September Meeting.

The meeting will be at 8pm on Friday 25^th September at Marian Hall, Stutchbury Street, Page.

Fr Vjeko (Eddie) Tomic, a young enthusiastic Franciscan priest now resident in Canberra as chaplain to the Croatian community, will say Mass for us and speak briefly on a subject of his choice. It would be wonderful if a good number of members could be present to welcome him into our little ACT Franciscan Family and make him feel at home. He is newly arrived from Bosnia. We hope that he will be able to provide spiritual assistance to us from time to time. Loui tells us that Fr Tomic says he is "a young conservative with a positive note about it". He may find that he is more in tune with us than he thinks! In any case, there is room for a wide range of views in our wonderfully diverse Church.

At the meeting, Cec will lead us to find food for thought and prayer in preparation for the coming Fraternity Elections. We each might also consider the advice Fr Alban gave us in July 1996:

He said: "You are here because you are summoned by St Francis. This applies to all meetings and chapters; especially elections." People should allow their name to be put forward as servants of all. We should also be joyful if we are not given office; an exercise in ‘minority’. He quoted St Frances de Sales: "Ask for nothing: Refuse nothing".

Transitus. The Transitus will be celebrated at 2:30pm on Saturday 3 October at Hèléne’s place, 129 Springvale Drive Weetangera. Please confirm your attendance to Hèléne at the September meeting or by telephoning 6254 3054 so that she can plan for numbers.

October Meeting. The meeting will be at 8pm on Friday 23^rd October at Marian Hall, Stutchbury Street, Page. As previously advised, Hèléne has kindly agreed to lead us in consideration of "Gifts of the Holy Spirit".

Elections. We are hopeful that elections will now be held on November 27^th. The date depends on the availability of a Regional representative. This can’t be determined until after the Regional Chapter.

Regional Chapter. The NSW/ACT Regional Chapter will be held at Hartzer Park, Bowral on the 2^nd weekend in November. Hèléne and Marty will attend, as decided at the August Fraternity Meeting. Hèléne will be attending as a member of the existing Regional Executive. Kathy, also a member of the Regional Executive, is unable to attend because she is on sick leave. Marty will be representing our Fraternity. We have the opportunity to have a second representative and it would be good if our voice could thus be fully heard. Therefore, another volunteer will be sought at the September meeting.

Social Function. As decided at the August meeting, a Christmas social function in the form of a barbecue is to be held at 4pm on Saturday 21^st November at Weston Park.

June Meeting. We were delighted that Diana Low sfo from Singapore was able to join us again. We were privileged also to have with us Frances Turner of the Anglican Third Order of St Francis. Frances was able to enrich us with a broader view of aspects of the Franciscan Charism.

Among many things, she drew our attention to the "Cords Down Under" newsletter of the Franciscan Federation of Australia, which enfolds many elements of the Franciscan Family both within and outside the Catholic Church. A copy of one issue, which included the description of our Secular Franciscan Order, was copied to members.

Frances also described for us the "Day of Penitence" they observe in Lent. It includes Liturgy of the Word, Fasting and observation of the Angelus. They come together in the evening to celebrate the Eucharist and break their fast.

Once again we included a reading from the Rule as part of our meeting.

Frank led us in consideration of "Mary, Woman of Hope". It was an interesting follow-on from Marty’s presentation. Several people sought a copy of Frank’s text.

Regional Fraternity Meeting. Jack and Rex were unable to attend because the meeting was cancelled due to wild stormy weather in Sydney. A NSW Police spokesperson was recommending on TV the evening before that people stay at home on Saturday and not travel even within Sydney.

National Levy. The 1999 National Levy has now been paid based on the number of professed members in the Fraternity. Loui’s records indicate that quite a number of members have not paid him yet. He will be approaching them to check whether his records are correct. If you have a receipt, would you please bring it to the September meeting.

Franciscan Calendars will be available about the end of October. This year only a limited number have been ordered.

Revised List of Members. There have been a few requests for issue of an updated Address List of Members. This will accompany the first ‘Canberra Franciscan’ with which there is room for an extra attachment.

Apologies. Diana will not be able to attend the next meeting because she will be in Sydney.

Prayers. Please remember that we agreed to keep up our prayers for vocations to the SFO! Please pray that the Holy Spirit will be with the novices who are receiving instruction.

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Next Council Meeting. 7.30pm Monday October 13..

Available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~jacksmth/canfran.htm