Report from the Regional Fraternity

a) The canonical establishment of the Sacred Heart Fraternity at the Church of Our Lady of Immaculate in Guelph took place on Sunday May 5th with the express permission of the Most Reverend Douglas Crosby OMI. bishop of the Hamilton diocese.

b) The new regional secretary is Lucie Desbiens ofs, the Minister of St. Joseph the Worker
Fraternity from Port Elgin.

c) The Ministers Meeting – May 11, 2013 at the Queen of Apostles Centre in Mississauga. There are a significant number of Fraternities who will be attending with delegates. The agenda has been sent to our two delegates, Gus and Doris Legere ofs (cost of attending to be covered by the fraternity).

d) Franciscan Pilgrimage and 20th anniversary celebration at Midland Ontario. Colleen MacAlister prepared a tentative agenda. This is to take place Sunday June 23rd. (see attached agenda) There is an outline ( slightly revised ) for later arrival (10 am) and the amalgamation of certain points. Ministers will arrange the needs for travel and items for participation. We need to provide name tags, fraternal banner, food and drinks. Essentially this is a picnic setting with Holy Mass and prayers.

e) Fall mini regional meetings – A brief discussion followed concerning the set up for these meetings.The first is scheduled for Belleville for the Fraternities located from Kingston to Oshawa and will take place on October 5th. There are significant new topics for discussion at the local level.

f) Syrian Donations- The Regional per capita cost/budget is established for the operational support of the Region and can not be used for purposes of donations. Any further discussion in respect of charitable donations, the Regional Council will entertain such discussion by the local ministers at the next Chapter of Election.

g) With the conclusion of the currently scheduled activities on canonical establishments of Fraternities there remain four older Fraternities, some with misplaced charters, to be documented and two emerging fraternities. [ There is a potential for this number to increase to four (4) in the near future – further details hereunder ]. There are four new canonical charters that will shortly be activated with a fifth to follow. At the same time there are three Fraternities whose documentation does exist but required verification by the Minister Provincial of the instituting First Order in a formal document.

h) The Region has a number of dormant Fraternities whose activities could not meet the minimum.requirement for a viable Fraternity but to date no formal process was initiated to deactivate them.Within the next six to eight months closer attention will be paid to the resolution of these pending Fraternities. After a Fraternity is formally declared dormant, the existing canonical establishment document remains valid and in force for one hundred years. A decision was made to revisit the case of dormant Fraternities prior to the next Chapter of Elections.

i) Fr. Peter presented a request from two Secular Franciscan Fraternities, not currently members of the Trillium Regions, for the privilege of joining the Region. After lengthy discussion it was determined that they would be welcomed as emerging Fraternities to allow for the adoption by them the Pauline Rule of 1978. David Mitchell has been asked to be to visitor / mentor for these two fraternities.

j) The Region is required to harmonize the existing Regional Statutes with that of the renewed
National Statutes. Fr. Peter volunteered to update the statutes and to provide them at the Ministers Meeting. This will allow local Fraternities to study the proposed changes for about year. Their recommendation and approval is part of the work of the Regional Chapter of Elections in 2014.

k) A pre-election report will have to made available to the Regional Fraternity  prior to our council elections at the St. Angela Merici Fraternity  in November.

l) A committee for the Regional Chapter of Elections has been formed. Shortly the Regional Councilwill evaluate the potential sites for holding the Chapter. Once the venue has been established they will tell us the location and price.

m) The Region received an invitation form the Eastern Region to attend at their annual retreat in Cacouna, PQ. August 2 to 4. A decision was made in Council to send representatives to listen to presentations and to forge closer ties between the English speaking Regions in Canada.