A REFLECTION ON COUNCIL DUTY

Prepared for Blessed Solanus Casey Spring Regional Assembly

Saturday, 22 April 2023

Fred Conforti, MD, OFS, Regional Director of Formation

Minister, St. Clare of Assisi Fraternity, Great Barrington, MA

 

W

hether your Fraternity is large or small or very small, like my own, it has a Council. I have been a Council member most of my Professed life, first as a Fraternity Formation Director and now as both Fraternity Minister and Regional Formation Director. Our Fraternities are all different and we all have different stories about why we have chosen or not chosen to serve on the Council. But when I listen to these stories, one thing is always clear: In the end, the Holy Spirit drives us very forcefully, and in whatever direction He drives us, He does so for the good of the Order, which I think none of us would deny is in harmony with the fulfillment of God’s Will. If we really take this to heart, and really follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, perhaps with some spiritual direction, we may find ourselves willingly putting aside notions of self-consciousness or modesty or “I’m not good enough” or concern for the future due to health reasons (which I personally can really relate to) and we will gain unique rewards as a Secular Franciscan.

 I mentioned that we all have different stories about why we have chosen to serve. Let me tell you mine:

When I attended my second Orientation meeting about 12 years back, I walked in on the end of a Council meeting, and I was a bit embarrassed, it was a bit awkward. But a brother Secular Franciscan by the name of Will French, rest his soul, who happened to be our Fraternity Formation Director beckoned to me and said, “Come on over; we’ve just finished.” He welcomed me, and then he said, gesturing towards the other Council members, “You know, someday you’re going to be doing this.” Now, some might be put off by a statement like that (some might actually run the other way) but Will was discerning, and he relied on the probability that saying this might prompt in me a moment of revelation. He was right. I felt like a young boy welcoming his father home after a day’s work, and the father says to son, “You know, some day you're going to be doing this.” It is the invitation to participate in and contribute to the vitality of the family. And what makes the idea of that participation and contribution so appealing is knowing that your family is behind you, encouraging you, helping you, like a sibling offering to mow the lawn for you or to help you with your math homework.

And, of course, as far as Council service is concerned, in the beginning, none of us feels prepared. But as a Formation Director I learned that there are two essentials to that preparation: One is Initial Formation; the other is taking an active part in fraternal life alongside your Council members, especially if you are newly professed, helping them in any way you can. At Profession when we promise “till death do us part” we make the commitment to live our Rule to its fullest, and if we are to contribute to our union as Brother and Sisters in Penance, in imitation of Francis, there are times when we have to reach deep within us, sometimes deeper than we even want to, in order to participate in and contribute to the vitality of the fraternal  family. And why do we do that? We do it out of love: fraternal love, love for the Order, love for St. Francis, love for God.

As in any family, we are, thankfully, not carbon-copies of each other. The only way in which we should be like each other is in that willingness to love, that willingness to be genuinely open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, which I hope and pray will bring many of you to Council Service.

Pax et Bonum,

Fred