From April 8 to 12, COTAF held its (lay) brother conference at Domus Madonna delle Rose of our Franciscan Sisters Missionaries of Mary (FMM) in Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi. Brothers from all seven entities (Romania, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France/Wallonia, and the Netherlands/Flanders) were present. There were 23 brothers in total. The participating brothers were between 75 and 33 years old. There are a total of about 150 brothers within COTAF, but most of them are over 80 years old. When one reaches such ages, these kinds of trips and conferences quickly become too much.
Prior to the conference, a considerable discussion had taken place, partly in response to the questionnaire from the general board, as to whether such a meeting was necessary. Within the provinces there was fear that the order was re-creating the old brother-father division. A division that was difficult to overcome within COTAF in the second half of the last century.
The fact that there were 23 participants was mainly due to the fact that these brothers enjoyed experiencing the international character of the order, but also because they know that in other parts of the world there is still a lot to do around the vocation to brotherhood.
Brother
An important theme, also in response to the questionnaire, was how should we be called. The term 'lay brother' is seen as old-fashioned, but also misleading. In normal language, a 'layman' is someone who knows nothing about a particular subject. You could therefore interpret 'lay brother' as a somewhat 'simple brother'. That is by no means the case, as many of those present have had an excellent education and can be seen as professionals in their profession: as a nurse, teacher, communications officer, school leader, and so on. In addition, it is our brothers and sisters of the OFS who often emphasize that they are the true lay sisters and lay brothers of the Franciscan family.
In the past the term 'brother-non-priest' had also come into use. This term also meets with strong resistance, because why would you describe yourself by what you are not (non-black-haired, non-female, instead of blond and male...). Ultimately, we feel best when we are simply called “brothers.” The others in the order can then call themselves 'brother-deacon', 'brother-priest' or brother-bishop'. The term 'father' has fallen into disuse in most COTAF provinces. In any case, that is the reason why we will consistently call ourselves 'brother' in this message.
Back to the roots: fraternal order, a brotherhood
During the days it became clear that not everything within COTAF is as you would wish. People from outside often think that we are all priests. And if they already know that our order has two vocations, the question quickly becomes: “are you a priest or just a lay brother?” What do you mean 'only'? People seem much more aware that the Roman Catholic Church has priests and sisters. Sometimes we have to call ourselves “male sisters” or justify why we are not priests. Which are negative experiences to us, as if we are ‘defected friars’ (brothers-priest can do every job, we cannot celebrate Mass, hear confessions) instead of an equal part of the order and the church as a whole.
We therefore call on our order to act less like a clerical order. Francis and his first companions were almost without priests. Over the course of history, the Church has come to see the Franciscans as a wonderful source of parish pastoral tasks. That is seriously a narrowing of the spirituality of our order. If we want to take the roots of our order seriously, we must regard ourselves as a fraternal order, a brotherhood.
The order must more strongly recognize and make visible throughout the world that we are one order, with two equal types of vocations, among the many equal vocations that the Church knows (vocation to marriage, deaconship, as a consecrated virgin, priest, sister and therefore brother). After all, before God his children are all equal.
Division of tasks within the order
In the division of tasks, within provinces but also internationally, the brother-priests are often called upon. In fact, more attention should be paid to the qualities of all Franciscans. The fact that you are a priest does not make you more suitable for positions. In fact, functions such as guardian, commissioner for this, secretary for that, magister, and so on, would perhaps even be better entrusted to the brothers, so that the brother priests have their hands free for what they are priests for: saying Mass, hearing confessions, etc. In our part of the world there is a huge shortage of priests, so society is crying out for it.
Missionary
The Mass ends with 'ita missa est', which means that all of us, the laity, we as brothers, and the brother-priests, are all sent into the world. We thus receive the daily call to be missionary in the world, especially the sick, the weak and the poor. Our order should be more committed to the social field. We must simply be present and visible in our habit among the people on the streets, in trams, busses, trains or just on a bench before our houses. In the words of Saint Francis: “Preach, if necessary, with words!” So, we must give an example to the world through our actions. The brothers play a special role in this, because we have the experience that people find us more approachable than the brother priests. For people outside, the office makes a difference, while they can communicate with us at eye level.
Other themes
The other themes that we discussed: living in brotherhood, good mutual communication, living in a secularized world, living in shrinking, old provinces are themes that concern all Franciscans - whether they are brothers or brother-priests.
We are aware that our position as brothers within the order in our COTAF conference is much stronger and better than in other parts of the world. We hope and wish the order that the position of the brothers will also improve in other parts of the world and that where there seems to be a tendency to pretend that our vocation (brother in the first order of Saint Francis) does not exist, the order opens up more strongly to them. We are convinced that there are men worldwide with this calling.
We thank the FMM sisters, but also our brothers from the communities of Porziuncola, San Damiano, Sacro Convento and the Carceri for the sisterly/fraternal warm and hospitable welcome. Partly thanks to them, our brother conference became a success.
Peace and all good, on behalf of the participants of the COTAF brothers' conference,
The preparation Team,
Br. Mathias Müller ofm (Switzerland)
Br. Fejes István ofm (Hungary)
Br. Hans-Peter Bartels ofm (The Netherlands)
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