The wish to re-discover the missionary dimension in Franciscan spirituality and to deepen the understanding of it gave rise during 1982 to the idea of writing a basic course on the theme Mission. It was to deal with the charisma of Saint Francis as it is being lived out in the various Franciscan orders and congregations working in widely different cultures.
In the middle of the 1980s, the plan took concrete shape. The Correspondence Course on Franciscan Missionary Charisma was taken up with enthusiasm by our Brothers and Sisters all over the world, who helped to spread its message. It was not confined to Franciscans alone, people outside the religious orders and congregations also participated.
And so an intercultural dialogue was started and in the course of this, the limitations and the omissions in the Course became glaringly apparent. In addition to this, over a period of years, new thematic focuses were identified and thus, the nature of the demands made upon our spirituality has changed. Principally, this means that the feminine dimension and that aspect of Franciscan charisma which is effective in the secular world were to brought more to the fore and were to be integrated in the Course. Similarly, the witness of the Poor Clares, of the Third Order Regular (TOR) and of the Secular Third Order needed to be both acknowledged and their value recognised as far as their significance for the Franciscan Family and the universal Church goes. Therefore a thoroughgoing revision of the Course became unavoidable.
In its fully new form and format, the CCFMC (Comprehensive Course on the Franciscan Mission Charism) is now available. It invites you to deal with the issues of the world of today from a Franciscan perspective, armed with experiences from all over the world, and then to resolve them.
From the very beginning, the CCFMC has been conceived and structured to be interfranciscan, international and intercultural. It comprises 25 lesson units, each of which numbers some 30 pages (A4 - 8½" x 11¾"). It is prefaced by an introductory lesson unit which describes the structure of the Course and the methodology behind it.
The new media have their place: there is a CD-ROM and also standard tape-recorder cassettes. The CD contains not only the text of the CCFMC but also the Bible, Franciscan sources as well as the most important documents of the Church and the Order bearing on the Mission.
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