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October 2024 – Regional Minister Message

October 30, 2024

Dear Fellow Ministers,

Good afternoon to you…I hope things are going well for you and your fraternity members.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share a number of informational items with you:

  • As you all know, we recently held our Leadership Development Workshop in Cacouna, with 50 people participating.  (FYI,  there were 56 people originally registered but some had to cancel due to health issues).  By all accounts participants thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Paul Donovan as our facilitator.  As well, over the week-end, there was a strong sense of our regional fraternity celebrating being together once again.  The challenge and  the promise of applying what was learned towards the strengthening of our fraternities is a responsibility that we all share. The Regional Council wishes to thank all those who made the effort to travel to Cacouna and contribute to the success of the workshop!
  • Once again, this year Regional Council wishes to encourage fraternities to contribute to the support of Franciscans International specifically in their advocacy for the protection of the human right to water.  Please send your donations to the attention of our Regional Treasurer, Ms. Luba Legault by December 1, 2024, if at all possible.  Our Treasurer will then collate all of the donations and forwarded a collective amount to Franciscans International on our behalf.  We thank you for your generosity!
  • As is our practice, we will shortly be preparing the next issue of the Regional Update, to be issued at the early part of Advent.  Regional Council would like to invite members of each fraternity to share short anecdotes regarding family Christmas celebrations..  As we know, our Regional fraternity is blessed to have a rich cultural diversity.  This next issue of the Regional Update will hopefully highlight this diversity through these Christmas celebration stories.  We invite you to share a favourite Christmas tradition and/or celebration and forward it to Martha Gabriel (martha.rfec@gmail.com) by the 20th of November, 2024.  Note Advent begins on Sunday, December 1, 2024 and we would like to get the Update out just prior to the commencement of Advent.
  • Also, Regional Council wants to share with you that the week-end of July 18, 19, and 20, 2025 has been reserved at Cacouna for our Regional Elective Chapter.  Please put a circle around those dates for next year.  As planning for the Elective Chapter unfolds we will be keeping you updated.
  • Finally, the National Centenary Task Group wants to remind us all that 2025 is the 800th anniversary of and the year of celebration of the Canticle of the Creatures.  .The Task Group asks that you share with them plans of how your fraternity might celebrate the Canticle in 2025.  Please forward these plans that you might have to the attention of Ms. Catherine Payne, (catherinepayne279@gmail.com)  the National Director of Formation.  Once you have had these celebrations the Task Group would also like to receive photos of your celebration.  On their behalf, I say thank you!

That is all I have to share at this time.  If you have any questions or need for clarification  regarding the above items please let me know.  Keeping the lines of communication open is important, so I ask that you confirm receipt of this email.  Thank you!

Fraternal regards,

Gerry Gabriel

Minister, Regional Fraternity of Eastern Canada (RFEC)

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July 16 – Regional Minister Message

July 16, 2024

Dear Fellow Ministers,

Good afternoon to you all…

I acknowledge that summer is a great time to rest, recreate and enjoy visiting with family and friends.  It can also be a time for quiet reflection and this is what I would like to invite you and your members to do: reflect about what a gift our vocation to OFS has been .

In preparation for the next issue of the Regional Update I would ask that you and your members consider sharing your thoughts/feelings regarding the following two questions by emailing me at gerry.rfec@gmail.com.

  1. What has given me the greatest joy in being a Secular Franciscan?
  2. How has being a Secular Franciscan enriched my life?

The intent is to include a selection of the responses in the Update…so we thank you and your members for their contributions! You may recall that our Lenten issue of the Update had two articles on Francis receiving the stigmata. This was in keeping with the Centenary celebration  recommendations.  In this next issue of the Update we want to devote some attention to St. Clare.  If your fraternity has any special celebrations of St. Clare (her feast day is August 11th), you are invited to highlight those as well,  We ask for all your responses no later than August 15, 2024.

I would like to suggest that reflecting on the above two questions might serve an additional purpose.  Our Regional Fall Workshop is focusing, in part, on our Vision and Mission as Secular Franciscans.   It may be that our individual and collective responses to these questions will also provide helpful input to determining how we see our Vision and Mission as members of the OFS. 

Once again, thank you for your interest and sharing!

Best regards,

Gerry

Minister, Regional Fraternity of Eastern Canada (RFEC)

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April 2024 – Regional Minister Message

April 22, 2024

Dear Fellow Ministers,

Good day…once again I write to you to stay in touch.  It is my hope that your Easter celebration was full of blessings and that the season of Eastertide is prayerful for you and your fraternal brothers and sisters.

I wish to share the following with you:

  • First, I want to thank you for all that you do on behalf of your fraternities.  Serving as Minister can be demanding at times.  Please know that your fraternal efforts are very much appreciated.
  • I am pleased to inform you that plans for our Regional Leadership Development Workshop are proceeding well.  As a reminder, this will take place on October 18-20, 2024 at Cacouna Quebec.  With the capable help of Paul Donovan, this week-end promises to be an exciting opportunity to grow our skills and abilities as members of our fraternity Councils.
  • Although the week-end gathering in Cacouna will be formatted more as a workshop, please be assured that there will be ample emphasis on our Franciscan spirituality. In this way, we intend that this Fall week-end together will build on the vibrant sense of fraternity and the collective joy in our Franciscan charism experienced at our 2023 Spiritual Conference. Truly there is renewal when we gather together…and the result is that we are stronger together!
  • In order to help your Leadership Development Workshop planning team, I would ask that you respond to these two questions:
  1.                a)  Are there aspects of your responsibility as Minister that you would like the 

                      Leadership Development Workshop to focus on?

  1.                b)  Are there aspects of leading Council (and thus your fraternity) that you would like 

                      the Leadership Development Workshop to address?

That is all that I have to share at this time.  I ask that you forward your response to the above two questions to my attention in the next two weeks…thank you! If there are any other issues or questions that you wish to raise with me do not hesitate to get in touch.

All the very best to you and your fraternal brothers and sisters.  May God give you peace and joy!

Warm regards,

Gerry Gabriel

Minister, Regional Fraternity of Eastern Canada (RFEC)