{"id":80940,"date":"2025-05-07T14:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T12:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/colombia-congresso-ofs-e-gifra\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T14:10:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T12:10:48","slug":"colombia-congresso-ofs-e-gifra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/colombia-congresso-ofs-e-gifra\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia: OFS and YouFra Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>On April 30 to May 4, 2025, the 12<sup>th<\/sup> Annual Latin American Congress of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) and Franciscan Youth (YouFra) was held in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia. This was the second Congress that involved all of Central and South America. The theme of the Congress was <em>\u201cSomos Hermanos y Hermanas en el Coraz\u00f3n de la Madre Tierra\u201d <\/em>(We Are Brothers and Sisters in the Heart of Mother Earth).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Following registration on Wednesday, April 30, at 8:00 a.m., the participants gathered at an 18<sup>th<\/sup> -century church in Bogot\u00e1 known as the \u201cChurch of the Stigmata\u201d or \u201cChurch of the Third Order.\u201d It is historically connected to the current OFS and is where OFM friars celebrate daily Mass.<br \/>\nNext, the participants moved to the Buenos Aires Retreat Center run by the Vicentine Fathers in Chinauta, Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. The OFM Minister Provincial, Friar Jos\u00e9 Alirio URBINA RODR\u00cdGUEZ, presided over the opening Mass.<br \/>\nOn Thursday, May 1, after a review of the previous Congress, focus shifted to the central theme: <em>\u201cCentenary 2025: The Canticle of the Creatures.\u201d<\/em> On May 1-3, this theme\u2014with its significance for the wider Franciscan Family and its challenges for today\u2019s society\u2014was explored in four lectures given by biologist Mayara Ingrid LIMA SOUZA, OFS. The results of the group discussions, especially regarding practical implications for OFS and YouFra, were compiled into a final document and approved by vote during the Saturday, May 3<sup>rd<\/sup> session at 5:00 p.m.<br \/>\nThe Congress was characterized by intensive work, fraternal discussion, planning and great joy. Every evening at 8:00 p.m., participants enjoyed moments of fellowship led in turn by representatives of each national fraternity. On Saturday evening, the Colombian national fraternity hosted a cultural celebration featuring traditional music and dance.<br \/>\nThe presence and contribution of twenty-five participating YouFra members were much appreciated.<br \/>\nThere were a total of ninety-two participants from fifteen Central and South American countries, plus two participants from Spain, and eleven Spiritual Assistants. On Sunday, May 4, at 6:00 a.m., the group returned to Bogot\u00e1. At 9:30 a.m., a closing Mass was held at the previously mentioned OFS church, presided over by the Most Reverend Edwin Ra\u00fal VANEGAS CUERVO, Auxiliary Bishop of Bogot\u00e1, Colombia. After the Mass, the Congress\u2019s final document was read aloud, and the OFS Minister General, Tibor KAUSER, officially declared the 12<sup>th<\/sup> Annual Latin American Congress closed.<br \/>\nAfter a brief visit to the historic city center and lunch at the headquarters of the local OFS fraternity in Bogot\u00e1, the participants remained in an atmosphere of joy and fraternity as they awaited their departures later that evening.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Friar \u0218tefan ACATRINEI<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 30 to May 4, 2025, the 12th Annual Latin American Congress of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) and Franciscan Youth (YouFra) was held in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia. This was the second Congress that involved all of Central and South America. The theme of the Congress was \u201cSomos Hermanos y Hermanas en el Coraz\u00f3n de [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,132,138,148,127],"tags":[1134,1980,1985],"class_list":["post-80940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-falc-en","category-federations","category-franciscan-family","category-news","category-ofs-en","tag-colombia-en","tag-ofs-en","tag-youfra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}