A Week for the New Provincial Ministers
- Published in Formation
Frascati (Rome). The sixteenth annual meeting of the new provincial ministers and custodes with the General Minister and his Council was held in Frascati from April 8 to 15.
The friary of Frascati is the ideal setting for such a meeting. Located in a place of deep historical roots, Frascati is the ancient Tusculum of the Romans, where Cicero himself had his villa (some say the friary garden even contains some of its ruins). Situated between the greenery and fresh air of the Castelli Romani, the Capuchin friary and church of Frascati keep the illustrious memory of Cardinal Guglielmo Massaji, the great missionary of the Oromo people in Ethiopia, who spent his last nine years there and is buried in the church. The friary has depended directly on the General Curia since 1911, and in recent years has been used mostly for formation activities.
The meeting has a threefold purpose:
- To foster the best possible animation of our friars and fraternities, offering the major superiors an opportunity for a common reflection together with the General Council;
- To facilitate the relationships between the central administration of the Order and the circumscriptions, establishing direct and fraternal contact between the major superiors and the services of the General Curia;
- To foster exchange and mutual awareness between the new superiors in an open dialogue on the problems inherent in their service.
The gathering was received positively from all points of view and in its various parts by almost all of those present, who also thanked the General Minister and those who worked with him to make the meeting the best it could be.
On the second Sunday, April 15, some of the ministers and custodes traveled in pilgrimage to Assisi in order to visit the places dear to Franciscans and to pray at the tomb of our Seraphic Father.
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The following ministers and custodes participated in the meeting:
- Clézio Menezes dos Santos (Province of Central Brazil);
- Eduard Rey i Puiggròs (Province of Catalonia, Spain);
- Effie Mallia (Province of Malta);
- Gebrewold Gebretsadik (Province of Ethiopia);
- Gerard O’Dempsey (Province of Australia);
- Giulio Pierani (Custody of Benin);
- José Benigno Varela Castro (Custody of Nicaragua-Costa Rica-Panama);
- José David Antonio Vásquez Guzmán (Custody of the Dominican Republic);
- José Dick Ramírez Chalá (Custody of Ecuador);
- José Luis Cereijo (Province of Rio de la Plata, Argentina);
- Nilmar Carlos Gatto (Province of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil);
- Pedro Cesario Palma (Province of Paraná – Santa Catarina, Brazil);
- Remo di Salvatore (Province of New Jersey);
- Rodrigo Israel Romero Cariz (Province of Chile);
- Salvador Franco Mavida (Custody of Mozambique);
- Silvio do Soccorro de Almeida Pereira (Province of Maranhão-Pará-Amapá, Brazil);
- Hermanus Mayong (Province of Pontianak, Indonesia).
Thanks to all the participants!