On October 11-13, 2023, the Provincial Custody of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in Tanzania celebrated its fifth Extraordinary Custodial Chapter. The Chapter was convened to revise the Custodial Statutes and was conducted at the Custodial headquarters in the Segerea area of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The spiritual part of the Chapter was conducted by Father Adelwald ITATIRO, OFM Cap., the former Minister Provincial of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of Tanzania. Father Adelwald reminded the friars that a divine and perennial message of Easter lies at the center of our Franciscan vocation. The Lord shares this precious gift with us and calls us to generously live it among our brothers and sisters. The Message of Easter is characterized by a certain joy that in no way belittles the message of the passion and the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no Easter without Good Friday. The witness we bear by living out our vows today is itself embedded in the witness we bear to the all the events of the paschal mystery.
This Extraordinary Custodial Chapter gave the friars time to reflect on the experience and beauty of the Conventual Franciscan life. It was the Custody’s fifth Extraordinary Custodial Chapter since its official foundation in 2009. Like the four Extraordinary Custodial Chapters that came before it, this particular Chapter had its own distinguishing features. Those attending included the Provincial Custos of Tanzania, Friar Yeromini Miku MUNISHI; the Minister Provincial of the Province of the Immaculate Mother of God in Poland (Warsaw), Friar Grzegorz BARTOSIK; and the Assistant General for the African Federation of Conventual Franciscans, Friar Anthony Bezo KUTIERO. A total of twenty-six Capitulars attended the Chapter, more than had ever attended any of the previous Extraordinary Custodial Chapters.
Friar Stivin Richard KASHINJE, Custodial Secretary
