From the evening of December 5 to the morning of December 6, 2024, the Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI, and the Assistant General for the Federazione Inter-mediterranea Ministri Provinciali (FIMP), Friar Giovanni VOLTAN, made a fraternal visit to the Frontier Community and the Secular Franciscan Fraternity of the Risen One. The Fraternity is located at the City of the Young in Mola di Bari, Italy. It continues to be guided by its founder, Friar Giuseppe DE STEFANO (Major Moderator).

The Minister General and the Assistant General for the FIMP Federation made this visit in order to thank the Lord for the newly professed secular members of the Fraternity. The members had celebrated their temporary consecration on November 29, 2024. However, the Minister General and the Assistant General were unable to attend that day.
Through their visit, they also sought to reaffirm and strengthen their mutual fraternal bond and their shared charism within the Order, from which both the Frontier Community and the Fraternity of the Risen One have emerged.
On the evening of December 5, the Minister General presided over Mass in the church of the City of the Young. Those concelebrating included the Assistant General, Friar Giovanni VOLTAN; Friar Giuseppe DE STEFANO; two pastors from Mola di Bari; the Vicar General of the Congregation of the Vocationist Fathers, who was passing through Mola di Bari; and Friar Tommaso CHIRIZZI, OFM, a regional military chaplain of the Guardia di Finanza [financial police force], who is very close to the Frontier Community and its apostolate.
Next, there was a fraternal dinner for all those present, including the children and youth under the care of the Frontier Community, the Minister Provincial of the Province of St. Nicholas and St. Angelo in Italy (Puglia), Friar Daniele MAIORANO, the Guardian of the Mater Ecclesiae Friary (Mother of the Church) located at the Franciscan Oasis Spirituality Center in Bari, Friar Fabio PACIELLO; and other members of the same friary, namely, Friars Gianluca CATAPANO, Salvatore SANTOMASI, Andrea D’ALESSANDRO, and Yohanny Manuel LUNA TORREALBA.
This was followed by a simple yet profound time for getting acquainted, conversation and fraternity, which broadened everyone’s perspective regarding the Order and the apostolate of the Frontier Community.
After seeing the family homes and the sports center, the visit to Mola di Bari came to an end. This event further strengthened the bonds of mutual fraternity and affirmed that the Order continually fosters new vocations, charisms, and apostolates directed towards the poor and marginalized. Specifically, for this community, it emphasizes outreach to “the frontiers” of society and the Church, enriched by the charism of our Seraphic Father St. Francis.

The Frontier Community – Secular Franciscan Fraternity of the Risen One