Greetings and peace be with my sisters and brothers.
As I indicated in the last edition of our newsletter, we were preparing for a couple of significant events that I will be reporting on this time around. First, is our regional Chapter of Mats and the other is the National Chapter of Ministers, both held during September of 2024.
The Chapter of Mats was held on September 6-8, 2024, in Adamstown, Maryland, at the Claggett Retreat and Conference Center. It was attended by approximately 115 of our members from across the region who provided valuable input during the small group discussions that were held during each of the three sessions conducted that weekend around the theme of Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and Where We Are Going as an Order in the Catholic Church. The Regional Council and I can’t say enough about both how grateful we are and important the member participation and information provided was during the event. It represents a bottom-up approach to the data collection and analysis for all of us as servant leaders to better understand ourselves and what we should do to prepare for the future to keep our Order healthy and growing.
A summary presentation was provided by our Regional Vice Minister, Michael Oliver, and me, to the assembled participants. This summary presentation along with the video of the session was sent out to the local fraternity ministers for distribution to our members. The links to both are located below and if you haven’t already read the presentation and watched the video, I encourage you to do so.
Summary Presentation
Chapter of Mats Summary Discussion.pdf
Video of Presentation
Essentially, the summary revealed that we must continue our efforts on following Francis’ path in caring for creation, committing to simplicity, pursuing peace through dialogue, helping the poor and marginalized, and supporting each other as part of our founder’s mission, intention, and purpose.
As part of the follow-up to the Chapter of Mats, the Regional Council published an initial report to the National Council as a condition of receiving a John Duns Scotus grant to help us with the costs associated with providing multi-lingual support to our members who attended the event. The initial report can be viewed at the link below.
Duns Scotus Grant Report final (1).pdf
The next step is to provide the summary results to the local fraternity ministers at the Chapter of Ministers to be held November 9-10, 2024, along with the Regional Council’s additional analysis and recommendations for going forward with the information provided by our members to address the issues identified during the Chapter of Mats. I will report on this follow-up analysis and reporting in the next edition of our newsletter.
annual event that allows the ministers from across the country to meet, review, provide input, and vote on important national documents like the annual budget. Below is a link to the opening address made by our National Minister, Jane DeRose-Bamman, OFS on the state of the Order in the United States, along with the homily given by Fr. Marek Stybor, OFM Conv. from the opening Mass of the Chapter. This link also contains other links to some important presentations that were given on Servant Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Resolution, and JPIC.
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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