On August 7-11, 2023, the friars of the Provincial Custody of St. Francis Anthony Fasani in Vietnam gathered at the St. Anthony Seminary in Bình Dương Province for a Custodial Community Week.
The theme of the Community Week was “Fraternity and Synodality Are the Ways of the Church and the Order in Today’s World.” Friar Joseph NGUYỄN (Xuân Trường), a member of the Delegation in Australia, was a special guest during this gathering. He had been the director of the St. Anthony Friary from 2014-2017.
The Community Week began with a Mass of the Holy Spirit presided over by Friar Joseph NGUYỄN (Xuân Trường). On the first day, Friar Peter HOÀNG (Thành Đông), Secretary for Formation, presented the Formation Directory. Then, the friars were divided into groups, according to the six chapters of the outline, to discuss and summarize positive points and make suggestions and corrections regarding any negative points.
On the second day, the Community Week was honored by the presence of Friar Paul NGUYỄN (Đình Vịnh), OFM, a professor of psychology at the Friars Minor seminary. Friar Paul spoke on the topic of abuse in religious life. He emphasized the main kinds of abuse, namely, the abuse of power, financial abuse, spiritual abuse and sexual abuse.
On the third day, Friar Joseph NGUYỄN (Xuân Trường) spoke on the theme “Building a Good Fraternity.” He covered three main points: Looking at past achievements with gratitude; looking at present-day opportunities and challenges with strong faith; and boldly stepping into the future with hope and love. The young friars listen to and discussed the history of the Custody over the past nineteen years. In addition to the presentation by Friar Joseph, they also heard from friars from earlier generations. Friar Joseph drew upon his experience in religious life and his understanding of the structure of the government of the Order to clarify some of the offices and responsibilities that many of the friars are taking up for the first time. He also focused on the Franciscan charism as a foundational element when building up a young Custody.
On the fourth day, the friars heard reports on the status of the friaries and various offices. Currently, the Custody has four friaries and a filial house belonging to the St. Anthony Friary. The friars also listened to reports from the offices for finance, formation, evangelization, communications, the Militia of the Immaculata, and charitable works. Through reporting and answering questions, everyone was able to better understand the status of each friary, community and office in the Custody, especially the challenges and difficulties faced by each. After the day of reports and discussion, all of the friars joyfully participated in a soccer match that had been organized.
On the last day, the friars listened to reports from the friars who are in engaged in parish ministry. After that, Provincial Custos, Friar Joseph TRẦN (Văn Long), gave a report on the status of the Custody and presented some plans for the friars to discuss and implement in the future. The community week ended with an evening Mass of Thanksgiving during which seven student friars renewed their vows. Afterwards, the friars spent some fraternal time together.
Friar Joseph NGUYỄN (Chính Luận), Custodial Secretary
