Our Seraphic Father Francis composed a psalm for his Office of the Passion which he recited every day during the Easter season: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wondrous deeds. The Lord has made his salvation known. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Office of the Passion, Psalm 9). What strikes me about this prayer is that St Francis is calling himself and us to sing a “new song” because “this is the day the Lord has made”, to make His salvation known today in ever-new ways.
In the first quarter of 2022, the Franciscan Friars in Malaysia- Singapore-Brunei celebrated the gift of fraternity in several ways. In January, two of our student- brothers resumed their full-time studies in Philosophy and Theology at the Major Seminary in Upper Bukit Timah. They were joined by our novices. The studies at the seminary, supplemented by in- house formation programmes, will equip our brothers for their future ministries in sharing the message of life of the Gospel in this region and beyond.
On 11 February, we celebrated World Day of Consecrated Life together with other religious orders and congregations. Approximately 90 religiousbrothers and sisters participated in the online event organised by the Conference of Religious Major Superiors. Formandees (students) in the various religious orders also shared their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the future in a video which you can watch in the Franciscan Friars YouTube channel.
The next day, 12 February, two postulants, Jorgerson Japar and Nicholas Ambrose Lee, entered the pre-novitiate programme that, due to Covid border restrictions, has to take place in two locations – Penang (Jorgerson) and Singapore (Nicholas). We are grateful for the continued gift of vocations. We are also grateful that our Vocation Evening on 27 February drew a sizeable group of young men who had the opportunity to meet friars who have served as pastors, missionaries, chaplains, administrators and other roles within our Custody.
In June and July, we have the Sacerdotal Ordinations of five friars – Friar Robin Toha on 21 June at the Church of St Mary of the Angels, and Friars Cosmas Francis, Crispus Mosinoh, Gerald Terence Saimel and Sixtus Pitah on 2 July at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Then on 9 July, Friar Nelson Evarinus will make his Solemn Profession at the Church of St Aloysius in Kota Kinabalu.
Also in July is our Custody Assembly. Preparations have already begun, and during the Assembly, to be held from 4 to 8 July, we will review the last three years and discuss possibilities for the way ahead. This lays the ground for the Custody Chapter in October when we will decide on the Custody leadership for the next three years, install the Custos and his Council, and set out our commitments to action for the next few years.
Brothers and sisters, please pray for us as we discern how we can sing a new song to the Lord and make known His salvation across Malaysia, Singapore and beyond.
As we journey towards Easter, may a new springtime of faith, hope and love take root in us all. On behalf of the Franciscan Friars of the Custody of St Anthony, may Peace and all Good be yours!
Franciscan formation is a gradual process of growth, in which the friar opens his heart to the Gospel and commits himself fully to being continually converted. It is based upon a personal encounter with the Lord, and begins with the call of God and the individual’s decision to walk with St Francis in the footsteps of the crucified Christ as His disciple under the action of the Holy Spirit.
In his Rule and Life of the Friars Minor, St Francis wrote: “If there are any who wish to accept this life and come to our brothers, let them send them to their Ministers provincial, to whom alone, and to no other is permission granted for receiving brothers.” From this Rule and Life, formation into the Order of Friars Minor today falls into several progressive stages, each of which involves the whole person, in his Human, Christian and Franciscan dimensions, and the radical living of the Holy Gospel, in prayer and devotion, in fraternity and minority.
On 12 February, the Franciscan Friars will welcome two men in their 30s into the Postulancy programme for 2022.
Postulancy, also called Pre-Novitiate, is the first stage of formation into Religious and Franciscan life. It is a full-time live-in programme that lasts about a year. The candidate (called a postulant) is not considered a friar, but is able to participate in the life of the Franciscan brotherhood. He is involved in the prayer, studies, ministry and life of the friary community. Through this, he is led to deepen his relationship with Christ and into a greater understanding of the Franciscan charism and life. He is also given opportunities for service and work with people who are in different kinds of poverty.
This transitional stage brings the candidate gradually from his secular lifestyle into a religious lifestyle, allowing him to verify his desire to follow Jesus Christ according to the example of St Francis. At the end of Postulancy, the candidate considers whether he would like to continue in the life of the fraternity. If so, he can apply to the Order for acceptance into the Novitiate.
We invited the candidates to share with you their requests to the brotherhood of friars.
Please keep Jorgerson and Nicholas in your prayers as they begin their discernment process.
With the launch of the Synodal process from 2021 to 2023, Pope Francis is addressing the systemic issues affecting the global Catholic Church.
Vatican Council II presented a vision of Church for the new era of Church life leading into the new millennium. Essentially, it invited the Church to a new way of being (self-understanding) and acting.
Following Vatican II, Pope Paul VI instituted the Synod of Bishops as a permanent vehicle for the Pope and Bishops to lead the Church in a more collegial and collaborative way. It was to recover a new balance to the role of the Papacy vis-à-vis the bishops of the world.
The genius of Pope Francis is in initiating the Synodal process for the global Church where every diocese in the world would embark on this Synodal process leading up to the Synod of Bishops together with the lay faithful in 2023. This essentially brings the Synodal process from Pope-Bishop to Pope-Bishop- Diocese; from global to local. This means that every bishop in the world will have to understand his role in leading and empowering in this new way of Church that Vatican II put forward in 1965.
This Synodal process has to be seen together with the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, which takes its title from the address of St Francis to his brothers.
In an article in 2020, Gerard O’Connell quotes Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic Social Thought, saying at the launch of Fratelli Tutti that Pope Francis offers “an extraordinary example of thought leadership” in this encyclical. She said that Pope Francis has offered the world, in the midst of the profoundly disorienting global situation marked by the pandemic, thought leadership on a global stage.
Walking together as one Church
Principally, I think the process of the Synodal Church and the encyclical Fratelli Tutti invite us to a new level of dialogue among ourselves, among church hierarchy and laity. Vatican II offered a new paradigm of being and working, and now this process is inviting us to put this into practice, and actively engage one another with new eyes.
One of the challenges I foresee confronting dioceses is what I call the “choke points” to a smooth journey for the Church. As the Catholic Church’s hierarchy is built around a clerical structure of Bishops-Priests-Deacons, much of the Synodal journey will meet “choke points” at parish and diocesan offices. As it stands now, many programmes and projects that a parish or diocese undertakes depend very much on the powers that be; be it parish priest, priest directors, priest spiritual directors or bishops.
Much has been said in the past about “collaboration” in churches. Often what this means is “Father says this and we people carry out!” This new process of the Synodal Church calls for a change in mindset from “collaboration” as we have known and practised in the past to being “co-responsible”.
Laity, as Vatican Council II taught, is called to the apostolate, not by the largess of a priest or a bishop but by Jesus Christ himself, who at our baptism confers upon us the triple roles of Priest, Prophet and King; correlating to the roles of Sanctification, Teaching and Service.
A gift of St Francis to the Church is the sense of what it means to be in “fraternitas” (fraternity). This vision of fraternity invites us to see each other as more than roles and functions.
John Paul Tan, ofm
Every baptised person is called to the apostolate, each in his or her own way and capacity within the understanding of Church. The exercise of these three roles with renewed insight and empowerment will equip the Church to address pressing issues of humanity. We are called to be Church not only to worship in fitting liturgical settings and music, but also as Church to collectively read the signs of the times to discern what the Word is calling us to be and how we are to respond to the yearnings and cries of the men and women of our times, and yes, even to the cry of creation.
A gift of St Francis to the Church is the sense of what it means to be in “fraternitas” (fraternity). This vision of fraternity invites us to see each other as more than roles and functions. Fraternitas presupposes blood kinship from the Latin “fratres” meaning “brothers”. This relationship that is based on blood kinship links us more profoundly to one another than functional relationships in a commune (society or community).
Fratelli Tutti invites us to embark on a journey to dialogue and to see each other differently. Coupled with the Synodal process, can this be a new way of being Church?
For the new to emerge, the old ways of being and doing will have to give way, to be acknowledged and recognised as models that need to be reformed. The overly privileged place of the clerical class with the propensity for arbitrary decisions will need to be relooked in terms of service, empowerment of the laity, co-responsibility, transparency and accountability. In other words, a cultural overhaul is in order.
St Francis was a model of reform during his time. Pope Francis is proposing a radical reform of sorts, one that puts into practice what the fathers of Vatican Council II called for. My hope is that this Synodal way of being Church will not be a short- lived excitement for the Church but the beginning of a new way of being Church in the new millennium.
