(This article original appeared in the Winter 2021 TAU-USA Issue 102)

By Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM, CSNA

Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM, CNSA President

I don’t remember hearing about abortion until it was brought up for discussion in my high school English class. Abortion remains a hot topic after all these years, in spite of several commentators claiming decades ago that other issues would squeeze it out, but it still gets modest attention in many elections. Over my years as a priest, I’ve heard several confessions from women and a few from men, about how their choice for abortion has hurt their lives. As long as abortion is with us, it will continue to affect us.

My parents did an end-run around the public schools’ family life education, which started in fifth grade. When each of us reached fourth grade, Mom took my sisters, and Dad took my brothers and me to the local museum, where father-son and mother- daughter classes learned about human physiology and development. Our entire family watched the development of the child from conception to birth on NOVA on PBS. We were watching the rerun when our grandparents were watching us. My grandmother entered the room just as the mother was giving birth. Her reaction: “What would your parents say if they knew you were watching this?” “Well,” we said, “they already saw it with us.” Seeing the development of a child a stage at a time pulls back the curtain from the mystery of pregnancy and makes it just “common sense” that there is a child developing inside the mother. There is no magic point of a “formless blob” suddenly becoming “a human being.”

When my high school English teacher brought up the topic for discussion, I was relieved to find out that the Church already acknowledged that abortion is the taking of human life. I was relieved that the Church was on the side of what, to my eyes, was clearly science.

There are many scientists who would frame things differently. But the simple, direct view of the development of a child in the womb is so powerful that many women leaning toward an abortion choose differently when they see an ultrasound.

Only three of us in that class thought abortion was at all questionable. The simple, direct proclamation of a woman’s so-called “right to choose” is so powerful that it affects how people today interpret even the photography that clearly demonstrates there is a growing being. We learn how to interpret who is favorable or beautiful or trustworthy in part from those around us and the way they interpret and interact with others.

The Secular Franciscan Rule tells us to “be in the forefront in promoting justice by the testimony of [our] human lives and [our] courageous initiatives. Especially in the field of public life, [we] should make definite choices in harmony with [our] faith.” (15)

Our public role extends far beyond the voting booth. My parents’ direct and respectful approach to human life and development had a profound and lasting impact on me. Everything has a proper name, can be discussed with respect and without fear or shame. We can have a great impact when we deal openly, honestly, and without fear about every topic with each person.

For your reflection: What has helped form your Gospel-centered approach to engaging in public life? Is there a challenge you still need to take up? How do you pray about this? What kind of choices do you make that are contrary to social norms but in harmony with our faith?

Our Life in Christ and Our Public Life

(This article original appeared in the Winter 2021 TAU-USA Issue 102)

By SHARON WINZELER, OFS

 Calling the local fraternity the “heartbeat of the order,” National Formation Commission Chair Diane Menditto, OFS, pointed to the commitment Secular Franciscans make at profession “to accompany and take care of one another on our journey to the Father.”

 In her presentation titled “Fraternity:  Our Way of Life,” Menditto elaborated on five key elements to living in communion with one another — collaboration, community, communication, commitment, and conversion.

 While explaining the art of Franciscan collaboration, she cited a report by former Minister General Emanuela DeNunzio, OFS, that represents the identity of Secular Franciscans in a triple dimension:  Personal (inner life); Fraternal (co-responsibility); and Universal (the mission).

 “The mission itself needs to be reflected not only in Gospel values, but in order to work for the fraternity, it also needs to be based on the gifts of its members,” Menditto said.

 By championing the lives of our brothers and sisters in fraternity, we strengthen each other, she said, citing the General Constitutions, Article 30.2 on how fraternity should be lived.

 “The sense of co-responsibility of the members requires personal presence, witness, prayer and active collaboration in accordance with each one’s situation and possible obligations for the animation of the fraternity,” Menditto said.

 The challenge of the community element means the “acceptance of and empathy for our brothers and sisters,” she said.

 “We can go out and support others because we know we are loved and supported,” she said.

 “We are not looking for others to serve us, but we are looking for ways to serve one another. We want to give everything we have until we have given everything, until we are poor enough to be generous.”

 The communication element means listening with patience and humility, even when one doesn’t agree. Menditto encouraged regional ministers and councilors to communicate directly with the local fraternities they represent.

 “This is one of the ways the local fraternities will know that we are listening to them,” she said.  Listening as a method of communication applies to every level of fraternity.

 “If we truly want to serve one another and others in fraternity, listening to the needs of others should, no must, be the basis for whatever we do for one another,” Menditto said.

 The fourth challenge of a Secular Franciscan is commitment to what one promised at profession.

    “By profession we are committed to God, to one another and to all creation. This is called universal kinship.”

 Living the Gospel life as a Secular Franciscan is a full-time experience, she said.

 Finally, the biggest challenge of all is daily conversion.

 “It is the only way we will accomplish the rest,” Menditto said, citing Article 7 of the Rule:  “United by their vocation as brothers and sisters of penance, and motivated by the dynamic power of the gospel, let them conform their thoughts and deeds to those of Christ by means of that radical interior change which the Gospel itself calls conversion.”

 Daily conversion helps us to strengthen our mission outlined in the Gospel.

 “This requires constant self-examination to be sure we reach out to others because we are not attached to ourselves.”  

 Using extensive quotes from “Belonging to the SFO” by Emanuela DeNunzio, OFS, (General Chapter 2008), Menditto recommended that fraternities:

• create a School of sanctity — “Fraternity can promote in its members full development of the interior life: an intense liturgical life, sacramental and charitable life through practices such as fraternity prayer, Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, retreats and days of recollection.”

• create a School of formation — “The spirit of belonging is nurtured when the Rule becomes the life of the brothers and sisters. It will assure a kind of assimilation of the spirit of the Rule in the life and in the history of each person. Those who are assiduous readers of the writings of Francis and of Clare and of the ancient biographies will be strengthened in their Franciscan identity. Therefore, Secular Franciscans should regularly read spiritual readings from the sources. We are agents of our own formation. We form ourselves so that we can form others.”
• be a Witness of ecclesial communion — “It is essential that everyone make the decision to make himself/herself present in the lives of the brothers and sisters: rejoicing with those who participate, being mindful of those that do not come, trying to find the reasons for which someone has lost the motivation. In order to promote the desire to gather in fraternity, the Council should plan meetings that are pleasant, productive and enriching.”
• participate in the apostolic purpose of the Church — “The Rule recommends being creative in our apostolic activity — examine our ministries. Society has changed, and the Church has renewed itself and is renewing itself again. The Gospel is always the same, but new approaches and new encounters with the Gospel and history are necessary.”
• be a Presence in society — “In light of the social doctrine of the church, every fraternity should question its priorities in its own missionary commitment.”
• ••

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

“The Secular Franciscan Order for an

Evangelizing Mission Together with all the Franciscan Family.” (Benedetto Lino, OFS, at the First International Congress for Missions and Evangelization-OFM-2014)

 “How Should An Order Like the OFS Be

Managed at All Its Levels?” (Benedetto Lino,

OFS, XIV General Chapter, November 2014)

“Belonging to the SFO” (Emanuela DeNunzio, OFS, General Chapter 2008)

Local Fraternity is the Heart of the Order