My sisters and brothers, I extend greetings and peace to you. I pray that you enjoyed your Lent and Easter seasons.
We’ve had occasions for both sadness and joy since our last issue with the passing of our beloved Pope Francis on April 21, 2025, and the election of our new Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025. May the good Lord grant eternal rest and peace to Pope Francis, and may he provide strength, courage, and wisdom to Pope Leo XIV. Let us all continue to pray for them both. For those interested in keeping abreast of the Pope, here is the link for the Vatican News website: https://www.vaticannews.va/en.html
The items for this newsletter deal with the submission of our region’s Annual Report and payment of our Fair Share to the National Fraternity, along with a description of four formation events that were held.
The Annual Report is a requirement for all 30 regions in our National Fraternity. It looks back at the calendar year that just ended (2024), and it is a collection of responses received from the local fraternities. It covers changes in our membership population, along with a number of activity areas that the local and regional fraternities are responsible for to include, Spiritual Assistance, Formation, Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), Multi-Cultural, Ecumenical/Interfaith, Youth and Young Adult, Fraternity Meetings, Newsletters, Technology, and Financial Management which is submitted separately by the region’s Treasurer.
Our membership numbers as part of the Annual Report (displayed in the graph at left) are used as the basis for what we pay to the National Fraternity for our Fair Share. These numbers haven’t changed much since I provided this information at the Chapter of Mats in September of 2024 and at the Chapter of Ministers in November of 2024. The Active Professed membership was 736 and constitutes most of the Fair Share Payment, which we made for 2024 on February 22, 2025, for $17,732.00.
Figure 1: SMC Region’s 2024 Membership Data
The region sponsored three formation events and co-sponsored a fourth with a local fraternity. On March 8, 2025, the region co-sponsored a Day of Reflection with St. Francis of Assisi Fraternity in Triangle, Virginia which was well attended with over 60 participants. The theme was friendship, and our presenter/facilitator was Father Russel Murray, OFM, one of our former Regional Spiritual Assistants. Both the content provided by Father Russel and the luncheon served as part of the event were well received by all.
Additionally, on March 29, 2025, the region held its Annual Day of Reflection at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C. for all Candidates which was also open to Professed wanting to attend. Our presenter/facilitator for this event was Brother Mike Meza, Cap., who is also one of our Regional Spiritual Assistants.
Figure 2: Day of Reflection at St. Francis of Assisi, Triangle, VA on March 8, 2025
Finally, we held two formation workshops for local fraternity councils, one on May 3, 2025, at the Church of the Incarnation in Charlottesville, Virginia and on May 24, 2025, at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. These were the same workshops entitled, Embracing Your Leadership Journey, held in separate geographic locations in our region (one in the south and the other in the north) to facilitate attendance for those closest to those locations. The workshops were given by the region’s Formation Director, Rita Colleran, Vice Minister, Michael Oliver, and me. The morning sessions were based on the concepts of servant leadership, organizational culture, and change, while the afternoon sessions were more practical application on fraternity culture, councils working together with their fraternity, animating and guiding, and shepherding. Combined, there were over 60 attendees who participated and shared their ideas and concerns with each other at these events.
Figure 3: Formation Workshop at the Shrine of St. Anthony on May 24, 2025
All four of these one-day events were part of the region’s attempt to localize the formation experience by hosting them in different parts of the region to ease travel time and reduce costs for attendees. For those who prefer the more traditional weekend experience, the next regional event will be a formation weekend on June 27-29, 2025, at Priestfield Pastoral Center in Kearneysville, West Virginia which is open to all. Registration closes on June 15, 2025.
That’s all for now. I pray that God continues to bless and protect you and your loved ones each day.
Pax,
Gary Burton, OFS
Minister
Saint Margaret of Cortona Region
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February 2025 Regional Ministers Message
Greetings! Peace be with you, my sisters and brothers. I pray that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday, Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons.
During this issue of the newsletter, I have two important items to communicate. First is the Feedback Pursuit Areas that resulted from the Chapter of Mats held back in September 2024 and presented to the local fraternity ministers at the Chapter of Ministers held in November 2024. The second item is the change in the format of regional retreats for 2025 from a weekend event to three separate one-day events.
During the weekend of November 9-10, 2024, the region held its Annual Chapter of Ministers’ meeting at Our Lady of Bethesda Retreat House in Bethesda, Maryland. Prominent on the meeting agenda was the presentation of the pursuit areas that were derived from the feedback we received from our members attending the Chapter of Mats in September. As you recall, I indicated that we had to publish a report from the Chapter of Mats to the national which we did and submitted back in October. Additionally, the region promised to analyze the feedback and develop a follow-up approach, which was also done, and is named the Feedback Pursuit Areas.
As indicated in the diagram below, the feedback received fell in one of four areas (categories) that will be pursued collectively by the region via the local fraternities and supported by the regional council to address the feedback in an ongoing manner in four different but related categories.
- Engage and Encourage: This deals with supporting each other on our Franciscan journeys and perspective members seeking a vocation. This will be done via evangelizing, inviting others to meet and speak with us, conducting Open Houses, and increasing opportunities for social gatherings.
- Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC): Many of us are already engaged in this important work in one way or another as either an individual or group apostolate involving Care for Creation, Respect Life, Anti-Human Trafficking, and/or through the Franciscan Action Network (FAN).
- Technology: Like the previous category, many of you are using technology to promote your work in engaging and encouraging and supporting your JPIC efforts by means of videoconferencing software (Zoom and Microsoft Teams), digitally archiving your important documents through Google or Microsoft OneDrive, and using tools like Google Translate and Magisterium AI to support your multi-cultural outreach and formation.
- Multi-generational and multi-cultural: This category addresses a growth area that many fraternities and regions also have regarding their outreach to and interaction with Youth and Young Adults and ethnic groups. Engaging and encouraging these groups will involve events like special liturgies and gatherings to help us connect and be in relationship with them.
The Feedback Pursuit Areas is intended to be both a framework that is a cross-cutting and an ongoing approach to support the efforts to fulfill our mission as Secular Franciscans. There will be more forthcoming soon and please speak with your ministers, councils, and the regional council if you have any questions.
The second item for this newsletter pertains to the annual regional retreats. In the past these retreats were weekend events (Friday-Sunday) that were spiritually enriching and enjoyable. Recent feedback received indicated that these weekend events were becoming cost prohibitive for many and the locations were not convenient for those living in the distant areas of our region.
After reflecting on the matter, the regional council and I decided to try a different approach that is intended to be less expensive and easier for members to attend. Starting in 2025, instead of one weekend event, there will be three one-day events held on a Saturday in different geographically distributed areas in the region (North, Central, and South). These events or Days of Reflection shouldn’t cost more than $50.00 per person and should be for the most part within 90 minutes or less of driving time for most members.
The first of these events will be held at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish and Fraternity in Triangle, Virginia on March 8, 2025, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, and will be led by Father Russell Murray, OFM. The second of these events is scheduled for May 24, 2025, at Saint Anthony’s Shrine in Ellicott City, Maryland which is intended for ministers and vice ministers. The third event is scheduled for October of 2025 in the Charlottesville, Virginia area (exact date to be determined). These three events are in addition to the annual regional events like the Day of Reflection for Inquirers and Candidates which this year is at St. Anthony’s Shrine on March 29, 2025, and the Regional Formation Directors’ Retreat which will be at the Priestfield Retreat Center the weekend of June 27-29, 2025. More information will be provided on these events as time draws nearer.
That’s all for now. I pray that God continues to bless and protect you and your loved ones each day.
Pax,
Gary Burton, OFS
Minister
Saint Margaret of Cortona Region
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2024 National Fraternity Chapter
One of the more important guidelines that were reviewed and approved was on the topic of Records Retention by fraternities. The records were identified and their corresponding retention schedule established (Please see the link below.)
I will share all of this and other information with your ministers at our upcoming Chapter Ministers, November 9-10, who will in turn share with you.
These next three months will have several important holidays for us, and our family and friends. While I will send out best wishes to you from the regional council as the holidays occur, I pray that God continue to bless and protect you and your loved ones each day and as you prepare for the coming holidays.
Pax,
Gary Burton, OFS
Minister
Saint Margaret of Cortona Region
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Regional Minister’s Message for August 2024
Greetings to my sisters and brothers in Francis and Clare. May the Lord grant you, His Peace.
As I open the August 2024 newsletter, there are a few things to share involving three events; one that happened this last quarter and two that will occur in September 2024. Additionally, we have two important Franciscan Feast Days coming up in August 2024.
First, the Regional Formation Directors’ Retreat was held at the Washington Retreat House the weekend of June 28-30, 2024. It was well attended, planned, and executed by the Regional Formation Director, Rita Colleran, and her formation team. I extend my gratitude to them for a job well done. We were blessed to have Father Charlie Miller, OFM as the main presenter/facilitator, and he exceeded expectations as usual. You will hear more about this event later in the newsletter from our sister Rita as it pertains to animating and guiding.
The theme this year was Servant Leadership which is a type or style of leadership that promotes the value of placing service before self-interest and unselfishly committing to something greater than yourself. It involves the characteristics of love and humility and requires a transformation of your heart (see Article 7 of our Rule). These values are not foreign to us as Franciscans since they were first modeled by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and by our brother St. Francis. All Franciscans are servant leaders.
As you know, Jesus continually modeled these values in his words and actions (miracles). There are four scripture passages that are usually associated with Jesus’ Servant Leadership, two of which involve the same incident where James and John asked (or in Matthew’s Gospel their mother asked) to sit on Jesus right and left and Jesus replied by saying that the Son of Man came to serve not to be served, whoever would be first among you shall be like your slave, and that Jesus would give his life as ransom for many (Mark 10:35-45 and Matthew 20:20-28).
The third is from Luke where the disciples are arguing amongst themselves about who will be the greatest, and Jesus replies, let the greatest be like the youngest and the leader as the servant (Luke 22:24-29). The fourth is the most famous with the washing of the Disciples’ feet at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John where the disciples are told they must wash each other’s feet (serving in a sacrificial way) (John 13:1-20).
Second is our Regional Chapter of Mats which will be held on September 6-8, 2024, and the final preparations are underway to make this a successful event. Large and small group discussions will take place around the theme of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going as an Order. We still encourage those that want to attend to please register as soon as possible.
Third, on September 17-22, 2024, I will be attending the National Minister’s Chapter that is being held in Phoenix, Arizona, and I will provide you a short summary of the event in the next newsletter.
Finally, and as a reminder for your calendars, we have two important Franciscan saint feast days coming up. On August 11th, our sister, St. Clare of Assisi and St. Maximillian Mary Kolbe on August 14th.
That’s all for now. Enjoy the newsletter.
Pax,
Gary J. Burton, OFS
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Regional Minister’s Message for May 2024
Greetings to all my sisters and brothers in the St. Margaret of Cortona Region. This is my inaugural message to you as your new regional minister. I have three topics to cover: The results of the regional election, a brief bio of me, and two important upcoming events for the region.
As most of you know, there was a regional election held on Saturday April 20, 2024, and a new regional council was elected as follows: Minister, Gary Burton; Vice Minister, Michael Oliver; Secretary, Maria Martinez; Treasurer, Randy Bender; Formation Director, Rita Colleran; Area Councilor for Northern Maryland/Southern Pennsylvania, Michael Huether; Area Councilor for Central/Southern Maryland/Delaware, Toby Harkleroad; Area Councilor for Metro DC, Mary Badjo; and Virginia Area Councilor, Sita Chakrawarti. Please see the photograph on our website at https://saintmargaretofcortona.org/council/ where everyone is listed in the above order from left to right. Their email addresses are listed on the same webpage referenced so feel free to reach out to congratulate them if you haven’t already done so. Additionally, I thank my sisters and brothers of the new council for their willingness to exercise their servant leadership and thank our outgoing council as well for their service and hard work during the last three years.
A little background about me. I am a cradle Catholic currently retired from careers in the military, civilian government service, and consulting, and living in Dumfries, Virginia. I am divorced and have two wonderful adult children, Sarah who is living and working as an esthetician in San Francisco, and Sean, a
social worker, who just moved home to Virginia from Tacoma, Washington. I’ve been a member of the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Triangle, Virginia for over the last 25 years, and I am currently a member of the St. Francis of Assisi (SFA) Fraternity of Triangle, Virgina. I’ve been associated with the Third Order
Secular Franciscans since October of 2011, and was professed on October 11, 2014. Prior to my profession, I was appointed and served as Treasurer of my fraternity in 2014, elected as Formation Director in 2017, and elected as its Minister in 2020.
As you will see in the newsletter, there are a few exciting things that the region has planned in the upcoming months of this year. The Regional Formation Directors’ Retreat is scheduled for June 21-23, 2024, at the Washington Retreat House in Washington, D.C. The theme this year is “The Franciscan Way of Servant Leadership to Guide and Animate.” It is intended for fraternity Formation Directors and formation team members and if you have any questions, please contact our Regional Formation Director, Rita Colleran (rlcolleran10@gmail.com).
Finally, our Chapter of Mats is scheduled for September 6-8, 2024, at the Claggett Center in Adamstown, Maryland. Unlike a retreat, our upcoming Chapter of Mats will be a time for us to collect as a family to celebrate our past, present, and future; with an emphasis on listening and talking with one another in small groups. The planning committee and subcommittees are working hard to deliver the best program they can for all our members. The venue is said to be first-rate, and prayer and liturgy will be a centerpiece of our experience that weekend. For more information, please visit our website: https://saintmargaretofcortona.org/upcoming-events/
That’s all for now and speak with you next time.
Pax,
Gary Burton, OFS
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