Author Archives: Fraternidad Iesus Caritas

Report Panamerican Assembly, September 2022

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PRIESTLY FRATERNITY IESUS CARITAS

THIRD PAN AMERICAN ASSEMBLY

CORDOBA, 19-24 September 2022

CHRONICLE

On Friday the 16th, the brothers from Canada arrived, thus initiating our Third Pan American Assembly. Others arrived on the 18th and others on the 19th. Marco Bustos, our great host, was in charge of picking up some at the airport and surrounding himself with other brothers of the fraternity of Cordoba to pick up others and they gave us all a warm welcome.

The delegates from the Dominican Republic, Chile and Mexico had the opportunity to be received at the home of the family of Fr. Marco Bustos, who were celebrating the birthday of Don Raúl, father of Fr. We were welcomed with a barbecue and an artistic show by Don Raúl and Mrs. Aidé, parents of Father Marcos.

Those of us who had arrived on Sunday went to the house of the sisters. Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, where we rest a little after a long journey. Then we were taken for dinner some delicious pizzas. Some of the brothers lost their suitcase at the airport, including their computer. The countries participating in the Assembly were: Quebec-Acadie, Chile, United States, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. We were visited sporadically by a priest from Venezuela, a missionary in Córdoba.

On Monday we were almost all in the house, however, the brothers from Brazil and Fr. Alex from the United States, arrived on Monday night, which made us formally begin on Tuesday morning with adoration and lauds, presided over by the delegates of the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

In total we were about 16 participants, speaking 4 languages: Spanish, English, French and Portuguese, although the translations were from English, French and Spanish, since the Brazilian brothers understood Spanish and the Spanish speakers understood Portuguese.

On Tuesday we dedicated ourselves to reviewing the reality of our fraternities based on a Report presented by the Continental Responsible. The goal was to discover the strengths and weaknesses of our fraternities in America. We worked in groups by language and write a summary to share the results of our work

The main weaknesses that appeared are: the aging of the majority of the members of the fraternity, the overload of work of the brothers and the distances that hinder the growth of our fraternities. Among the strengths are: the spirituality of Bro. Charles: adoration, the Eucharist, the desert, the option for the poor and universal brotherhood; the presence of bishops in the fraternity, the presence of our brothers and sisters in the peripheries. We did a new group work with the following question: What proposals can we make to enhance our strengths and overcome our weaknesses? Finally, we had a new plenary to share the proposals.

In the last session on Tuesday we began the presentation of the missionary experiences of the different countries. Brazil, Canada and the Dominican Republic started. The case of Brazil about a shelter for priests in crisis, organized by fraternity, seeking to respond to a need, since there were about 12 priests who committed suicide in 1 year, is striking.

Canada presented a case of migration and the response that fraternities gave to those cases. The Dominican Republic presented the missionary experience of Msgr. Lorenzo Vargas, a member of our fraternity, in an impoverished area of the Dominican Republic, accompanying the poor and fighting for ecology, especially in favor of the rivers, since the mining company Barrik Gold wanted to build a tail dam, which was going to pollute the community. The day culminated with the Eucharist presided over by Fr. Abraham Apolinario of the Dominican Republic and a delicious dinner.

On Wednesday the 21st, after the lauds and adoration presided over by the brothers of Brazil, we had breakfast and then continued with the presentation of missionary experiences.Fr. John from the United States began and presented his experience in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, which, despite its luxury, thinks about the poor who are in need.Fr. Alex presents the reality of the parish where he was in which the priest joined the people to evangelize, where 95% of the people were Catholics and Hispanics.

The second country to present its experience was Mexico. José Rentería told us about the pastoral care of the disabled, including the deaf, mute and with special conditions, excluded because of their condition, in his San Bartolomé Parish in Guanajuato, Mexico. A pastoral ministry of accompaniment to the poor and excluded in the spirit of Br. Charles.

We continue with Chile. Juan Antonio González presented us with a pastoral experience of inculturation in the Mapuche world, in the south of Chile, diocese of Temuco, where there is a conflict of the Chilean State with the Macuche people. He presented the Gospel to us in dialogue with the Macuche culture. To achieve greater inculturation, he went to live among the Mapuche people. He worked in agriculture, an orchard, vegetables and a chicken company. He lived there for 8 years.

We culminated the missionary experiences with Argentina and the work of the brothers with people with addictions through an institution called Familia Grande Hogar de Cristo. They have 250 centers throughout the country. They show that God wants us to bear fruit, albeit imperfect. It focuses on receiving life as it comes. It was inspired by Jorge Bergoglio 15 years ago. They receive women and men with different life situations.

They also present the pastoral Guadalupe with Father Pepe, working with the sexually excluded: trans, gays, lesbians, prostitutes, and street people, etc. In addition, open hands, where they work with children with judicial problems and with migrants. Guadalupe pastoral is new and was recently presented as the official pastoral ministry of the diocese. They have shelters for these people.

After listening to missionary experiences, we received a doctrinal illumination with the theme “Mission in Fratelli Tutti”, made by our brother Willians from Brazil.

In the afternoon we worked as a group around two questions: what conclusions do I draw from the presentation of missionary experiences and the illumination received, in relation to our mission as diocesan missionary priests? And what missionary proposals can we make to our fraternities?

It was proposed that in our National Assemblies we replicate this methodology by presenting various missionary experiences that occur in our countries, to awaken or promote the missionary spirit of the brothers. It was also suggested that in our retreats we work on the spiritual attitudes necessary to increase the missionary spirit and thus overcome what the Pope calls “spiritual worldliness” that translates into easy living, the search for money, sex, etc.

It also proposes to use the means of fraternity to respond to the needs of the poor and excluded. The Spanish group said it challenges the monocultural formation of some training houses. It proposes to avoid the spirit of closure and clericalism, indifference to the sufferings of Nature and patriarchal attitudes.

Later we left in groups to visit some parishes of Córdoba. We celebrated the Eucharist and had dinner with the parish priests and their communities, who received us with great affection. We also enjoyed a tour of the territorial areas of the parishes where we were. An exceptional experience.

On Thursday the 22nd we started our day at the usual time, 7:30 am, with adoration and lauds. After breakfast, we gathered to listen to a video-greeting from the International Head of our Fraternity, Fr. Erick Lozada; We also listened to the recorded greeting of Msgr. Ángel Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba, as well as the message of Msgr. Rafael Felipe, Bishop Emeritus of the Dominican Republic, founder of the Fraternity of the DR. We also highlight the presence of Msgr. Ricardo Seirutti, auxiliary bishop of Córdoba. Then we received some orientations digitally and started our day in the wilderness. Some did it in the House where we were and others went for a walk to the mountain or around the House The Desert lasted until 3:30 pm, when we met for language groups to make a review of life and tell the experience of the desert day.

After completing this moment and a comforting break, we gathered in the conference room to listen to the 6-year Management Report (2016-2022), presented by Fr. Fernando Tapia, of the Fraternity of Chile. Then we proceeded to the election of the new continental responsible of America, being elected Fr. Carlos Roberto, of the Fraternity of Brazil with a vote of 10 out of 15, in the first round, exactly the 2/3 parts that are regulatory to be elected.

After mass and a delicious dinner, we had a cultural night, in which we shared with Cristina and Quique, a singing couple from La Rioja. One of our participants, Alex, from the Fraternity USA, had to leave on Thursday night, as he had an error in issuing his flight ticket. The new Pan American Chief set up a Pan American Team to assist him in the management. It was constituted by Alex (USA), Mártires (Dominican Republic) and Tino (Argentina).

On Friday the 23rd we began as always with adoration and lauds, led by Argentina and Chile, then breakfast and then we revised and corrected the Charter of Cordoba. We ended the morning with the evaluation of the 3rd Assembly, taking into account the following topics: organization, methodology, accommodation, content, environment and liturgy. Everything was very well valued, only some expressed that the house was very cold. Then we projected the 4th Pan American Assembly that will be in Brazil at the beginning of September 2026.

In the afternoon we made a nice walk through the city of Cordoba and celebrated the Eucharist in the Major Seminary of Cordoba. We culminated our Assembly with dinner on Friday, as some had their tickets for Friday night. On Saturday there were only some who left that day and others who stayed a few more days in Córdoba.

Drafted by Rev. Fr. Mario de la Cruz Campusano, Dominican Republic Fraternity.

Córdoba, September 24,2022

PDF: Report Panamerican Assembly, September 2022 en

Letter from Córdoba – september 2022

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Dear Brothers of the Fraternities of America,

A very fraternal greeting from Cordoba, where we have been warmly welcomed by our Argentine brothers, in the House of Spiritual Exercises, Catalina de María. We have met brothers national leaders and delegates from seven countries: Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico, United States and Quebec-Acadie. We were encouraged by the messages sent by Eric Lozada, International Responsible, Angel Rossi, Archbishop of Cordoba, by Rafael Felipe, bishop emeritus and founder of our fraternity in the Dominican Republic and by the visit of Ricardo Seirutti auxiliary bishop of Cordoba.

Following the line of our World Assembly in Cebu, Philippines (2019) and the Guidelines of Pope Francis, we have focused on the theme of the EVANGELIZING MISSION.
We share missionary experiences carried out by our brothers in the geographical and existential peripheries of our America: people with disabilities, addicts, migrants, indigenous peoples, populations affectedby mining megaprojects, excluded minorities. by different peopleand patients. We also include priests in crisis. The brothers from Brazil shared with us a beautiful experience about it. They arevarious forms of poverty in which we find Christ Crucified and Risen, returning their dignity and hope to those whom our society discards, marginalizes and makes invisible. He has reached the peripheries before us missionaries and is doing His liberating work.

We feel signs and instruments of this Christ “who spent himself doing good” through closeness to the most vulnerable, attentive listening, dialogue, compassion and solitary action. Never alone. Always working with other priests, with religious, deacons, laity and laity and men and women of good will. The pandemic has taught us to network because “we are all in the same boat” as Pope Francis says and we are all brothers and sisters.

Our presence of solidarity, joy, kindness and commitment to human dignity, like that of Br. Charles de Foucauld, is the first step in evangelization. It is “shouting the Gospel with our life,” as he himself told us. We firmly believe in the evangelizing power of personal and community witness. His canonization last May confirms us in this way of proclaiming the Gospel and impels us to share our charism with other priests in different dioceses and countries of America where our Priestly Fraternity is not yet present.

The frequency with which Pope Francis mentions Br. Charles in his official documents, in his speeches and homilies shows us that his witness is a richness and an inspiration for the evangelizing mission of the Church today, in the post-pandemic world wounded by hunger, violence, inequalities. and secularism. We feel the historical responsibility to be more faithful to our charism and to cultivate it more intensely with the means proper to our spirituality: adoration and the Eucharist, the review of life, the day of desert, fraternal life and closeness to the poor.

Our evangelizing and solidary work among the most abandoned and despised wants to be a parable of a fraternal world, a seed of the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus of Nazareth and a prophetic denunciation of social sin. Our mission, animated by the Holy Spirit, is aimed at forging fraternity in today’s world as Pope Francis teaches us in Fratelli Tutti.
We thank God that in this Assembly we had experience of this fraternity, lived in respectful dialogue, joy and the search for new paths for our evangelizing action. We are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of our fraternities in America, especially the aging of many of them, but we value and want to be inspired by the witness of fidelity of our older brothers. We thank them for the long years they have persevered trying to build “a poor Church and for the poor” as Pope Francis said at the beginning of his pontificate, suffering, many times, incomprehension, marginalization and discredit.

We want to continue strengthening our continental communion through the exchange of missionary experiences, the formation of a Pan American Team to animate our fraternities and the realization of the first Pan-American Month of Nazareth. This will take place in the Dominican Republic, from July 2 to 28, 2023.

Finally, we thank Fernando Tapia of Chile, his service as Continental Responsible for six years and offer our support and our prayer to our new Pan-American Responsible Carlos Roberto dos Santos of the Fraternity of Brazil.

We place our Fraternity under the protection of Mary, Our Lady of the Visitation.

Members of the Third Pan American Assembly
Córdoba, September 23, 2022

PDF: LETTER FROM CORDOBA. eng

MISSION IN FRATELLI TUTTI. Willians Roque de BRITO

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On October 3, 2020, the eve of the memory of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis surprised the world with his Encyclical Letter entitled Fratelli Tutti – All Brothers. In it he called Christians and every person of good will to commit themselves, with an open heart, to a common ideal for which to build bonds of fraternity and social friendship. In his words, Pope Francis reminded us “how important it is to dream together! […] Alone, one runs the risk of having mirages, seeing what does not exist; dreams are built together” (Fratelli Tutti, n.8).

Read the full document in PDF: MISSION IN FRATELLI TUTTI. Willians Roque de BRITO eng

Letter from the international team about the spread of our priestly fraternity IESUS CARITAS – September 2022

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“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch” Lk 5,4

Dear brothers,

THE CANONISATION OF BROTHER CHARLES

His canonisation in Rome on 15 May this year was a great experience for all who were privileged to witness this event. Again and again, it was said that for the spiritual family of Charles de Foucauld the canonisation is a great gift. But much more, his life and spiritual journey and his charism is a great gift – not only for the Spiritual Family, but for the whole Church. The gift of his charism has not been changed or increased by the canonisation but has been brought into the light and has been officially recognised by the Church.

We are convinced that belonging to our fraternity with its special characteristics can support the priestly ministry very well and form it in a valuable way. Some of us would perhaps no longer be priests if they had not met brothers of the priestly Fraternity Jesus Caritas.

SHARING OUR GIFT

From this conviction we want to take a new impetus to make our priestly Fraternity known, especially in places and countries where there are no fraternities.

We want to offer our Priestly Fraternity as a way of living our ministry accompanied by brothers, to remain in living contact with the Holy Scriptures as one of our most important sources for
spiritual growing, to develop the contemplative dimension of our lives through adoration and desert-days and finally not to lose closeness and service to the poor in a simple lifestyle.

Therefore, dear Brothers, we ask you to reflect intensely, alone and in community, on the possibilities you see for spreading the seed of the charism of our priestly Fraternity. Are there regions in our own country, are there neighbouring countries, where we could offer the charism of our priestly Fraternity?

IN COMMUNION WITH OUR SPIRITUAL FAMILY

At the origin of the formation of our priestly Fraternity were the Little Sisters and the Little Brothers. Their way of living the Gospel, which was so new at that time, fascinated many priests
very much. These priests did not want to become religious, but to remain in the ministry as diocesan priests, but they wanted to live something of the CdF charism. This is how the priestly Fraternity came into being in France in the 1950s, first called “Unio sacerdotalis”, later Jesus Caritas.

This observation of the origins can be significant for us today. For in order to have a starting point for the spread of the priestly Fraternity, the environment of the Little Sisters and Little Brothers is still one of the best milieus today. For “new plantings” it is therefore certainly a good advice to put out feelers in this direction.

In Rome, at the meeting of those responsible for the various branches of the Spiritual Family, we noticed something else: In many countries there are branches of the spiritual family, especially lay communities, but no fraternities of priests. Probably a point of contact could be found there to make our Fraternity known and invite some priests to participate in it and introducing them to “the spiritual means” we have.

HOW TO PROCEED?

Three aspects seem important to us:

1. the preparation phase:

Here the first question is: Do I, do we really have the conviction that it is good if someone gets to know the priestly Fraternity and joins it? Where this conviction is lacking, there is probably no reason to start with an initiative to spread the priestly Fraternity.

This conviction must be shared by some priests, because a “mission project” is not a matter for one person, but always for a small group.

Another important stage in the preparation is the search for contacts and points of contact. This is probably one of the most difficult tasks, to find a group of priests who are willing to commit
themselves to a few days with CdF. Finally, the preparation should also include prayer for a good outcome. We are convinced that especially older priests from our midst will be happy to take on this ministry.

2 The implementation phase

The most suitable way seems to us to organise a “WEEK WITH SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD”. In this week there should be two focal points: a) Presentation of the biography of CdF b)
Presentation of the priestly Fraternity with its means of spiritual growing .These days should be embedded in an atmosphere of prayer, fraternity, joy and service.

3. the follow-up phase

Just as every newly seeded plant needs care and nurture, so it is with a newly founded Fraternity. It needs accompaniment to be able to stand on its own feet. For this, integration into the national and continental level is important, but above all contact and exchange with experienced priests. The concrete form of this “mentoring” will be very different and depends on the respective circumstances and persons. It seems important to us to plan some form of accompaniment right from the beginning.

Dear brothers, we know that all attempts in this direction are not easy. But we think it is important and it seems to us that now is a good time to do it. So we urge you to talk about this and carry out some initiatives.

We especially ask the continental and national responsible brothers to make this letter a priority concern in your next assembly.

We also ask that you inform us of any steps you take in this direction. Perhaps we have ways to support you.

We wish you courage and confidence in your important ministry.
the international team
Eric, Honoré, Fernando, Tony and Matthias

PDF: 22-06-28 Jesus Caritas, letter, spread JC – en