SPECIAL EDITION FOR THE MAGAZINE’S 100th ANNIVERSARY

 

The following text was published in french in the review Missions of the Franciscans, Spring 2023. Thanks to Karen Rivas Monico for the translation.

A FEW WORDS FROM THE PROVINCIAL

THE MISSION CONTINUES!

Brother Pierre Charland, provincial, Holy Spirit Province of Canada.

The year 2023 marks the centenary of the Missions des Franciscains magazine. So many stories have been written in a hundred years! The magazine was born in a context of the missionary expansion of the Saint Joseph Franciscan Province in Canada, which was diversifying its activities from Eastern Canada to the Canadian Prairies, and up to British Columbia. The friars minors settled in Vancouver in 1923!

Henceforth, the Franciscans were present in seven Canadian provinces: in small fraternities, parishes, retreat houses and teaching institutions. It is from that expansion that the Custody of Christ the King was born in 1955. In 1989, this custody became the Franciscan Province of Christ the King.

Shortly before the magazine was born, Canadian Franciscan missionaries left for China and Japan, but the Sino-Japanese war of 1937, force them to change course and find refuge in South Korea. It was the beginning of a beautiful missionary story that still bears fruits today.

Thereafter, the Canadian friars founded missions in Peru. Local Franciscans were also present in the Holy Land, at the foundation of the Order’s African project in Malawi and Kenya, and the establishment of the Franciscan life in Haiti, not to mention the missionary collaborations that continued through the Canadian Custody that was established in Japan after the war, as well as in Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Ivory Coast, etc. When the Recollects arrived in New France and throughout their history, the friars minors were also present among the First Nations, in Quebec, the Maritimes and Western Canada. 

 A FEELING OF OPENNESS

Is it necessary to recall that during the period that some considered the grande noirceur (the great darkness) in Québec, the missionary zeal from French Canada was remarkable? Local women and men left everything behind and set off courageously to remote lands in order to spread the Gospel’s message. This was the case for many Franciscans.

Shortly before the magazine was born, Canadian Franciscan missionaries left for China and Japan, as shown in this article that was published in the first issue.

In a context where cultures, religions and Asian, African or Latin American customs were still widely unknown, the Missions des Franciscains magazine had a vocation of education and openness. From its very beginnings, our magazine has played the role of a chronicle of missionary expansion to which women and men of all generations have come to draw information, broaden their boundaries, and discover new realities that come from a world that has broken the barriers, and committed itself on a path of internationalization that still continues.

Over the years, how many vocations to the Franciscan life—religious and secular—have been stimulated by the missionary stories told in the magazine? There is no doubt that the magazine’s articles, news and chronicles have nourished the imagination of many readers who have been touched by the Franciscan spirituality and who are in solidarity with the missionary projects in which the Canadian Franciscans have contributed.

Since 2018, the Franciscan Provinces of Saint Joseph of Eastern Canada and Christ the King of Western Canada, have come together to form the new Province of the Holy Spirit of Canada, which brings together all the Canadian friars. The missionary spirit celebrated by the Missions des Franciscains magazine remains fully alive within this Province, but in new ways.

In fact, the new Canadian Province was founded to encourage an adaptation to the changing circumstances in the world and the Church in the 21st century. We want to allow local friars minors to continue preaching the Gospel and pursuing the Franciscan ideals of fraternity and solidarity, with an approach and means of our time.

A NEW TURNING POINT

In recent decades, the last Canadian Franciscan missionaries came back to the country or died on mission lands. Each of these brothers is a custodian of a piece of Franciscan history, and over the years, the magazine has been keen to give them a voice.

Today, our Province takes a new missionary turning point. It remains faithful in promoting the contemporary forms of the evangelizing mission here and abroad—and offers from time to time, missionary internships to our brothers in formation—but it’s now more focused on missionary partnerships. The Province favours missionary solidarity through its Franciscan Mission Office in Montréal, or its Franciscan Missionary Union. The Province has also opened its doors to a dozen missionary contributions of Franciscans from other countries (DRC, India, Korea, Poland, Mexico, etc.), who live with us and share our mission here in Canada, or who are taking a sabbatical time or studying abroad. These collaborations form a fair backlash. Canada has become a mission land again!

The magazine is a place of missionary solidarity that goes beyond the boundaries of our community. In the photo, friars of South Soudan, whom we have supported in their mission through the presentation of projects in our magazine.

Thus, the Missions des Franciscains magazine now offers less a chronicle of Canada’s missionary expansion to the rest of the world, than a showcase of multiform international solidarity, which informs readers about the major missionary issues arising in our globalized and digital world. The technological progress of our time hasn’t suppressed the challenges related to violence, corruption, poverty, and inequality of opportunity. In such context, the Franciscans are called to become catalysts of fraternity and benevolence, workers of the Gospel!

Therefore, I’m proud to notice that through the projects presented in each issue of the magazine, the missionary solidarity goes beyond the boundaries of our community. For several years now, readers are invited to support projects whose objectives and impact are presented in each issue. These projects benefit from a regular follow-up ensured by actors on the ground with whom we maintain a relationship. Thus, we can recount their evolution and impact.

A YEAR OF CENTENARIES

It’s interesting to notice that this year, in which we celebrate our missionary magazine’s centenary, also marks the friars minors Rule of Life approval’s (Regula Bullata) eighth centenary (1223–2023).

After 800 years, there is no doubt that the path of fraternity suggested by Francis of Assisi still has its place. The current trends of the Missions des Franciscains magazine reflect the priorities identified by Pope Francis in his recent documents well. In his encyclical Fratelli tutti, the Pope emphasizes that the words and deeds of saint Francis of Assisi can still, after 800 years, illuminate the path of an ecclesial community that tries to become a Church which goes forth, is synodal, ready to listen, close to the smallest, and concerned about justice and peace.

The synodal path that was undertaken in October 2021, is preparing a missionary renewal in all continents. If we want it to be successful, we have to come together and listen to it. I’m convinced that the Missions des Franciscains magazine contributes to this synodal spirit, as long as it encourages many men and women from all horizons to unite with the Holy Spirit Franciscan Province of Canada in its effort to respond to the missionary challenges of today.

As Cardinal Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, reminds us in his message of October 2021: “The mission is in the heart of each of us, each baptized person is a missionary of the Kingdom of God, the mission is a call for all the baptized!”

 

Pierre Charland, OFM Provincial

Holy Spirit Province of Canada