Communicating with Brazil

Friars in Brazil

Immaculate Conception Province – a Conventual Franciscan jurisdiction – covers not only Canada, parts of the United States, and Costa Rica, but also a custody in Brazil. Keeping a sense of connectedness with the Brazilian custody requires more than an exchange of emails and phone calls. Friars from the custody need to communicate person to person with the leadership of the province. This is why Friars Justin Biase and Brad Milunski recently spent one week travelling through Brazil, meeting various friars, and discussing with them issues that concern the custody.

Juiz de Fora, Brazil  

Friars Justin and Brad are respectively the minister provincial and the vicar of Immaculate Conception Province. While in Brazil they first travelled to Juiz de Fora in the state of Minas Gerais for a Pre-Chapter Assembly at the Redemptorist Retreat House. Friar Jorge Fernandez – Assistant General of FALC (the Federation of Conventual Franciscan Friars in Latin America) – also participated in the assembly. He had prepared a report on the state of the custody. Friar Justin had also written a report on the Brazilian custody. The approach of the assembly was to combine the observations found in the two reports in preparation for December’s Chapter. The result ended up being a plan to continue reenergizing the custody in the coming years.

Costa Barros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Friars Justin and Brad also found some time to see the custody’s new religious goods store in Paraiba do Sul, visit their brothers in Araruama where a church is being built, and attend mass in Costa Barros – a poor and violent neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. They are thankful for the wonderful reception they received from all their fellow friars in Brazil.