The last meeting of the Guardians of the Province of St. Elizabeth in Germany with those of the Provincial Custody of St. Leopold and St. Nicolas of Flüe in Austria-Switzerland took place in November of 2022. At that time, the friars met for three days at the friary in Schwarzenberg, Germany, and agreed, among other things, that in future, they would have more regular meetings via video conferencing.
On March 27, 2023, an online meeting of the Guardians took place. Thirteen friars participated at the invitation of the Minister Provincial of Germany, Friar Andreas MURK. Friar Andreas presented the latest Provincial Guidelines for the Use of New Media, which had been adopted by the Provincial Definitory in February of 2023. He also gave the Guardians an overview of the changes made to the Directory for the Celebration of the Provincial and Custodial Chapter, which is now available in German, and talked about some upcoming canonical visitations that will be conducted in the Province and the Custody.
Friar Andreas also relayed some information from the German Conference of Major Superiors. To protect personal data, our communities are prohibited from operating Facebook fan pages. The Conference recommends that these pages be deactivated in order to avoid the risk of complaints from users.
In the second part of the meeting, the Guardians reported on current developments in their communities.
The next online meeting of the Guardians is scheduled for July of 2023.
Friar Andreas MURK
