On August 13-16, 2024, the President and the Secretary of the Union of Conventual Franciscans of Brazil (UCOB) visited the Santo António Common Novitiate of the Province of St. Francis of Assisi in Brazil.
The President of UCOB is Friar Roberto HONORATO OLIVEIRA DOS REMÉDIOS, the Custos of the Provincial Custody of St. Bonaventure in Brazil (Maranhão). The UCOB Secretary is Friar Carlos Roberto de Oliveira CHARLES, the Custos of the Provincial Custody of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro). The novitiate is located in Cascavel, State of Paraná, Brazil. For many years, the Jurisdictions of Brazil have shared the experience of the Year of Probation. The novitiate is also open to other Jurisdictions within the Federación América Latina Conventuales (FALC).
The two visitors seized the opportunity for closer contact with the novices to give the visit a more meaningful institutional tone that represented all of the UCOB Major Superiors. Since May of 2024, they have been discussing the possibility of transforming this common experience, hosted by the Province of St. Francis, into an UCOB novitiate. This would involve greater participation and responsibility from each of the four Jurisdictions of Brazil in the novitiate formation process, allowing for the sharing of skills and human resources.
At the end of July, the Economs of the four Jurisdictions met at the novitiate, in order to facilitate this inter-jurisdictional collaboration in the near future.
In this context, the visitors shared a fraternal, liturgical, and spiritual experience with the novitiate community. They also engaged with all the novices, including the Novice Master, Friar André Luiz Ferreira MACHADO, to discuss the embryonic concept of a common UCOB novitiate. It was emphasized that each Jurisdiction, along with its relative Commissions and Definitory, should consider and develop a future Statute that reflects the actions and participation of all of the Jurisdictions involved.
The visit concluded with a gathering at a local pizzeria in downtown Cascavel. Also in Cascavel, the friars joyfully conducted liturgical celebrations honoring St. Maximilian M. Kolbe and the glorious Assumption of the Immaculata.
Friar Carlos Roberto de Oliveira CHARLES, UCOB Secretary
