On April 5-9, 2021, the friars of the Provincial Custody of Our Lady of Coromoto in Venezuela gathered for a fraternal assembly at the headquarters of the diocesan seminary in Guanare. The Provincial Custos, Friar Franklin A. DURÁN ZAMBRANO convened the assembly, since celebrating an Extraordinary Custodial Chapter had not been possible.

The fraternal assembly began on April 5, with Mass at the Church of San José Obrero in Guanare. Friar Franklin presided. Those attending included friars from various friaries of the Custody, novices and simply professed friars from the San José de Cupertino formation house and some parishioners. During the celebration, Friar José L. JARAMILLO made his simple profession of vows and the Ministry of Acolyte was conferred upon Friar Oscar Osney RODRÍGUEZ MOLINA.
Seventeen solemnly professed friars were actually present at the Assembly. More attended online, including Friar Rogério PEREIRA XAVIER, the Assistant General for the Federación América Latina Conventuales (FALC); Friar Vincenzo M. GIANNELLI, the Minister Provincial of the Mother Province of St. Nicola and St. Angelo in Italy (Puglia) friars from the community in Caracas and from the Margarita filial house and some solemnly professed confreres located in the United States and Italy. Five novices and six post-novices of the Custody attended part of the assembly as guests.
The friars discussed three main topics at the assembly: the revision and updating of the Custodial Statutes; the discernment of a mission presence ad tempus in the Diocese of Margarita; and the BYNODE project. Other topics included the evaluation of the Custody in the light of the 2019-2023 Four-Year Custodial Plan; the transfer of the Post-novitiate to Mérida; the report on the government of the Custody and the Custodial Econom during the current four-year period.
The assembly turned out very well, thanks to the confreres’ active participation and sense of responsibility, both in the lecture room and in the work groups. The assembly finished in the afternoon of April 9 with the celebration of the diaconal ordination of Friars Andrés Eduardo GUERRA VEQUIZ and Ángel Joel NIÑO PACHECO. They were ordained through the imposition of the hands and consecratory prayer of the Most Reverend José de la Trinidad VALERA ANGULO, Bishop of Guanare.

Friar Juan Gregorio MARTÍNEZ CANELÓN, Custodial Secretary