The Last Chapter of the "Beato Egidio d’Assisi Foundation for Dialogue and Mission"

The VIII Chapter of the "Beato Egidio d’Assisi Foundation for Dialogue and Mission" was held on 23-26 July 2018 at the General Curia. It was attended by all 13 friars who are at the service of the Foundation together with the Visitator General, Br. Bruno Miele. The Chapter had four significant moments: the presentation of the Reports of the Visitator and of the President, Br. Jacopo Pozzerle; dialogue with the Minister General, Br. Michael A. Perry; sharing among the Capitulars; and the concluding Eucharistic Celebration, presided by the Minister General himself. Br. Bruno noted that "two paths have merged in the Foundation: 1) new evangelization, embodied in the 'European Missionary Fraternity' of Palestrina (Italy) and of Pazin (Croatia); 2) dialogue, lived by the 'OFM International Fraternity for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue' based in Istanbul and Smyrna. Furthermore, the Foundation was entrusted with the task of animating and connecting the New Forms of life and mission. In recent years, the Foundation has carried out extra missionary work and concrete service to the Order such as various initiatives, missions to people, dialogue courses, meetings at various levels, but above all as witness of ‘fraternal relations lived as a constitutive and characteristic element of all aspects of life: prayer, work and mission', in the dynamics of a life that is guided by the freedom of the Spirit towards undiscovered paths." In the context of a broader restructuring of the Entities dependent on the Minister General, the General Definitory decided to dissolve the Beato EgidioFoundation. The Minister General, when he announced this, invited the Capitulars to see this change "as the conclusion of a rich and positive history which now continues in different ways and forms." The decision did not surprise the participants since there have been talks and so it left everyone with the desire to continue living the values ​​of interculturality and fraternity experienced during these years. The concluding Eucharist was experienced as a true thanksgiving! The phrase that Br. Giacomo Bini, the first President of the Foundation, pronounced before dying: "life continues!" resounded clearly among the capitulars.