” this simple ceremony marks the beginning of a life’s journey and
should not be overlooked or thought of as unimportant.
During Inquiry, it is essential that all of the “Admission Documents” be collected
and reviewed with the formation team and council. The documents are listed in the
February 2018 letter. If there appears to be any anomalies, these should be discussed
privately with the individual with recommendations for overcoming the anomaly. At
times this will require clerical intervention. If the anomaly appears to be a true
impediment such as unresolved Divorces and remarriages, lacking evidence of full
initiation into the Catholic Church (sacramental records), belonging to unapproved
organizations like the Free Masons or just plain not being Catholic (even if they are in
the RCIA[iv] program), they should be asked to resolve those issues with their Parish
Priest before starting Candidacy. Although, I usually don’t wait that long.
I have mentioned several times that the “Formation Team should discuss” I
understand that not all fraternities have an actual team. The Formation Director is it. If
that is the case the process is the same just discussing with the council. I do highly
recommend that all fraternities work towards building teams.
Next month we will continue the discussion on Inquiry and beyond.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Directo
i Regional Formation handbook, second section, page 43; or
http://www.skdregion.org/wp‐content/uploads/2014/07/pathwaytoprofession.jpg ii Pathway to Profession chart
iii The {Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order} St Anthony Messenger Press, 1985, Page 9 iv Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on March 4th, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
March 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you as we say goodbye to Winter and hello to Spring, at least that is what I am hoping for! But for those of us that live in North Eastern PA, old man Winter can linger well into late March.
In my last letter to you I said we would start talking about what we do with all this paper we collect! So here we go. To start with, several letters ago I directed you to the chart “Pathway to Profession[i]”; you will find we end up there a lot. It is a great resource and lays out what has to happen. The reason we gather all this documentation is to assist the potential candidate and the local council in determining if an individual has a vocation to the Franciscan Secular life and rule. In smaller fraternities it is easier in most cases for everyone to get close to each other, in larger fraternities this becomes difficult at times. The letters, homework, sacramental records and interviews all help the individual express their thoughts and feelings but also help the local council and formation team to truly get to know them. It is ultimately the council, including the Spiritual Assistant if you have one, that will decide to accept or not accept the individual into profession[ii].
This can be a daunting task, but if done a little at a time will make it much easier. In addition, no individual in the process should be surprised at the outcome. What do I mean by that? No one should get thru candidacy and then the council questions their vocation. The Formation Team or Director should be reporting progress, issues or concerns to the council right from the start. According to the Pathways Chart that would be the first interview. The first interview is very telling; is the individual forth coming or reluctant to share information? How do they respond to very personnel questions about marriages, clubs and other organizations they belong to? This interview becomes a part of their permanent record.
Once invited to participate in orientation, the home work starts and is also collected. Depending on the dynamics of the individuals and as I get to know them, I will either assign homework questions from the Franciscan Journey Book or I will let them chose. If I see they are selecting the easier questions I then start to assign them. They are told to review all the questions, but to give a written response to at least two questions and always the last question concerning the scriptures. Then the entire chapter and supporting documents are discussed.
During the various stages of initial formation, this homework is presented to the council for them to review if they chose to do so. Once an individual is either professed or withdraws, the home work is returned to them so that they can look back and reflect on what they experienced. Something like Mystagogia[iii] in the RCIA.
As Orientation comes to an end, the formation team discuss their impression of the individual, and then invites the individual to apply for Inquiry. I ask them to write a formal letter to the council sharing some of their experience and why they feel lead to Inquiry and the start of formal formation. I do have to share with you that our council has had to make the hard decision at times not to invite a person to continue although it is normally a mutual agreement.
Next month we will discuss some of the documents and process for Inquiry and beyond.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
[i] Regional Formation handbook, second section, page 43; or
http://www.skdregion.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pathwaytoprofession.jpg
[ii] Pathway to Profession chart
[iii] Greek word that means to reflect upon the mysteries
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on February 5th, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
February 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you as we say farewell to January and move into February and the Lenten season.
As promised, we will start discussing how the fraternity council and formation team use the Interview Form, Letters of Reference and Sacramental documents, and how to organize formation files. As mentioned in previous letters, all documents must be saved and properly stored.
I will start with what should be saved and filed as part of the fraternity’s permanent records:
- Any letters received concerning the Candidate
- A letter from the Pastor (mandatory)
- A letter from the spiritual director if different than the pastor (optional)
- A letter from a third person “not Clergy or family” who knows them and their Catholic faith expression well (optional)
- And lastly, a letter from the spouse, if he/she is not in the process with them (optional)
- The Candidates’ own letters requesting Inquiry, Candidacy and Profession
- Initial Formation records
- Attendance records
- All sacramental records
- Baptism
- First Holy Communion
- Confirmation
- Marriages – All Marriages and Annulments
- Holy Orders
- If the individual was a member of another third order or religious order, a letter releasing them from their prior professions or vows is required
- If any of these records cannot be produced, the individual must not be professed until they can be found or resolved thru their local pastor and Bishop
- These documents should be produced before the individual starts Candidacy. Sometime during Orientation or Inquiry.
- Interview forms
- Profession Record normally a journal, although I also record this information in the Initial formation attendance records, that includes
- Date
- Place
- Minister Receiving the candidate
- Ecclesial witness
- I also include the Formation Directors name (Optional)
- Other Documents such as transfers, correspondence concerning correction, withdrawal or dismissal from the order
So, what do you do with all this paper? Great question, you have to keep it. My fraternity invested in a fire proof safe. About the size of a large micro wave. We keep our original Member Register in there along with our ecclesial formation documents and so on. As formation director for my local fraternity I keep all other records in a file. But, I also digitize them (scan) and save to a computer file. That file is also saved to a disk that two members of the fraternity keep. The secretary and one other council member hold copies. This helps preserve records in case of a fire or other disaster at my house.
I also have what I call a temporary file. In this file I keep all the homework and special assignments the individual turn in over the course of the three years of initial formation. We do return that file to the candidate after profession.
Next month we will talk about what the Council does with all this paper, including the homework!
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on January 1st, 2018 Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
January 2018
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi. I hope that this past Christmas Season was a blessing for you and your families. And I pray that the coming year, 2018, be filled with God’s abundant blessings for you, your families and for your fraternities!
As we discussed last time, those who have gone before us have laid a very good foundation and given us the tools we need to have strong Initial and Ongoing formation programs. We have the FUN Manual, the Regional Formation Handbook, the Franciscan Journey, each other and various sources on the SKD Region web site. We started with a very simple one-page document that gives you an immense amount of direction: the “Pathway to Profession” chart. The chart can be found in the Regional Formation Handbook, second section, page 43, or at the link belowi.
As I said in December, this month’s letter we will be discussing the use of letters of reference. In the SKD Regional Formation Handbook it recommends two letters:
References: Please give us the name and addresses of your pastor or spiritual director and another person who support your desire to enter initial formation in the OFS, and can attest that there are no canonical impediments to your profession in the OFS. Please have them write a letter confirming their support of your decision in a sealed envelope. Letters of reference should be sealed and mailed. Sample to Priest from Fraternity is in Part IV.ii
I recommend the following:
1) A letter from the Pastor (mandatory).
2) A letter from the spiritual director if different than the pastor (optional). This occurs on occasion and both individuals will have different opinions.
3) A letter from a third person “not Clergy or family” who knows them and their Catholic faith expression well (mandatory).
4) And lastly, a letter from the spouse, if he/she is not in the process with them. (Recommended) You need to know that they have the whole-hearted support of the person to whom they are married. We do not want marital discord!
In all cases, you will need to get the proper name, address and title of the persons. Write a letter to them asking them to write a return letter to the fraternity and provide them with a self-addressed stamped envelope. If the individual in initial formation is reluctant to provide this information it should be discussed, but in the end it is mandatory. The person in initial formation should let those individuals know that they will receive a letter from the fraternity’s Formation Director. A good sample of a letter to
a pastor is in the SKD Regional Formation Handbookiii. All the other letters can be adapted from that one. Anyone interested in samples can contact me and I will send PDF files.
Next month we will start discussing how the fraternity council and formation team use the Interview Form, Letters of Reference and Sacramental documents, and how to organize formation files. As mentioned in previous letters, all documents must be saved and properly stored.
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation Director
i http://www.skdregion.org/wp‐content/uploads/2014/07/pathwaytoprofession.jpg ii SKD Regional Formation Handbook, page 54
iii SKD Regional Formation Handbook, page 151
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