Address of his Holiness Benedict XVI

Address of his Holiness Benedict XVI to the Union of Superiors Generals

New Bibliographis

• o. Franco Imoda SJ, Gdybym miłości nie miał... Emocje i uczucia w wychowaniu i formacji (płyta CD audio), WAM 2010

Wydaje się, że po ostatnich wiekach dominacji rozumu ludzkość na nowo odkrywa zapomniany wymiar serca i jego mądrości. Stąd rodzi się oczywiste pytanie o rolę uczuć i emocji w wychowaniu, formacji dzieci, młodzieży i dorosłych. Franco Imoda odsłania przed nami subtelne powiązania woli, rozumu i serca, wykorzystując do tego nie tylko mądrość płynącą z nauki, ale także swoje bogate doświadczenia kapłana i kierownika duchowego, wychowawcy i terapeuty.

FORMATION COURSE FOR THE GUARDIANS OF CECOC

Formation Course for the Guardians of the conference of CECOC was held from 8 to 20 November 2010 in Frascati and Assisi. 43 Guardians from 11 Circumscriptions (Bielorussia, Republica Ceca, Croazia, Polonia-Cracovia, Polonia-Varsavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovacchia, Slovenia, Svezia and Ungaria) gathered together to reflect and share with each other their experiences in realizing the service of authority. The spiritual animation of the fraternity as the primary task of Guardian was highlighted very often. It is animation that permits each brother to accept the works of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Only then one can speak of a true fraternity. The moments of relfection, fraternal sharing, prayer, visit to the places that are significant to our faith and vocation, and even simply being together have brought us to the conviction that greater the love of God in us, closer the hearts unite.

...Visiting the Initial Formation Houses of CIMPCap

The other areas of collaborative formation of CIMPCap made themselves available for the visitation of the General Formation Secretary at the request of the General Minister. Thus the enriching and important visit that the Minister had announced to the Italian Provincials in February 2010 is being realized through the General Formation Secretariat.

International Reconciliation Week

We live today in a world which is strongly marked by secularization. It tends to remove God from the horizon of life and hinder discernment between good and evil. This situation makes the ministry of those who administer the Divine Mercy even more urgent, as the recently concluded Year of Priests has reminded us. The Capuchin friars, moved by the examples of their saints, feel strongly the need for greater commitment to this service in the Church. They, therefore, desire to offer an opportunity for reflection and formation to all priests on this topic. The International Reconciliation Week with its title “The Sacrament of Reconciliation in a Secularized World” will take place from 14 to 18 March 2011 at San Giovanni Rotondo, the place where the well-known Capuchin confessor, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, lived. We offer this opportunity to all Capuchins and all religious and secular priests who speak Italian, English or Spanish. The leaflet containing the information and program can be downloaded here.

Secularization and religious life

“Religious life now is undergoing a considerable pressure. It is conditioned by two aspects, I think, that deserve particular attention. The first aspect is secularization...” – reflecting on Religious Life and Secularization, writes Jean-Louis Bruguès, Archbishop and Secretary for the Congregation for Catholic Education. Read more

Spiritual Collaboration with the Second Order

“If the LORD does not build the house, in vain does the builders’ labor” Ps 127)

The spiritual collaboration of SGF with the Second Order began recently. At the request of SGF some monasteries of Capuchin Clarist Sisters from various parts of the world have shown great enthusiasm to form a “prayer rose” to support spiritually the task of the General Minister to animate the Order in area of initial and ongoing formation through SGF and UGF. At present from ten conferences of the Order ten monasteries have dedicated to pray for our intention in a day of every week (look). Thus each day of the week and all the days of the year, through their prayer, our sisters actively support us in our task of animation and formation. John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, wrote:

‘If in the planning that awaits us we commit ourselves more confidently to a pastoral activity that gives personal and communal prayer its proper place, we shall be observing an essential principle of the Christian view of life: the primacy of grace. There is a temptation which perennially besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that the results depend on our ability to act and to plan. God of course asks us really to cooperate with his grace, and therefore invites us to invest all our resources of intelligence and energy in serving the cause of the Kingdom. But it is fatal to forget that "without Christ we can do nothing"’ (NMI 38).

We, the members of SGF, thank the sisters who accompany us in prayer and who remind us to execute the words of John Paul II in our works. As we thank the monasteries and the individual sisters who took the initiative, we extend our invitation also to other monasteries and individual brothers and sisters who would like to join this spiritual collaboration. “If the LORD does not build the house, in vain does the builders’ labor” Ps 127). Let us be aware of it always so as to consider our life and work as the work of God. Thanks a lot!