On the second day of the Chapter of Mats, after morning prayer and the Holy Mass in different languages, the remaining Conferences that make up the Order were presented: the Conference of Brazil and the Southern Cone, the Bolivarian, the Conference of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the African Anglophone (ESAC) and the Francophone (CAF), the Transalpine (COTAF), and the South Asia - Australia and Oceania (SAAOC).
Presentations that are arousing much interest in the Capitulars: Sister Bernadeta FMM from Indonesia, for example, was very impressed by the video of the Guadalupana Conference, "because they showed what Pope Francis asked of us in Evangelii Gaudium, and that is to be a Church that goes out, towards the extremities and the poor". A call, in her opinion,that is valid in every part of the world, even in Indonesia.
The Chapter of Mats allows us to meet a part of the great world of the “Franciscan Sisters” in one place: Sister Angelica, of the Conceptionist Sisters of Mexico, said she was very happy to be able to participate in this meeting, especially to learn about other realities in the rest of the world. Along the same lines is Sister John-Marie, of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, who from the United States came with great enthusiasm to Assisi to experience the Chapter of Mats, “a true blessing”.
In the afternoon, after a guided tour of the Porziuncola, the assembly met in the Auditorium of the Domus Pacis for the presentation of the working methodology of the “World Café”. Starting tomorrow, in fact, the Capitulars will be divided into 18 tables and will actively participate in answering some questions in the Instrumentum Laboris, specifically three for each thematic nucleus (Charisma, Communion, Mission).
This method, in such a large group, allows for a participatory and constructive exchange between people from different cultures and situations; it allows for dialogue together, sharing opinions and being infected, all feeling part of a single group. It is a method that, through many contacts between people in the small group, allows for an assembly time to be lived with more involved, adequately sensitized and therefore creative people.
The day ended with the prayer of Vespers and, after dinner, an evening in joyful fraternity.
