Franciscan Prayer : St Clare of Assisi
Co-Patrons of the Custody
God sends us companions on our spiritual journey, for us as individuals and for us as an organisation or ministry. For our Custody, St Anthony has been our patron saint from the beginning.
Why St Anthony you might ask? Well, it goes back to 1957 when Friar Vergil Mannion arrived in Singapore to establish a sociological centre to offer an alternative to communism. The centre was named Studium Sociologicum in Latin, but its name in Chinese – 安道社会学研究社 – translates to Anthony Sociological Research Centre. There is nothing that explains why the friars chose St Anthony as the centre’s patron though. Perhaps St Anthony, the patron of finding lost things, will help us find the answer to that one day!
In 1991, when our Custody, dependent upon the Australian Province, was established, the new entity chose to keep St Anthony as its intercessor, protector and guide. When our Custody became autonomous on 25 April 2023, we could have chosen to adopt a different saint as patron, but we wanted St Anthony to continue as our main patron. After all, he has helped us find our way all these years.
However, the Custody did adopt a co-patron, Friar Gabriele Allegra, for it was he who conceived the idea of setting up the sociological centre. Friar Gabriele Allegra was recognised for his holiness and great contribution to the church and hence beatified in 2012 as Blessed Gabriele Allegra.
We commissioned a painting of our co-patrons for our declaration of autonomy. In it, Blessed Allegra holds a book, and on the cover are the words 圣经, which translates to “holy scriptures”. This is because Blessed Allegra is well-known for his pioneering efforts to translate the bible into Chinese from the original Hebrew and Greek. Blessed Allegra is credited with the founding of two research centres – one on the bible, the other for sociology.
May the co-patrons of our Custody, St Anthony and Blessed Allegra, inspire all of us friars and all of you to work hard and pray even harder as you bring the Good News to the people, that they may find their way to God, who is always looking out for us, especially those of us who are lonely and lost.
St Anthony and Blessed Allegra, pray for us
Franciscan Friars across Asia-Oceania gather to Discern and Plan
After three years of virtual meetings, the superiors of the Franciscan Provinces, Custodies and Foundations in Asia-Oceania were finally able to gather in-person for a meeting with the Definitor General for Asia-Oceania, Friar John Wong, and General Bursar, Friar John Puodziunas. Over the course of the meeting in Bali from 1-5 May 2023, they shared updates on the situation in their respective entities and discerned possible collaborations prayerfully.
Also, at the Franciscan Conference of Asia-Oceania (FCAO) meeting were the friar bursars and lay finance staff. Together the participants deepened their appreciation of the concept of fraternal economy and the stewardship of finances and assets.
Some of the pertinent decisions that came out of this meeting were:
• Regional Formators Course – Training for formators has always been a priority, and there is an impetus to revive the Franciscan Study Centre of Asia, based in Manila, with a course for formators. Friar Derrick Yap is in the team that will draft the course programme.
• Lay Brothers Gathering – The International Gathering of Lay Brothers will be held in 2025, and each conference is to organise its own gathering to begin conversations to prepare participants for the international gathering. Singapore will host the conference level gathering to be held from 13-17 May 2024.
• Missionaries for Papua New Guinea – To further boost the Franciscan presence and ministries in the various cities in Papua New Guinea, there is an appeal to send more friars, in particular those with leadership, administrative and formation competencies.
• Voluntary Solidarity Contribution – Franciscan entities all over the world are required to contribute financially to the running of the General Curia (Franciscan headquarters) in Rome, and the superiors deliberated on the most suitable contribution model to implement.
Our Custos Friar Derrick Yap returned from the FCAO meeting energised. “My time there felt like a time of retreat. It started with an amazing session on fraternal economy given by our General Economo (Bursar). Even though we were talking about finances, Friar John Puodziunas talked about the spirit of fraternal care as the way we can be good stewards of our assets. It was eye opening as well as heart opening,” he shared.
“This paved the way for more fraternal and honest sharing amongst us over the next few days, despite the fact that most of us were meeting for the first time. In the spirit of St Francis, we confidently made our needs known, and we trusted that our brothers had our best interests in their hearts.”
Lights, Camera, Action!
It is not surprising to see friars singing and dancing. You may have seen performances in various Franciscan Jam productions and in the Jerusalema Dance video. Truly, what sets a Franciscan friar apart is his sense of creativity and openness to bringing alive the word of God and the spirit of Francis in timeless ways. Magic fills the air when brothers pool their gifts and charisms together on stage. The recent Mother’s Day concert also paid tribute to the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit among the people. It was a splendid evening of Franciscan joy.
One thing Franciscan formation seeks to do is develop a friar’s innate talents especially those of artistic expression. The Friars in Formation (FIF) are given opportunities to try different art forms and allow these experiences to shape their sense of Franciscan spirit. This aspect of formation enables them to explore their individual creative and affective capacity. It also helps them learn to blend and support each other in a fraternal environment. Hence, besides studying in the seminary and ministerial work, the FIF also put on concerts and other performances.
In early August, the FIF will present a soul-provoking theatre production to celebrate the gift of life and vocation. This original play is co-written and produced by the FIF. As part of their formation programme, the FIF took a speech and drama programme with the University of West London. Producing this play enables them to put into practice what they learnt, and it takes them out of their comfort zone. Our hope is that this experience will help form them to share the creative and joyful spirit of Francis with everyone they meet.
Graced Encounters of Fraternal Dialogue and Intentional Relating
Dearest Family and Friends,
My heart is full as I look back on the first half of the year. I feel like I have been running non-stop especially from April onwards with the Spirituality Conference by Friar Wayne Hellmann, followed almost immediately by the declaration of our Custody as autonomous on 25 April, and the quick trip Friar John Wong and I made to Kota Kinabalu to show our Minister General Friar Massimo Fusarelli our latest mission. Then, with only a few days to catch my breath, I found myself in the thick of the Franciscan Conference of Asia-Oceania meeting in Bali, which you can read about in the News section.
In most of these trips, there was prior discernment and preparation to be done, work work work during, and follow-up action and more discernment after. But what anchored all this labouring was fraternal dialogue and intentional relating.
With Friar Wayne Hellmann for example, well, he and I have been in contact since he conducted a retreat for us in 2015. When I was in Rome for studies, Wayne made it a point to have a meal with me whenever he was there to find out how I was doing. This relationship and trust made planning the Spirituality Conference together so much easier. Accompanying him to each location was a joy. I felt I had a spiritual father and brother guiding and teaching me as we shared deeply about our prayer life and all things Franciscan.
I also found connecting with Friar Massimo very refreshing. It has never been clear to me how to relate to people in top positions, but Massimo was very brotherly and genuinely concerned about how I was doing and how the Custody was doing. There were several light[1]hearted moments in Kota Kinabalu where I saw a very human side of the man in charge of the entire Franciscan Order. He is my brother in Christ and in Francis, and I related to him from the authentic core of who I am, as Derrick. This is part of a deepening of my discovery of who I am and how I am to relate to those around me, simply as a brother, like Francis did.
Now that our Custody is autonomous, I am fully aware of the greater responsibility I have. The buck now stops at me, so to speak; no longer can I refer to the Australia Provincial for decisions and approvals. Fortunately I have a team of Councillors and office bearers who also desire a more authentic expression of Franciscan living.
I pray that this Franciscan spirit of fraternal dialogue and intentional relating can be experienced by everyone, especially those we friars encounter. We all journey together with St Francis who knew that these earthly fraternal encounters spark a deathless hope in our hearts.
So with these graced encounters in the past months, how can my heart not be full?
