The General Minister delivering Key Note Address

 The General Minister delivering his key note address on the way to towards PCO VIII. In his talk he pointed the compass that orients us on the way....He quoted a young french Philosopher saying: Fraternity is not just given, but is something that is also realized by means of the Cross. It is given, but also by means of suffering, in as much as we are sinners and must convert ourselves.

 He further said that a fraternity with a mission: He questioned: how is the fraternal life situated in the church and in society? Which path does it mean to fulfill and privilege? Is it able to discern in order to recognize necessities and needs and respond to the in a an adequate way?

He further said: the friars ready for every activity when it presents itself with urgency..It would be interesting to study the circumstances in which our Order accepted the pastoral care of parishes and how this service has evolved....it is also necessary to recall the pastoral care of the infirm and of the sick that has marked luminous and heroic pages of our history....

The General Minister invited all to go to the peripheries of our time....To speak of the grace of working means reflecting on the needs and indications of the church and on what signals to us as urgent in the life of the society.
Mediocrity, the habitual attitudes, the compromise with comfort and logics that are contrary to the gospel weaken, even to destroying, our witness. let us then avoid digging holes where we bury the talent that has been given to us.
He also touched the following points in details: the changes taking place in the way works is conceived
The substitution of lay brothers with employees
A mendicant Order?
The sense of belonging
We come from and we live in different contexts
A great opportunity: the PCO will be a moment of grace regardless of the outcome. the central theme of work will force us to examine the totality of our life as religious who are made sharers in the charism of st. francis.