Friday 14 June 2013

Faith..Francis..Future: Preparing for Chapter

Peace to you!!

This year is Chapter year for us. Every three years the Friars from Ireland and representatives from our missions in New Zealand, Zambia, South Africa and South Korea gather together for a week to reflect, pray and plan for the future. 

During the Chapter we elect a new leadership team headed up by a Provincial Minister. Every Chapter has a theme and this years theme is Faith, Francis, Future. We have designed a logo to capture the essence of this theme and the following explains the elements of the logo and their significance.



The Logo designed for the forthcoming chapter contains a number of elements that, when taken together, invite the brothers to a meditation on the spirit of the Chapter as moment of grace in the life of the Province and an integration on of the challenge and mission indicated by our themes of Faith, Francis, Future. 
The Logo is surrounded by the thrice knotted cord, as was the logo of the last chapter.
This indicates a sense of continuity with what has gone before and a remembrance of the
vows that bind us together as a fraternity of Gospel inspired mission in the spirit of St.
Francis and our Franciscan forebears. 

The thematic wording: Faith, Francis, Future is found outside the cord in vibrant colours
as a reminder that our chapter, while being a time of contemplation and even
introspection, is meant to invite us to take up our mission again with renewed vigour, in
the light of the Gospel and with the wisdom gained by the last triennium. 

The central image is a painting by Piero Casentini showing Francis and Giles on mission together. Staffs in hand, they set out on the road confident of the Good News they bring to all creation. Giles strides ahead down the road to the place of mission and apostolate while glancing back at Francis as his inspiration. Francis pauses to look heavenwards caught in a moment of contemplation and prayer, thus indicating the two sides of our Franciscan Charism in balance: contemplation and action; the former the inspiration and source of the latter. 

It is our hope that the logo inspires us at the chapter and in the upcoming triennium to "begin again" as Francis would have us do, entering into the future with the courage of faith.

We ask for your prayers as we prepare for this important gathering.
Pax
Br Martin


 

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