Letter from Buenos Aires, May 2025

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TO THE BROTHERS OF THE IESUS CARITAS PRIESTLY FRATERNITY AROUND THE WORLD

Dear brothers,

from 6 to 21 May 2025, we gathered at the Mons. Aguirre Retreat House in Buenos Aires, 34 delegates from fraternities in 21 countries in Africa, America, Asia and Europe, under the theme: PRIESTS OF IESUS CARITAS, WITNESSES AND FORGERS OF PRIESTLY AND UNIVERSAL FRATERNITY, to hold the 12th General Assembly of our Fraternity.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank, first of all, our Argentinian brothers for their warm welcome and their readiness in introducing to us the people and culture of their country. We will not forget the cultural evening, the trip to the Delta of Paraná River, the visit to the centre of Buenos Aires and to the shrine of Our Lady of Luján. We would also like to express our gratitude to the various parishes that welcomed us on Sunday 11th with great faith, love and tenderness, to Monsignor Guillermo Caride, Bishop of San Isidro, who visited us, and to the members of our spiritual family who came to share their experiences.

We feel similar gratitude towards our brothers and sisters who enlightened us with their presentations on the reality of the Church in Argentina, the pontificate of Pope Francis, fraternity in the New Testament, in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, and in the life and apostolate of Saint Charles de Foucauld. These are topics that remain available to the fraternities for their own study and reflection which are published on the website iesuscaritas.org. A special thank you to the outgoing International Team Eric LOZADA, Fernando TAPIA, Honoré SAVADOGO, Tony LLANES and Matthias KEIL for their closeness and service to the brothers during these six years and for the good organisation of this Assembly.

A WOUNDED WORLD

In a world wounded by divisions, polarisations, ambitions for power and the violence of wars, the message on Universal Fraternity is more necessary than ever. Pope Francis understood this. His words and gestures demonstrate it. We therefore, feel a strong call to be witnesses and builders of fraternity both in our presbyteria and in the societies and cultures in which each of us is present, through greater closeness and service to the poor, migrants, the marginalised and victims of all kinds of abuse. We know that they are the ones who suffer most from the lack of fraternity.

FRATERNITY IS POSSIBLE

Fraternity is possible! We have experienced this in this Assembly despite the diversity of languages, cultures and pastoral experiences. Each day has been marked by praying together the Lauds, Adoration and the celebration of Eucharist, which has allowed us to live these days in a climate of attentive listening, understanding, joy, acceptance and dialogue. This is how we have been able to share our personal stories, reflect on the topics presented, listen attentively to the reports presented and work on our Statutes and our Directory.

OUR FRATERNITIES

The reports we have heard have shown us that in several countries in Europe and America our fraternities are ageing. This is not the case in Africa and Asia. We must therefore give more spiritual and financial support to the fraternities on both continents. In the countries of Europe and America, we need to renew our efforts to make Brother Charles de Foucauld known in our presbyteries and invite priests, deacons and seminarians to join our Fraternity. We therefore feel a strong call to found new fraternities and to reawaken those that are dormant.

To do this, we need a great deal of creativity and greater fidelity to the charism of Brother Charles and to the means of spiritual growth that our Fraternity has. Our witness of a simple, fraternal, joyful and committed life with the poor, which springs from our close relationship with the Risen Christ, will always be the best way to attract new members to our fraternities. We are convinced that Brother Charles’ spirituality, centered on the Gospel and the Eucharist, celebrated and adored, is the spirituality that has ongoing relevance.

THE ELECTION OF LEO XIV

During our Assembly, the conclave was held in Rome to elect a new successor to Peter, Pope Leo XIV. Far from distracting us, his election has confirmed us in the path which the Holy Spirit is guiding his Church: a renewed missionary impulse, an ever greater commitment to justice and peace, and a greater participation of all the baptised in the life of the Church. We believe that fraternity is expressed in the synodal way of living our faith and our belonging to the Church, which is why we feel called to promote this ecclesial style in our parishes, Christian communities, movements and other pastoral settings in which we carry out our ministry.

REVISED VERSION OF OUR STATUTES AND DIRECTORY

We have devoted much time during this Assembly for the updating of our statutes and the directory for the development of our fraternities throughout the world. We have made valuable reflections and contributions and have finally approved them. They will be presented to the Dicastery for the Clergy and subsequently disseminated and studied by our brothers in the different countries where we are present. These documents will help us to have a clearer identity and give greater relevance to the witness and writings of Brother Charles.

MEETING OF YOUNG PRIESTS OF OUR FRATERNITY

During our Assembly, we experienced the richness of cultural and pastoral diversity. We would like the young priests of our Association (under 45 years of age) to have a similar experience that will inspire them to follow our beloved Brother and Lord Jesus more closely, in the footsteps of Brother Charles de Foucauld. We entrust the organisation of this meeting to the new international team, with the spiritual and financial support of all our fraternities.

NEW INTERNATIONAL TEAM

During the Assembly, we elected our brother Carlos Roberto DOS SANTOS (Brazil) as the new International Responsible, and he, in turn, formed his team: Roberto (Tino) FERRARI (Argentina), Mark MERTES (USA), Boris SCHLÜSSEL (Switzerland) and Louis Edmond ESSEYI A GNADAM (Cameroon). He has also asked Eric LOZADA (Philippines) to be his delegate for Asia and Yves de MALLMANN (France) to help with the maintenance of the archives. We thank all of them for accepting this service. We offer them our fraternal support and we ask the Lord Jesus to sustain them with his grace and our Lady of Luján to watch over them.

Eric LOZADA
for the delegates to the 12th General Assembly of the IESUS CARITAS Priestly Fraternity.

Buenos Aires, 20 May 2025
document is available at the web iesuscaritas.org

PDF: Letter from Buenos Aires, May 2025 en

LETTER OF GRATITUDE TO THE BROTHERS. Eric LOZADA 2025

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Dear Brothers,

Muito Obrigado! Mille Grazie! Merci beaucoup! Muchas gracias! Baie Dankie! Mange Tak! Vielen Dank! Mèsi Anpil! Mile Maith Agat! आपका बहुत धन्यवाद! Dziękuję Bardzo! Grazzi ħafna! Thank you very much!

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is “thank you,” it will be enough.” Meister ECKHART

Coming from a celebration of life after death in remembrance of Jesus and of Pope Francis’ death that has left footprints of his courageous life, in solidarity with the association of the spiritual family of St Charles de Foucauld who is now in a meeting at Tarres, Spain (our brother Matthias Kiel is representing me) and, while waiting with anticipation for the conclave in Rome and for our general assembly in Buenos Aires, I am writing to you this final letter as your servant brother in the Fraternity for the past six years. Six years ago, I could not imagine myself doing this task. I come from a country that is like Nazareth, very small, insignificant, in the periphery of the world. The thought of being the general responsible was both overwhelming and frightening to me at the least. But slowly yet gently, I have learned through the years that this is not about me but about God using me in my poverty and in spite of me. I have wrestled many times praying with Brother Charles the prayer of abandonment while holding the Fraternity in prayer until my heart has mellowed from all my illusions and fears. I could only look back at the 6 years with profound gratitude for all the teaching, humbling and challenging moments that have made me where I am now as a work-in-progress universal brother following Jesus of Nazareth in the footsteps of Brother Charles.

Thank you very much for trusting me and my team with this mandate to serve and animate the fraternities around the world with all our gifts and limitations. Our insecurity to lead has moved us to listen to you – your realities and concerns – through the online survey where we have learned that our fragility as Fraternity urges us to seek one another with firm resolve and not to resign in self-sufficiency where we try to live our lives and ministries like “lone rangers.” Our fragile state has become a new pathway to forging real fraternities where everyone celebrates, challenges, listens and depends on the growth of each other. Above all, thank you very much for your individual witness of life, your courageous fire and zeal for God, the poor and the marginalized, your firm resolve to be a brother to all for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel and your commitment to live the fraternal life as diocesan priests in the footsteps of Brother Charles.

The authentic joy that comes from Jesus’ resurrection sets us all on a humbling yet joy-filled pilgrimage together as spirit-brothers, patiently yet courageously seeking always for what nurtures our hearts amidst the overwhelmingly darkness and confusion of our world, inviting us to listen first before we talk, to understand first before we judge, to preach the Gospel with our lives, to see the face of Jesus in the poor, to heed the cry of Mother Earth and to face life’s challenges with a heart fixed on the coming of the Kingdom in our midst. Like the apostles, seeing an empty tomb with hearts overwhelmed by the confusion, violence and disillusionment of the things that have happened has blinded them from seeing reality with a sense of reflective distance, contemplative wonder and awe. After the resurrection, we are not sent to engage the world like conquerors and little messiahs who disregard the weak in order for the strong to control and dominate. No, we are summoned as lovers, brothers and friends to value every human experience as a place of encounter, to listen to the marginalized, to embrace those who are despised, to challenge the strong, waiting with patience and hope for new life to unfold from the goodness of every human heart and from every human experience.

In this jubilee year, we are invited to hope as pilgrims together. The late Pope Francis, in his October 2013 morning meditation, had given two contrasting icons for hope: the anchor and pangs of childbirth. When we are anchored to “an artificial lagoon we ourselves have made… where everything is comfortable and secure. This is not hope”. Rather, the fitting icon for hope is that of labor at childbirth. The whole of creation “has been groaning together in travail until now; we groan inwardly as we wait. We are waiting.” Waiting for new life to unfold is authentic hope. Hope, then, “is intimately involved in the dynamic of giving life” which often “remains invisible and hidden to human eyes.” Yet we know that the Spirit is at work quietly, gently, patiently. “The Spirit is at work in us. He works like a mustard seed, which is small but full of life and power until it grows into a tree. This is how the Spirit works.”

May the Spirit, the Giver of Life, continue to renew our church and world today in surprising ways and may we have the heart to see it, one experience at a time. His way will always be hidden beneath the drama of our time. We need to be interiorly quiet to see that. This is what our spiritual means of daily adoration, desert day, review of life, daily meditation has prepared us.

Here are some practical details for the delegates of our world assembly:

The organizers are asking us to pay in cash the $675/Euro 625 fee.

That we bring a little gift from our country to be given to the brothers.

That we inform Tino about our flight details for airport pick up to our place of meeting.

Brothers, thank you very much. Kindly hold us close to your heart in prayer while we gather at Buenos Aires for our general assembly. We are gathered with you and for you.

With my fraternal affection,

Eric LOZADA

 

 

PDF: LETTER. OF GRATITUDE TO THE BROTHERS. Eric LOZADA 2025