The 202nd Ordinary General Chapter (celebrated in 2019 at Assisi and Collevalenza, Italy) decided to revise the Directory for the Celebration of the General Chapter and the Directory for the Celebration of the Provincial and Custodial Chapter.
According to Motion No. 10, A, §1; B, §1, the Central Government of the Order, having consulted with the Presidents of the Federations, was to appoint an ad hoc committee for the revision of the aforementioned Directories by the end of 2019. In fulfillment of that Motion, the Minister General, with the consent of his Definitory, has set up that ad hoc committee. The committee is comprised of two groups – a working group and a consultation group. The revision process will be conducted by the working group. The friar members of the working group will arrange activities for the committee as a whole (its calendar, methods, etc.). The working group members after hearing the opinion of the consultation group members, and in collaboration with them, will prepare the drafts of the revised Directories.
According to the indication of Motion No. 10, B, § 2, “The draft of the Directory for the Celebration of the Provincial and Custodial Chapter shall be sent to the Assemblies of the Federations for consultation and proposals by the end of 2020.” It is imagined that the Federations, working with the Ministers Provincial and Custodes, shall creatively and with sound judgement, collect the insights and comments of all the friars and their communities.
Once the proposals of the Assemblies of the Federations have been integrated into the process, the text will be approved by the Minister General with his Definitory and shall be used as a binding text for the celebration of the Provincial and Custodial Chapters scheduled for the 2021-2024 quadrennium (see Motion No. 10, B, § 3). Instead, the text of the revised Directory for the Celebration of the General Chapter will be part of the Instrumentum laboris of the 203rd Ordinary General Chapter of 2025, where it will be studied and approved (see Motion No. 10, A, § 2).
The members of the Committee for the Revision of the Directories for the Celebration of the Chapters are as follows:
The working group members are Friars Jorge Rolando FERNÁNDEZ (FALC); Robert LEŻOHUPSKI (FEMO); and Francesco PANIZZOLO (FIMP).
The consultation group members are Friars Vitus MENSAH (AFCOF); Janez KURBUS (CEF); Timothy KULBICKI (CFF); Maximilianus SEMBIRING (FAMC); Marco MORONI (FIMP); and Gianni CAPPELLETTO (FIMP).
Best wishes to these friars. May their holy imagination be given free rein and may their teamwork together bring them much joy.
Friar Tomasz SZYMCZAK, Secretary General
