The Unity of the Order and the Pluriformity of Cultural Identities BEING FRANCISCAN IN SPAIN

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1 INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY CONGRESS OFMConv Cochin, Kerala, India January 12-22, Round Table Discussion The Unity of the Order and the Pluriformity of Cultural Identities BEING FRANCISCAN IN SPAIN REDONDO VALENTÍN I am going to move directly to the questions that I am being asked. Although the questions may look easy to answer, nevertheless, every response gives rise to more questions than answers. Although the Franciscan Charism is very specific and concrete, we should not forget that it was born of the same evangelical thrust from which the consecrated life arose, without forgetting all of the richness of religious life prior to Saint Francis and which he assumed in part to give solidity to his project. Today, while there are some characteristics that are immanent to the Franciscan charism, at the same time, we find in the pontifical documents and in those of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies for the Apostolic Life elements that feed and nurture consecrated life in general. 1. In your opinion, is there a Spanish way of being a Conventual Franciscan? Yes, it appears to me that there is a peculiar way of being a Spanish Conventual Franciscan. It is derived from the insight coming to the Spanish culture from the Gospel and from the charism of Francis both of which give it its characteristics. They are not substantial ways that make it different from the charism as it is lived in the other parts of the planet, but they are important and significant, and respond to the Second Vatican Council s invitation to return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time 1, and to the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata which asks religious to discern, in the light of the Spirit, the best ways to preserve and adapt their charism and their spiritual patrimony to changing historical and cultural situations For yourself, in particular, what does it mean to be a Conventual Franciscan in the Spanish Culture? 1 Perfectae caritatis, 2. 2 Vita Consecrata (VC) 42. 1

2 For myself, as a Spaniard, there are some definite characteristics that I can divide into passive and active ones, although an interaction vibrates among them. Among the passive characteristics, I recall the ones that provide unity to the Order, to the Province of Spain, and which still serve as points of reference, such as the habit, our various friary presences. Even though we do not have a long historical presence in Spain, our roots allow us to identify ourselves with the historical friaries of the three Spanish Provinces: Aragon, Castile, and Santiago, and with the external traditions, customs, and usages of fraternal life and its pastoral activity, almost all of them Italian traditions brought over during the Restoration. They are not much different from those of other places in the Order, where the pluriformity or enculturation was limited, since the abovementioned practices were merely transferred from one place to another in the Province or Order. The active characteristics come from the re-reading of Spain s Franciscan history, where in the historical complex of the Order, an attempt has been made to respond to or better to live the charism of Francis of Assisi within a strong tension between continuity and renewal, tradition and modernisation, keeping in mind the many reforms that originated in the Iberian Peninsula and which for the most part have much in common: separation, cloister, and Conventuality. Furthermore, since Vatican II we have been enjoying a return to the sources and a search for the charism by means of a deeper study of Saint Francis and his early biographies. This return to the sources in the context of religious life in Spain today (where with great difficulty we can say that we have hit the bottom of vocational promotion) has animated us and ensures that our description and plan for our religious portrait be recognized by the following characteristics: the Gospel as our norm of life, the fraternal life as project and prophesy in the Church and current society, and detachment and minority as service with a close association with the man of our day. We are readying ourselves to continue searching for the basis of an enculturation of the charism and the Conventual Franciscan identity in Spain and we hope that it will not consist simply of external or folkloric gestures. It is an arduous task and nothing is easy. 3. What best characterizes you as Conventual Franciscans in your culture? We can speak more clearly today because the history of the past has been revisited and because Conventual Franciscan life has been carefully planted since the Restoration of the Order in Spain. The first characteristic is the fraternal life to which much emphasis has been given in the recent past and in the present; a closer association with simple people (in evidence in our friary presences, all recent, where the relationship with the lower middle class underlines the sharing of things and the same poverty is being lived in fraternal union with them) 3 ; service and availability (minority) in the friaries and parochial and Conventual churches, as well as service offered to parishes where our presence is requested; the welcoming reception of whoever approaches us; service to youth, providing them with a human and Christian formation with a Franciscan orientation. 4. In what way does your culture enrich or favor your Franciscan identity? There are some specific aspects inside Spanish culture which favor the Franciscan identity. Although we can see that many of the characteristics are common to religious life in general, we can point to the following as Franciscan characteristics: the centrality of God, the Gospel, the fraternity, the detachment, service, simplicity, a closer association with the people, a sense of mission 3 Cfr. 2C

3 Some cultural aspects that favor our Franciscan identity are: the devotional aspect, such as to the main Saints of the Order (Francis, Anthony of Padua, Clare), as well as the particular liturgical seasons which have a great Franciscan charge in their manifestation: Christmas with the Nativity Scene, Holy Week with the processions, many of them born out of the warmth of the Franciscans, new contributions welcomed by Christian people: the spirit of Assisi, Peace, Justice, and the Safeguarding of Creation ; the pastoral aspect near the local friary, collaboration with the other churches near and far; popular missions, novenas, preaching which lead to a Christian- Franciscan catechesis; the world of art which include the great Franciscan works left by the master painters (El Greco, Murillo, Zurbarán ), sculptors (Mena, Gregorio Fernandez ), architects responsible for gothic, baroque, and modern Franciscan churches; the area of literature with works which bring the Franciscan spirit to prose, poetry, and theatre; the fields of asceticism and mysticism, philosophy, theology, and history (where young lay investigators are discovering new aspects of Franciscan historiography, seen with new eyes); the new image of the friar. After the demoralization suffered in the nineteenth century and by the suppressions and the strong anticlericalism that occurred in Spain, the friar is now recognized by the people for his identity as religious, and is thus highly respected and esteemed by the people for his simple lifestyle and hard work. 5. Are there Franciscan aspects that are in contrast with the local culture? Rather than focus on those aspects of Franciscanism which in contrast with the local culture, I prefer to be positive, to say, that while there are social situations in contrast with our values and proposals, these do not prevent us from living in harmony and fidelity with our charism. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that men and women of today are searching for teachers of life, more than the abstract proposals of our Franciscan richness 4. Here are some examples: In a society in which faith and the Gospel are losing their place, the Franciscans are called to do more than merely list the multitude of Gospel characteristics we can find in our documents 5 or in the many contributions of modern Franciscan scholars 6. Franciscans are called to be witnesses of the substantial elements of our charism, as they appear in the writings of Francis of Assisi: the centrality of the experience of the faith, which leads to the following of Jesus in His Mission. For us Franciscans, in a society where everything referring to God is losing its place, our experience of faith leads us to give priority to the primacy of God in our life and to the communication of the Good News a faith we must be committed to renew each day. With our countrymen as fellow-seekers, in search of quality and of an encounter with God and with fellowbelievers, we offer them the best that we have: the Gospel of Jesus lived out in fraternity. In a society which manifests many weaknesses: in the family, in society, in the Church, sometimes aggravated by marginalization, immigration, the Franciscan can bring the element of fraternity, where mutual attention and concern for one s brother are priorities. The sacrament of the brother: whatever you did for one of these least of my brothers, you did it for me 7, leads us to a Franciscan spirituality of fraternity, not only on the inside, but also on the outside, where the seeds of this fraternity of love are sent: acceptance with maternal gestures, as it is 8, in service 9, the 4 Cfr. PAUL VI, Address to the members of Consilium pro laicis (October 2, 1974): AAS 66 (1974). P The Constitutions, The Documents of Mexico 92: Conventual Franciscan Presence and Witness Toward the Year 2000, The Franciscan Disciple, the document of the Faculty of Saint Bonaventure (Seraphicum): The Conventual Franciscan Charism. Origin, History, and Modern Action, the document: Theological-Pastoral Components of the Charism of the Founder 6 Lázaro, Iriarte, Sebastián López, Javier Garrido 7 Mt 25, Cfr. 1R 7, 15; 10, 1-2; 2R 6, Cfr. 1R 6, 3-4; 7,

4 rejection of power (no domination) 10, in benevolent welcoming 11, in mercy 12, and forgiveness 13. It is the fraternity of the minors that serves with humility, learning constantly to be detached from the stigmas of power that dominate and impose, in a permanent process of wanting to be poor and detached. 14. We seek to be a significant fraternity, perhaps without great structures, but truly a sign, support, and light for all. With regard to fraternity, I would like to mention in a special way our Conventual witness for the men and women of our time. It is a value that departs from the origins and its own vocabulary clarifies it for us: convenire(to agree) and convivere(to coexist), referring to the fraternity, to the value of the fraternity lived out in community 15. From the fraternity one moves to the life in the mission. We need to re-affirm and accentuate what our documents state about Conventuality: 1 availability to walk with the Church (capacity for renewal); 2 openness to the contemporary world, walking with history; 3 close association with our fellow men and women, knowing how to be where they are; 4 dialogue with the culture; 5 openness as men willing to face new forms of witness and the apostolic-missionary life: the promotion and defense of life, the safeguarding of creation, peace, justice, old and new forms of poverty ; 6 continuation of our tradition in the field of culture: science, the arts, music 16. Friar José Mari Arregui told us at the Fraternal Chapter in Poland, giving support to our Conventuality: This is the hour of Franciscanism, but I feel it important to underline: it is the hour for the Friars Minor Conventual. Yes, because from the very beginning, they have known how to question themselves about new things. This is a great need for all of us. The Franciscan life is not a closed and defined state once and for all. Franciscanism is a passionate search for God and man in ever new conditions of life. For that reason, I say that Conventualism meets the needs of the times and has the responsibility to continue to open new roads, new roads towards God and new roads towards all men, integrating all that actualizes and makes the Gospel life possible 17. In a society where signs of injustice and violence are rampant, we must try to present the face of peace founded on justice. It is a journey that begins within the fraternity by manifesting respect for all. It is extended to others in mission 18. In a society where the religious signs are less in evidence, mission needs to be aligned with life, with the witness of fraternal life, detached and frugal in a consumer society. Francis centered his life on mission, and mission in the first place, on the witness of the Christian life 19. The proclamation of the word, the sacraments, come afterwards if that s the way God wants it 20. What is most important is our Christian fraternity, which for being Christian is Franciscan, and from there 10 Cfr. 1R 5, 9-12; 6, 3; 17, Cfr. 1R 2, 1; 7, Cfr. CtaM Cfr. 1R 5, 5-8; 2R 7; CtaM Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. Adm 27, It appears to me that a very important contribution given from outside of the Order to Conventuality was in the document of the Congregation for the Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life: The fraternal life in community. 16 The Documents of Mexico 92: Conventual Franciscan Presence and Witness Toward the Year 2000, J.M. ARREGUI, The joy and responsibility of accompanying ourselves in the Franciscan life, in Fraternal Chapter and International Formation Congress, Krakow-Zakopane-Harmeze, August 18 September 2, 2004, Italian language edition, CIMP Secretary, pp Cfr. 1R 11; 2R 3, Cfr. 1R 16, Cfr. 1R 16, 7. 4

5 mission begins. As Vita Consecrata affirms: Indeed, more than in external works, the mission consists in making Christ present to the world through personal witness. This is the challenge, this is the primary task of the consecrated life! The more consecrated persons allow themselves to be conformed to Christ, the more Christ is made present and active in the world for the salvation of all 21. More than seeing the contrast of the actual Spanish culture with our Conventual Franciscan identity, we are offered the opportunity for a more profound reflection on the being and direction of our life, if we are attempting to set a hand to the plow and not look to what was left behind 22. This does not mean that we are uninterested with what is going on in the world, but we give our attention to the signs of the times that always call us to renewal if we wish to be in accord with the Gospel and our Conventual Franciscan charism. - What does your local Franciscan identity offer to and receive from the larger Franciscan family? A lot of work is taking place at the level of the larger Franciscan family. There is an annual meeting at the end of January of all of the Minister Provincials and Generals who reside in Spain. Afterwards, in most of the communities joint meetings take place with greater frequency. It is a good opportunity for communication and exchange of proposals and ideas, and the success of Inter- Franciscan projects. With all, there is more generosity and detachment noted among the sisters than among the brothers. There is work being done in the field of vocational animation, where normally everyone has a presence and a lot of harmony exists. Work is being done with interest and since the high cost of the vocation exceeds us, we ask ourselves if what we are offering the candidates is really appropriate for them, for the new situations, and in accord with the will of God. Less successful were other activities such as missions, Peace, Justice, and the Safeguarding of Creation, where there has always been participation and collaboration from the different Orders and Congregations of men and women. In initial formation there has been good work done by the women s congregations of the Franciscan family, always with everyone s collaboration. Even with the diminishing number of candidates in the different levels of formation, the meetings have continued and have seen better results. The men s communities have been and are more fragile in the field of formation, due to the fact that no one is willing to give up anything, even though today, the properties are empty or becoming empty. More often now, there are fewer references to the conflicts of the past. Attempts take place to eliminate what immobilizes and impedes a fluid dialogue. My opinion is that it is in continuing formation, where we need to place own main emphasis. It is time to ask ourselves: What do you want me to do, Lord? 23 We need to review the composition and overall quality of our fraternal relationships in the Order and/or Congregation and in the Franciscan family, the quality of our search for God, of our mission, because as Arregui told us, today we need to liberate ourselves from the logic of quantity and search more for the logic of the quality of our presence VC Cfr. Lk. 9, LM 1,3. 24 J.M. ARREGUI, o.c., p

6 Conclusion How well have I responded to questions concerning the identity of the Conventual Franciscan Friars in Spain within the interculturality of the Order? The answer is in your hands. I have been tried to show you our life as we are and how we wish to be, that is, our reality and our projects for the future. In my opinion, there is still a lot more to achieve and we hope to do so with the encouragement of the central government of the Order and the specific deepening of our understanding about our identity as Conventual Franciscans through the efforts of the Theological Faculty of Saint Bonaventure of Rome. In order to grow in our Conventual Franciscan identity and enculturate it in Spain, and in other areas of the Order, we need to re-accustom ourselves to a vocabulary a bit forgotten now, but which forms part of our roots: conversion, being men of penance, which reminds us of the continual need to change, to be born again, to begin anew. Francis, man of penance, points out that road for us when says: Brothers, let us begin to serve the Lord our God, because up to know we have done very little 25.. Valentin Redondo 25 LM 14, 1. 6