Equipo Núcleo Panamá

38th anniversary of the Easter of our founder «Father Henry Francois»

Thu 2-8-2024

IF WE SING TOGETHER...

Singing expresses the strong feelings of the person singing and arouses them in others.

War song: and the hands tighten on the weapons.

Song of mercy: and hands join together.

Song of Fraternity: and hands are extended.

A man who sings, what is he?

An enthusiastic man. He is filled with some great ideal, which guides his thoughts, provokes his actions, causes his joys and his sorrows.

An enthusiast cannot keep what excites him to himself. He needs to get it out of himself. (EASTER Message 1959).

Remembering him with joy and gratitude.

A strong and brotherly hug.



Core team

Fin de noticia

A synodal Church on mission. Synthesis report

Thu 2-8-2024

XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
First session

October 4-29, 2023 - Vatican City

Complete document in "More information"

Fin de noticia

Neither handicapped nor disabled: I am a person

Thu 2-8-2024

Achieving fair rights for people with disabilities is always a tough struggle. On January 18th, a historic demand was fulfilled, affecting four and a half million people, with the approval of the reform of Article 49 of the Constitution, replacing the term "disabled" with "person with disabilities" and incorporating key elements such as "the obligation to guarantee full autonomy and social inclusion." The substantive aspect of the modification is the designation of "person," beyond the term "disability," as this can change. Until now, we have been "subnormal," "invalid," or "handicapped." However, being regarded as a person affirms the dignity of the human being. Only then is it possible to develop and live as full-fledged citizens.

Enrique Alarcón
President of the Confederation of People with Disabilities of Castilla-La Mancha

See full article in "More information"

Fin de noticia

Contribution: Letter 1

Thu 2-1-2024

You can see the letter in our "Documentation" section in "Contributions"

Fin de noticia

Merry Christmas 2023

Wed 1-3-2024

Fin de noticia

International Day of People with Disabilities 2023

Mon 12-4-2023

Our best wishes in everything you do in your pastoral work in fraternity. With these letters we want to feel close to each one of you, on this date in which we commemorate our life and presence in this society.
We are alive. We exist. We are human people. We are making our rights a reality. We strive to live our responsibilities. We have the experience that our capabilities exceed our personal limitations and from there we work to confront the social limitations in which each of us live.

We are not indifferent to the situations that dehumanize us all: Russia, Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, global migrations, failure to care for the planet we live on and that we must all take care of, government corruption, welfare systems that generate massive impoverishment, totalitarian systems that subordinate people and deprive them of freedom, human trafficking of minors, adults and neglect of our elders... We recognize that these actions deteriorate us all. It is evident that we are still very ignorant of humanity.

We are happy and encouraged by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 75 years ago. It is also a sign of hope, a daily challenge to live, the declaration of the United Nations General Assembly in 1992; December 3rd International Day of People with Disabilities.

We interact through all social media, to discover ways to change our lives. We travel by land, sea and air with our chairs, crutches, personal stories, our fragile structure, full of passion, courage and spirit of life, walking at a human pace, at the slowest pace. We don't want anyone to be left on the side of the road or left out. We are always learning to walk together, to take care of each other. We need to unlearn lifestyles that damage human dignity.

We dream of new times for everyone. We are building them in living our daily responsibilities. In this dream we are discovering that no religion, politics or culture should paralyze what we really see that we are called to be: humans, brothers, free people, citizens who care for this common home in which we have the right to live with dignity and be happy. . We continue to eliminate barriers, visiting, giving life, joy, serving from what we can contribute, demonstrating that life is possible and has meaning, offering our fraternal ties. We want our lives to continue having the flavor of the gospel.

Once again we affirm the validity of that invitation, ancient and always new: Get up, take your mat, and go to the community. Truly, words like this are wise, human, valid for every human being... words that taste like the gospel because they are good news in the world that we have all been building by action or omission.

A hug for every woman and man who are making this journey together, making this house that belongs to everyone more livable and habitable...


Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel
Core Team

Fin de noticia

Honoring the memory of our brother Henry Francois

Tue 2-7-2023

Guatemala de la Asunción, February 03 2023

Remembering our beloved Father Francois.
(May 8 1897-February 3 1986)

I have found happiness. The happiness of having done God's will, of having sown a little happiness around me... Yes, happiness is in me. And I thank God for having given me this day to live and for having given me the grace to live it.

"I serve others and understand that serving is to enjoy"

(Easter Message 1973)

Our gatherings are serving others
Our gatherings are enjoying.

Remembering him with joy and gratitude.
A strong and fraternal hug.

Sonia, Carmencita, and Miguel Angel.
Team Nucleus

Fin de noticia

Contribution of Frater España to the Continental Stage of the Synod

Mon 1-23-2023

Contribution of the Christian Fraternity of
People with Disabilities (Frater Spain) to
Document for the Continental Phase of the Synod
"Enlarge the space of your store"




You can see the complete document in the "Publications" section or in the following link:
Aportacion-de-Frater-Espana-a-la-Etapa-Continental-del-Sinodo.pdf

Fin de noticia

Brotherly Greeting 2023

Mon 1-23-2023

Guatemala, January 15, 2023

Dear friends and brothers and sisters:

We greet you with all my love and our best wishes because together with your family and friends you have celebrated a very special Christmas and New Year.

We are sending this letter to thank you for the joy of starting this year 2023, in which we want to continue to be close and with you to grow in communications, in friendship to share our achievements, dreams, challenges and projects.

It is a good time to stop and listen to what God has to say to us. God looks at the heart, He is interested in what is inside, because what is inside produces fruits outside. Believing in others is a law in the Fraternity.

It is our desire to accompany you in strong moments to applaud and congratulate in joy and also to listen and embrace in sadness.
Let's take advantage of technology to visit us, let's strengthen our ties to reach all people. Let us joyfully celebrate the opportunity to live in fraternity. We are grateful for the Mission that you generously assume on each continent.

For now we say goodbye with the desire to meet soon and continue this journey together for our beloved brotherhood.

A strong and affectionate hug.

Sonia Martinez, Carmen Mazariegos and Miguelangel Arrasate.
Core Team

Fin de noticia

Sharing the walk of this year 2022

Mon 1-23-2023

In some way this year has been marked by the experience of synodality.

The entrusted responsibility invites us to motivate and accompany this “walking together” of the fraternities, wherever they are and also to share the events of that path with others. When we share the paths we become human and we all become brothers.

Certainly the different means of communication within our reach have helped us a lot at this time when face-to-face meetings, for health and economic reasons, are not always possible. The important thing, we note with joy, is that our fraternal journey has not come to a standstill. We all miss and want to meet and see each other's faces, hear each other, hug each other, share our experiences. We all wish we could get out of our surroundings. Hopefully we don't lose that desire to go out to meet others. The friendship and fraternity that is typical of our small nuclei should give us strength to “stand up” and walk, go out to our cities, communities, neighborhoods in which we live and thus, together with others, raise awareness of everything that makes everyone's journey possible and what makes it difficult (laws, physical barriers, prejudices, attitudes, languages among many other things...) to make it livable, habitable, dignified, human. The way is long.

We have witnessed all of this that we have just expressed, in the different moments in which we have been able to meet (between us as a team almost always three times a month) with the fraternities to celebrate their meetings, anniversaries , workshops, study days, assemblies, invitations to continue... The meetings, some were virtual, others through communications: email, newsletters. Others we were able to do in person (European Assembly and Meeting of Frater España leaders, both in Segovia). When we want to communicate, the means that make it possible appear. One feels surprised and also, very grateful. There is a lot of life in all of this.

The entire movement generated by the invitation to synodality by our brother, the Bishop of Rome: Francis, has been a great wealth, lived in different ways, in the places where we live. We have encouraged this path by sharing the materials (booklets) received from the fraternity of Spain. An excellent work that expresses and talks about a journey of fraternity, inviting, through reflection in the groups, to make more aware of our lives and the path that opens for us to continue making our way. It gave us joy when we were told that the material was being used.

We are grateful that you have also shared the difficulties that, in this synodal path, have been given and the answers in favor of this path so that nothing hinders this right to be about us. The roads are not made, they have to be built. To the extent that we walk as fraternities, we become a fraternity… taking care of the life of the fraternity, we are making our way. This sharing has also made us aware of knowing that we have firm, fighting, creative brothers and sisters who know how to do fine so that fraternity does not weaken and society does not become impoverished. The meeting held in the Vatican with other brothers worldwide is an expression, a very concrete, historical moment of this journey that has begun.

The written reflections of our brother José María Marín have also been a great gift. We received them with joy, we read them, they were present at our team meetings and we gladly shared them with the other fraternities and with brothers and sisters. Many people appreciated this reflection because they felt in them (their simple expression, the photos that accompanied the texts) close to the gospel and in connection with life. It called our attention that words from other latitudes had an echo and reception. Once again, the humanity recounted in the gospels is common to every human being.

Many times we comment among ourselves that the communication with the African fraternity has not been what we would have liked to have. We have encouraged them to hold their meetings. We are sorry, we have not been able to gestate it enough. The media have not always been in favor of fluid communication. A pending task. With the rest of the fraternities, the communication of everything that we perceive needs to be known has been shared. Sometimes we feel that all the communication that is shared does not always reach the recipients. It seems to stagnate. We believe that all communication promotes brotherhood between us and makes us feel that we are part of a universal brotherhood, present throughout the world. Enabling communications is everyone's responsibility. Otherwise we will all become poorer.

Many times, among ourselves we comment with joy and gratitude, all this path that has been taking place in this epidemic and post-pandemic situation... A reality that has highlighted situations that we knew about (extreme poverty, injustice, corruption, exclusions, marginalization) and that many of us have experienced (confinements so as not to feel ashamed and rejection by society due to social prejudices) because of our being people with disabilities... The path has been the search for new forms of communication. Once again, our capabilities exceed our limitations... economically, many lived presences would have been impossible.

All in all, we want new spaces to open up to make meetings a reality where, in person, we can share our paths and in that sharing, discover the routes that make possible other coexistences and ways of life in dignity, justice, fraternity and humanity. Continue walking together and thus make paths in this house (church-society) that is our home.

Thank you all very much.

In this walk together, with successes and failures, we have all become more brothers and it has been the best contribution we have been able to make to the human community.

Once again, thank you very much and always united in this fraternity that is a true gift.



Sonia Martínez, Carmen Mazariegos and Miguelangel Arrasate.

Core Team

Guatemala, Panama December 2022

 

(In our "Documentation" section, "Reports" section, you can find the 2022 ACTIVITY REPORT")

Fin de noticia

Christmas message 2022

Mon 12-26-2022

Guatemala of the Assumption, December 24, 2022

Dear Fraternity:

The humanity of Jesus
the son of Mary and Joseph
invites us out of loneliness
and start the path of solidarity...

Jesus born among us,
teach us to walk with you
along the paths of peace.

Let's celebrate this event
Let's make a good and new year.


Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel.

Fin de noticia

Every day has its own job

Fri 12-16-2022

Guatemala de la Asunción, December 3, 2022

Dear fraternist brothers and sisters: Our best wishes in everything you do in your pastoral work in fraternity, with these letters we want to feel close to each one of you, on this date in which we commemorate our life and presence in this society.

Every day has its eagerness, its reason for being. In multiple ways we express it, we make it feel and we also thank those who express it to us.

Today, December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, created by the UN, has a special connotation for us, also for the entire human community to which we belong: "the purpose of this Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and promote respect for their inherent dignity”; "Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, when interacting with various barriers, may prevent their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others"

We are also aware of our daily reality: often our reality seems to only have value on that specific day, and yet, day by day, there is the common task of living and making rights and responsibilities a reality. May these rights of our human reality not be anchored in one day. They are light, torch, foundation, guide that make our life a real proposal for another way of living so that every human being lives life with meaning, humanity, dignity, developing all his capacities in human coexistence.

The experience of synodality that we are living in different ways is another way of making possible what we are sharing today at the ecclesial level. The synod reminds us and invites us to rediscover the importance of walking together. There is so much that we can discover in this walk. We need to get out of ignorance, prejudice, distorted views, inappropriate ways of speaking, assume different points of view, learn to accept life with new styles, become aware of the humanity and human dignity that is common to us. A whole path that makes us see that this human reality is a pending issue for everyone. None of this should discourage us. On the contrary, it is healthy and happy to discover that we are always doing it and that, along this path, we learn from each other.

Walking together with those at home is essential. However, our house is larger than the ecclesial community. The whole earth is our home. Everyone's house. The common house The entire humanity needs to be cared for, treated and felt as a family. We are all people, humanity. May this experience of synodality: walking with other people, walking together, sharing, learning from each other in living from our diverse realities, be a school of humanity with and in the society in which we live daily. We have all been invited to stand up and walk. Let us also invite others to follow this path. Let's walk with them to eliminate everything that prevents full citizenship, the obstacles of prejudice and favor the accessibility of places and quality of life that take into account

all dimensions of the human being. In this way we will say not only that we are alive and exist, but that we have the right to belong to a community. It is our worthy mission that humanizes us all. Every day must be lived with humanity so that all the human rights of all humans are a daily experience. Every day has its desire and every day its rights and responsibilities.

A hug for each woman and man that we are making this walk together, making this house that belongs to everyone more livable and habitable...

Sonia, Carmencita y Miguelángel
Core Team

Fin de noticia

The Church is your home
The contribution of people with disabilities to the Synod on Synodality

Fri 6-3-2022

An online listening session, lasting about two hours, was held yesterday afternoon on the theme "The Church is your home. The contribution of people with disabilities to the Synod on Synodality" promoted by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

The session, attended by representatives of bishops' conferences and international associations, aimed to "give voice" directly to people with disabilities, faithful who are often on the margins of our Churches. Although many of them have already been involved in the meetings promoted by parishes, dioceses and associations, the meeting was in fact the launch of a true international synodal process dedicated to them.

In a dynamic of dialogue, approximately 30 participants with sensory, physical or cognitive disabilities - connected from more than 20 countries around the world - were able to express themselves in their own languages (including three sign languages) in sight of the joint drafting of a document to answer the synod's fundamental question: How are we walking with Jesus and our brothers and sisters to proclaim Him?

For the future, what is the Spirit asking our Church to grow in our journey with Jesus and with our brothers and sisters to proclaim Him?

Four moving testimonies from Liberia, Ukraine, France and Mexico drew attention about the need to overcome discrimination, exclusion and paternalism. Very touching were the words of a French catechist with Down syndrome: 'At birth, I could have been aborted. I am happy to live,' she said, 'I love everyone and I thank God for creating me”. Consecrated, she received a double mandate from her bishop: prayer and evangelisation.

At the opening, Card. Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, shared his personal experience: 'I’m in debt to people with disabilities. One of them lead me to path priestly vocation. If the face of the disabled brother or sister is discarded, it is the Church that becomes disabled'.

The Secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, told the participants that in the synodal process the challenge is to "overcome every prejudice of those who believe that those who have difficulty expressing themselves doesn’t have a thought of their own, nor anything interesting to communicate".

In closing, Sr. Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, proposed that participants observe a moment of silence, to "hear," she said, "how the Holy Spirit has spoken to each one. There are treasures of humanity that have been shared and are offered to the Church”.

The participants were invited to elaborate in the coming months a common document based on their experiences and knowledge of the world of disability that they have gained first-hand and through their pastoral commitment. The document will then be delivered to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops to be considered in the continuation of the synodal path.

The meeting is part of a path started in December 2021 by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life with the video campaign #IamChurch, on the ecclesial protagonism of people with disabilities and desires to be a response to the appeal of the Pope in Fratelli Tutti (n.98) when he invites communities to "give voice" to those "hidden exiles" ...who feel they exist without belonging and without participating". “The goal," the Holy Father continues, "is not just assistance, but 'active participation in the civil and ecclesial community.
The process will be concluded in the coming months with a presential meeting in Rome.

****************

Photos of the meeting are available through this link: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzQCVg

Press contacts

Pamela Fabiano
Communication and Press Office
Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life
p.fabiano@laityfamilylife.va
mobile: +39.3394034163

Thierry Bonaventura
Communication Manager
General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops
media@synod.va
mobile; +39351 9348474

Fin de noticia

EASTER MESSAGE 2022

Thu 5-5-2022

Guatemala of the Assumption, April 22, 2022

Dear friends and fraternity brothers, one more year renewing, from our concrete realities, the commitment in favor of a human, dignified, fraternal life, for every human being.

From what we are, we want to celebrate and be EASTER (Pascae in Latin, Pèsaj in Hebrew) which means PASS, making the passage a reality:


“From resignation to action.
From indifference to solidarity.
From the complaint to the search for solutions.
From distrust to a sincere embrace.
From fear to the courage to bet everything on love.
To shamelessly pick up the pieces of broken dreams and start over.
From self-sufficiency to sharing failure and success.
To make peace with our past so that it doesn't ruin our present.
And to know that it is useless to be light if we cannot illuminate someone's path."

(Anonymous author)

Receive our fraternal embrace in the Risen Christ.

Happy Easter
Sonia, Carmencita, Miguelangel
-Core Team-

Fin de noticia

GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE IN MEMORY P. FRANCOIS

Fri 2-11-2022

Guatemala of the Assumption, February 03, 2022.

In memory of our brother Fr. François (May 8, 1897- February 3, 1986) and in grateful Easter
"Certainly, life in 1985 is not like forty years ago, there are new problems to solve: BUT, WHEN THE HEART GIVES IT THOROUGHLY, THE IMAGINATION KNOWS HOW TO FIND SOLUTIONS".

(Message addressed to the international team in 1985)

"This smells like the Gospel."

You cannot imagine to what extent this phrase marked me for life.

What the Bishop of Verdun told me then, I repeat now: The fraternity that you live "smells of the gospel"...

And why that scent? Well, because the Fraternity is an apostolate among the smallest, the poor, the marginalized of society...

If you encounter difficulties, if sometimes you feel tired… Courage! What you are living is the Gospel...

(International circular. December 1975).

In gratitude to the life of our founder, a big hug.

Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel
Core Team

Fin de noticia

Christmas message

Thu 12-23-2021

Guatemala, December 25, 2021

Life is a gift.
For life,
for everything that welcomes us at birth: Thank you.

In our doing of each day
the spirit of Jesus,
the son of Joseph and Mary,
inspire and mark our lives ...

As the,
make you feel that God, the friend of Life,
is with us,
among us,
In us…

Let's walk together
like him, trusting in the Father-Mother,
spreading that experience that invites us to get up,
stand up, assuming our limitations
and in mutual care
weave a human coexistence,
fraternal among human beings
and everything that has life on the earth we inhabit.

"Jesus is the gift"
That fits perfectly
To the size of every heart


Christmas 2021, welcoming this gift, our 2022 will be more humane, fraternal, fair and supportive, a big hug.

Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelangel
Core Team

Fin de noticia

EASTER MESSAGE OF RESURRECTION 2021

Fri 4-16-2021

Guatemala, April 4, 2021

Remembering our brother Fr. Françoise ...

They tell us about him, “That in Lourdes, in nearby Tarbes, he had to begin to fight to transmit a spirituality of resurrection, rather than resignation; that the sick was not simply "assisted", but responsible. "

May this spirituality be our standard of life and generate "the new normal" that we wish for every human being.

“There is no greater transformation in people's lives than the one that makes us give it up for our friends.

We give life not only when we die, but also day by day, serving and helping our brothers."
Let us spread life in abundance.

Happy easter

Sonia, Carmencita, Miguel Ángel
Core team

Fin de noticia

Mailshot number 1

Tue 2-16-2021

Mailshot number 1 of 2021 of the core team has already been published.

Download

Fin de noticia

On the day of friendship

Tue 2-16-2021

Guatemala, February 9, 2021

"Having a million friends" said Roberto Carlos a long time ago with a music that many of us learned and sang immediately. Now with technology there are many friendships. It seems that the world is plagued, flooded with friends. Everyday realities, many of them, not all, seem to indicate something else. But for some time now, the memory of the value and gift of friendship is there. Of course, friendship, if it is, is not just one day. The memory of it, in addition to economic interests, somehow is not saying: do not forget friendship, take care of it, live it, taste it ... that nothing and no one cancel friendship.

We do not choose family relationships. They are given to us. Friendship has other routes and paths. Friendship lives in freedom, it enjoys closeness and presence but is beyond them ... the friends, after years of not seeing each other, when they meet again, it seems in their conversation that it was yesterday when they saw each other. Friendship, itself, by itself, is the best gift. Friendship is woven in respect, with words and also with silences. Friendship rejoices when the friend is loved and valued. Friendship is present in our deepest loneliness. Friendship is a character who knows how to accompany us every day of our lives. Friendship has a lot of experience of God.

Friendship, in our fraternity, has a very great value. We form small groups so that in sharing we can develop it. We visit someone, free of interest, to feel the offer of a friend. We make encounters to mature in our lives in the heat of people who treat us as friends. We feel that our jobs work best in the heat of friendship. Friendship tenderly and firmly cares for fraternity. Friendship includes discouragement, daily ups and downs and is always there, without trials or convictions. Friendship sees reality but sees beyond it. Therefore, friendship is a true treasure.

Jesus called us friends, not servants because, in and with his life, he told us everything. May our fraternal sharing also be an expression of friendship.

Like the little prince, "let us take care of the rose" and learn to look at ourselves from the heart, because "it is not seen well, but with the heart ... The essential is invisible to the eyes ..."

With and in friendship, a hug.

Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel
Core Team

Fin de noticia

Message of commemoration of the anniversary of Padre Henry François

Wed 2-3-2021

Guatemala de la Asunción, 03 February 2021

Dear fraternity

Remembering with much affection and gratitude our dear founder Father Henry François, on the 35th anniversary of his death.

“A rough look, a rough look, but a heart of gold!”

“A great intuition to understand everyone, especially the little ones ... He had a wonderful ability to listen ... He accepted what others told him ... He could feel how he prayed ... He canceled himself to allow the other to give their best itself.”

(From Jaqueline Lateltin from Switzerland, former International Responsible. Book Father Henry François and the Fraternity p. 77)

A strong and brotherly hug.
Core Team.

Fin de noticia

Christmas message 2020

Tue 12-29-2020

Guatemala de la Asunción,
December 25, 2020.

Merry Christmas dear brothers and sisters:

I want to remember those "hidden exiles" who are treated as foreign bodies in society. Many people with disabilities "feel that they exist without belonging and without participating." There is still much "that prevents them from having full citizenship." The objective is not only to take care of them, but “that they participate actively in the civil and ecclesial community. It is a demanding and tiring path that will increasingly contribute to the formation of consciences capable of recognizing everyone as a unique and unrepeatable person. I also think of "the elderly, who, also due to their disability, sometimes feel like a burden." However, everyone can make "a unique contribution to the common good through their original biography." Let me insist: "Have the courage to give a voice to those who are discriminated against because of their disability, because unfortunately in some nations, even today, there is hesitation in recognizing them as people of equal dignity" (FT)

That the dialogues at the city and country level go along the lines not of making "one day" be Christmas ..., but rather that "every day" be Christmas ... economic adjustments at the service of the entire community, always thinking of the most in need, they are part of the task of weaving fraternity ...

Christmas ... The Word became flesh, that is, it became man, humanity, woman and man.

Christmas ... "The Word of God is flesh of love / life (John 1,14) not hierarchy of dogmas or ecclesial institutions." (XP)

Christmas… No gift can be compared to the magical feeling of a strong and sincere hug.

Christmas… Sow Love, Hope and Life in hearts.

A hug,

Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel
Core Team

Fin de noticia

MESSAGE IN COMEMORATION OF DECEMBER 03, 2020

Mon 12-14-2020

Guatemala, Asunción,
December 3, 2020

Dear fraternity,

How good it has been to have been able to connect with the heads of the different teams present in the places where we do our daily lives. Seeing our faces, hearing each other, laughing, sharing a bit of what we are doing… all of this tells us that we are alive, that we live our lives taking care of each other. It really is a great joy.

Society echoes our existence through the Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly -October 14, 1992- in its resolution 47/3, which approves December 3 as "International Day of Persons with Disabilities." The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, approved by the United Nations in 2006, it is also making paths in this reality that belongs to all of humanity. They are steps on this path of making a decent life possible for all. In many ways everything that is desired becomes a reality with that declaration. Since 1945, inspired by Father François, we have walked as fraternists, the fraternity being a school for its members and also for others. We can all get by with what we have to share and improve our lives. The road is long and life is every day.

All this year, almost all of it, has been and still is, a time that, in some way, educates our gaze to, in a more realistic way, see our life: the society of which we are part and that is lived in different ways. So diverse, humanity that is common to all, also our fragility and vulnerability, our strengths, concrete needs, injustices, solidarity, creativity… the reality of death and the experience of being resurrected in fraternal doing.

The "stay at home" that has not been able to be lived by everyone, since there are still many "homeless" in this "common house" where we all must live with dignity, has offered us the possibility of entering the most proper home: one himself and in it, to discover how we are. If, at times, in an assembly, we listened to each other calmly, we would be amazed and surprised by the reality of each one of the people present, their wealth, common things, abilities, fears and dreams ... a whole school of humanity with the right and responsibility to live it.

In that home of our own, let us once again welcome the words of our brother Jesus: “Get up, take your stretcher and go to the community…” words remembered by our brother Fr. François. Now, perhaps more than in other moments, they recover their first novelty, all their force of call to life, all their faith in the concrete person, in their dignity, in their freedom, in their

capacity, in that responsibility to build a new society ... but, it is necessary, to carry the crutches, the stretcher, the backpack, the personal history, and from there undertake and understand the task, not always easy, of weaving the fraternity ... that is the best community work. It is not going to the temple, it is going, in a new way, to the community that is the common home, the temple of all and there, fraternizing, making our citizenship a reality: life in equality, without any discrimination, creating a family, without prejudices or violence, make our work capacities a reality, our right to education, to health, to decent and adapted housing, to responsible work, to adequate and dignified transportation, to participation in the decisions of our society, to live our human rights and also our responsibilities as any citizen.. Our brother Francisco just reminded us of this in his letter "Fratelli tutti-Brothers all". The first word is Brothers ... to go to the community to make what we say by word come true: that we are brothers ... "God« has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called them to coexist as brothers among them »”. How beautiful it is that someone speaks to us like this and reminds us of that common task.

A hug to each one of you, women and men, who are building fraternity, making this house that belongs to everyone more livable and habitable...

Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel
Core Team

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Levántate y anda - august 2020 - 37th

Wed 10-14-2020

The 37th Frater bulletin of the American continent published in August 2020 is now available for download



Documentation section to download the newsletter

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LET US WRITE LETTERS!

Sat 8-15-2020

Dear friends and brothers, during this time of self-care for our lives and the lives of others due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have interrupted our own activities: meetings, assemblies, training, celebrations, even visits have been very restricted.

In some countries, confinement has been - or continues to be - very strict and mandatory; in others, there have been no restrictions on mobilization, but social distancing or quarantine has been imposed for protection. In all of us, this long time of “stay at home” (those of us who have it) is signifying a new experience in our lives.

We have commonly asked each country, area or continent for a report of their activities to publish in our newsletters and thus get to know us, know us, join us, and forge a movement to strengthen ourselves. But now, without at least face-to-face activities, what reports to give?

The opportunity we have to get to know each other better not in what we "do" but in what "we are and live in our homes" or in the "virtual" activity that has increased, motivates us to propose to WRITE US LETTERS FROM FRIENDS, FROM FRIENDS, to tell us:

How are we living that “stay at home”? (Those of us who have it because there are people who lack it).

How are we communicating to others - in this confinement - that good news that encourages us to live with dignity and humanity?

What are we learning about ourselves and our family in daily living without going out as before?

In what way do others help, take care of me?

In what way do I help, care or take care of others?

How do we face the severe economic crisis that has deepened with this pandemic?

Although we are at home, we hear news on the radio, television, WhatsApp, we read the press, we listen to the neighbors ... all this reality, in what way it is helping me to understand more the world, the society in which we live, in which I live, what am I a part of?

This time has also made us think, reflect ... what things should we change, personally and as humanity?

Has being FRATER, everything I have learned and traveled as a fraternist, helped me in this time? How?

Giving us letters, love, friendship, fraternity, and telling us about our lives at this time ... This will help us to raise awareness, to educate ourselves in sharing, to learn from each other, to feel close, to foster our spirit of fraternal life as Jesus wanted, François, as we all want.

That the nuclei write to the other nuclei of their country, through the National Team.

That the countries write to the other countries in their area, through the coordination of the area.

Let the areas write to the other areas of their continent, through the continental team.

Let the continents write to the other continents, through the intercontinental core team.

That the intercontinental core team streamlines exchanges and publications.

And we can publish everything in our newsletters, including photos of when and how we are writing...
Courage and heart to the pen, to the keys, with all the freedom, creativity and love...

A big brotherly hug,
Core team.

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The Fraternity a Gift, a gift from God 75 years of fraternity

Sun 7-12-2020

Now in these times of pandemic, to pass the 60 is to be a person in risky condition and to be in the 75 to be seen as someone who has already lived and now it is necessary to take care of the youngest who are the future ... Situations like this are being lived.

In these times of a pandemic, we get naked and manifest how we have lived and that is our past. In these times we can also design our future. But let us never forget that all this reality is the result of today's every day.

A path of life stories of many has passed. Get up and go and see the community, where we have been given that great gift that is the Fraternity, a new way of living, of finding freedom, love, a family, a home ... etc.

We have 75 years of being FRATER. This is ours today. And today, as it was 75 years ago and more - the times of Jesus - it is good to open your ears and eyes wide to feel and live the full force of: Get up and walk and see the community. Good word, new word, fruit of a new look, good look, of a new heart, good heart.

People, in many ways, for a long time, we have experienced "stay at home" because in this society leftovers: your skin color is not like that of others; your dress and education is not up to standard; your physique is not what the beauty contests say; you are a woman and the women do not go out, they are for the house; the place where you live is unpresentable; your disease is scary, it is contagious, it is a heavy burden on society; your beliefs are of ignorant people; your language is just a language; your orientation is not straight ...

All this is the result of the pandemic of coexistence and structured injustice in our societies. Many social closings before the coronavirus arrived. And also before it arrived, someone told us a different word to make us feel the good news of the right to live, to stand up, to come out of this death that, in a very different way, is present in the daily discriminations of our social coexistence … He told us: Get up, stand up and walk to the community ... (Jesus-François-men and women who visit and relate to their fellow men inviting to a life of freedom and dignity).

From our stories of confinement forced or self-imposed by disability, we can now understand the people in the confinements they ask of us and how hard they are made, especially those who do not have the basics to live in and those "Without a house like ours, however humble they may be" and who nevertheless live in "the common house" and, from their being there, they live lifestyles and survival forced by a society that has been tilting them from that common house that belongs to all and not the private property of some...

We can share and give away much of everything learned in our daily activities for 75 years. How many times have we demanded the right to live, to be treated as every human being has a right. Now we can understand those who - without realizing it - did not know how to understand us. It is not making our experience an absolute truth, nothing like that. Nor is it time to rejoice because now others go through what we have already experienced, nothing like that. It is a time of tenderness, solidarity, care, humanity, a time of wisdom that invites us to feel the flavor of life and the beauty of our fraternal journey. It is time to give us that word: ¡Get up!, that invites us to stand up and, little by little, walk to the community, no to past history, to the normality of before (where many ways of living did not generate life for everyone) and build a coexistence where living and dying are in dignity, making the equality of every human being a daily reality, the dignity of all living, their worth as a person; the right to a dignified plot to live with dignity, also the right to a food that nourishes, to be able to study and train as a worthy citizen, the care that we all must give ourselves through respect, ethics, health, economy, politics, beliefs ... It is time to realize that life and death must be lived with dignity. It's time to make that "Our capabilities exceed our limitations"; our commitment to justice is greater than the injustices experienced, assumed, encouraged or silenced...

We want, in these 75 years, to tell each other, among ourselves, that due to our old age we are not useless, disposable, hindrances, but people with life, learning day by day to live and wanting to live with others, from what we are each one , to experience that life has meaning, that it is a gift and responsibility, that it is beautiful to live, that all life has its struggle and effort, that we need to care and be cared for, that nothing and no one is useless, that love is the best of all human beings, their own identity and that this love is beyond any physical death ... That, like Jesus, each fraternist can pronounce and be a word that invites us to come out of everything that oppresses and paralyzes us in humanity, to be free people, to live freedom responsibly, with dignity. We renew that new and good flavor of the get up, stand up and walk to the community, that one day we hear and today we can feel in the depths of our being and thus look at the other, at the other, as similar to me, flesh of my flesh, human, sister, gift, friendly word ... someone to take care of and someone for whom I can feel cared for.

Thank you, François ... thank you, Jesus.

Sonia, Carmencita and Miguelángel
Core Team
July 2020

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Easter message April 2020

Thu 4-16-2020

"Get up and walk ... walk"
Be human,
Be free,
Be brother...

It infects humanity,
Freedom,
Fraternity...
Let us be Resurrection...


Happy Easter brothers!

Core Team

Fin de noticia

Take care-stay home

Tue 3-31-2020

Everywhere these or similar advice ... these wishes ... this order ... for you, for yours, for everyone...

People with disabilities know a lot about this reality in their own flesh ... a reality that has to do, in many cases, with our family, personal, social reality ... and in this reality we have also heard the human, dignified, free word that invites us to get up, stand up and make our way...

We can, through our experience, understand those who find it difficult to stay at home ... because of our being at home; we can also share with others what has been discovered: our abilities overcome our difficulties... We can make a common table sharing experiences at home, discovering together, the difficulties that prevent us from walking, being ourselves, living in dignity, living happily and humanely this small and at the same time big house that is everyone's house ... and together too, discover all the capacities to make a new society ... not only what others have to do, but what is within our reach to do ... From this global situation, look at our reality and be good news.

We all know from birth that our life goes through death. This almost global pandemic reminds us, confronts and confronts us, and also opens a light for us to make, as real as death, other more humane, fraternal, caring and dignified lifestyles.

Being together, at home, we can accompany each other more, take better care of ourselves, learn and unlearn things learned ... It is quite a challenge, a school. We visit to change our lives ... now we stay at home - a time of prudence and care - to together make a new life, without so much structure, but with a lot of spirit, with the spirit of Jesus ... and surely life will have more Kingdom flavor.

Stay at home, the small house (country) and in the different places where we are (common house) take care of ourselves, but always standing, in freedom, with responsibility, helping each other, learning the wise art of taking care of ourselves and letting ourselves be cared for so as not to leave out the homeless and without food. Stay home without closing the doors to solidarity. We are all humanity.

Let us continue praying to God for each other, so that he gives us the Grace to feel close and accompanied in these moments that we all live.


"Remember that Jesus tenderly looks at wounded humanity" Pope Francis
A big hug, Core Team

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Message for the year 2020

Thu 1-2-2020

Dear brothers and sisters:

The new year is a plethoric new day of life that we must always thank.

Let's not say so much: new year, happy new year… let's do it NEW let's do it HAPPY That every day is a NEW - GOOD NEWS - that is SUFFICIENT.

A HOPE to meet new challenges ...

An OPPORTUNITY to offer and THANK for the life of the sister and brother with whom we interact, visit, work or live in the daily life.

May we experience it as NEW in the RISE UP each day, in the PUTTING UP, and SEE TOWARDS THE HORIZON every morning.

In assuming our CAMILLAS-HISTORIES, in going freely to the HOUSE, to the COMMUNITY, to WORK ...

May we make it GOOD, like the sun that shines every day in our lives.

In inviting others to FOOT and be light in the darkness of others and thus walk together, without excluding anyone, to the COMMUNITY; to make a new coexistence.

Where we all live our rights with dignity, the right to live as we are: HUMAN PEOPLE.

 

Let us make a new and good year in fraternity, for every human person who approaches us and can spread the Rise and Go in 2020.

Fin de noticia

Christmas message

Sun 12-22-2019

Dear brothers and sisters, on Christmas we visit each other in many ways: with congratulations, letters, WhatsApp, emails, gifts, shared meals ...

Let us visit then and that our visits

• Generate joy like the one Juan had in Isabel's womb, when he was visited by Mary ...

• Be good news as was the presence and life of Jesus for the shepherds of Bethlehem ...

• Be a gift for those who do not find the light on the road…

• Be a smile for those who have not spoken for a long time ...

• Change our lives as the fraternists nica’s said in celebration of their 15th anniversary…

• Realize what Father François dreamed and encouraged from France, being light for all ...

Christmas is the humanization of God ...
and in the person of Jesus he always tells us:
Get up and walk ... go to the community.

Merry Christmas to all fraternities.
Let us be surprised by Him this Christmas ...
Core team

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Let's include people with disabilities in the life of society ... Pope Francisco

Sun 12-22-2019

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS

“The quality of life in a society is measured, in large part, by the ability to include those who are weaker and needy, by respecting their dignity as men and women. And maturity is reached when such inclusion is not perceived as something extraordinary, but as something normal.” Pope Francisco.

On the Commemoration of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will be held on December 3, 2019, we remember that even the word Disability is a word very unknown to society…. Where many of our rights as people before society are still invisible and run over.

What is disability in society? Disability is not only a problem of the person who suffers it, or of their family, or their environment, but it is an irrelevant and exclusive problem of the whole society; It is a social problem, therefore the whole community, the different social groups as a whole, must learn to live with us, to try to support us to be resilient so that we can become self-sufficient, since we want to be recognized with a social value, be accepted and supported by our environment.

Society must choose, between accepting us as a "public charge", or structuring so that the opportunities for studies, training, and work are real so that we can be useful citizens to society. Social inclusion is the main objective of International Day of Persons with Disabilities In the world there are more than one billion people who suffer from some type of disability and it is everyone's responsibility to respect and ensure that their rights are respected in all areas of their lives, that we are equal to all individuals of the planet.

There are several doubts about how the best way to treat, talk and communicate with a person with disabilities should be, but the reality is that a different treatment is not needed; He must be seen as a human being with his needs, with his fears, with his virtues and qualities, but that if he has a difference and is the constant struggle to want to be visible before a system that has denied him a quality of life. Where you want to find freedom to mobilize, where you want to find a health service and find an inclusive education. We could say that he seeks to be visible, but not to give pity, but to be respected because he has had the ability to move forward even with all the barriers he has encountered and that does not offer him anything favorable but that has managed to overcome each of them and that is to admire.

Recall that this December 3 marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It is not a celebration, it is a day to make Admiration, Courage and Respect visible. “It's about promoting the dignity and respect of each individual by making the ‘defeated by life’ feel the tenderness of God.”


Fraternally, Core Team

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Greetings from the central team to all continents

Wed 10-23-2019

Dear brothers, friends:

"Love is to look at the other, not to use him, but to serve him." John Paul II.

We begin by trusting that God will animate our Mission. Thank you very much brothers and fraternal friends for your trust, for your beautiful and encouraging words received, the love and support we find in them.

We have been transported to each place and each person when we were reading the emails and comments sent. We appreciate the opportunity for the call to continue serving. We express the desire for a fluid, constant and reciprocal communication on all continents, where information often does not arrive and the fraternity life of all of us is not reflected.

We are the product of the first extraordinary Committee via internet ... aware that we are not just Sonia, Miguel Angel and Carmencita, we are all responsible for the walk of our beloved Movement.

We want that, within what Frater teaches us, we must not forget the following:

1. Do not stop making visits and that these are always gospel, good news, especially for those who still wait for a helping hand, brother, to get up and walk.
2. Let's use social networks so that our communication is always alive, they know us and Frater is a sign of the Kingdom of God in our cities, provinces, municipalities, etc.
3. We urge you to continue with the activities you carry out, with the fraternal love that characterizes us, and continue to illuminate the walk of others.
4. Let's include ourselves and don't exclude ourselves,
5. Add and not subtract.
6. Let's not stop training on current issues of our social reality.
7. We encourage you to continue on Frater's walk, not forgetting that we have each other united in prayer.

True love is a donation to the other, according to the love that God has for us. Love that is gift, universal, forgiveness, service, preference for the poorest. (Messages from Father Henry François. International Circular, January 1985)

Fraternally
Sonia, Carmencita, Miguel Ángel.

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Voting for the election of the Core Team of the Intercontinental Christian Fraternity of Persons with Disabilities. Result

Wed 10-16-2019

The Voting Commission, formed by Francisco Nuncio (for the American continent), Jean de Dieu Mopembe (for the African continent) and Marisol García (for the European continent) communicate:

Keep reading

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Joyeuses Pâques

Tue 4-16-2019

Looking at our common house
we see so many things that hurt us
precisely because it is our house
and
all - women and men -
we are that house...

Keep reading

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33th anniversary of the farewell of our founder Father François

Wed 2-6-2019

Guatemala of the Assumption, February 06, 2019

Dear friends, receive our warmest greetings.

We thank and remember with fondness the life of our beloved founder Father François, on the 33rd anniversary of his farewell.

"I will be happy to leave this world with the certainty of leaving behind me a Fraternity, a movement of evangelization."

Father François

What a good idea to found the Father François fraternity; Father François ...

Hugs very affectionate
Core team

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15 years of struggles and... of loves...

Mon 12-17-2018

... "From November 19 to December 1, I was able to share with the Fraternity of Nicaragua - in Masaya - the fifteen years of struggles and love ...
In a very specific environment of the country, lived from different perspectives, we celebrate the history of a common path that was made in the day to day "...

By Miguel Ángel-Core Team


Complete article in the documentation section or in the "More information" link

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The new letter to the countries has been published

Tue 12-11-2018

Dear brothers and sisters of all the countries of the Intercontinental Frater. We greet you fraternally, feeling still in our hearts the presence of everyone in the VII Intercontinental Committee that took place in the city of Segovia, Spain from August 17 to 22 of this year... (Continue reading in "More information ")

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VII Intercontinental Committee Segovia 2018

Thu 8-16-2018

We held the Intercontinental Committee in Segovia from August 16 to 23, 2018

In the link you can download the committee's program

Fin de noticia

World Encounter of Indigenous Youth - Panama 2019

Wed 7-18-2018

With great joy we opened the registration of groups, as a first step in the registration process for the World Meeting of Indigenous Youth, pre-session of the World Youth Day Panama
2019

In the EMJI we will gather hundreds of young people from the various original peoples of the world to reflect and celebrate our faith in Christ from the thousand-year-old richness of our cultures. It will be an opportunity to respond to the invitation of Pope Francis to youth to be grateful for the history of our peoples and courageous in the face of the challenges that surround us to move forward full of hope in the construction of another possible world.

Fin de noticia

Christmas card 2017

Mon 12-18-2017

Christmas card

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International Day of Persons with Disabilities 17-12-3

Tue 12-5-2017

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 17-12-3

Fin de noticia

When we visit us we resuscitate (Spanish, French, English, German and Portuguese)

Thu 4-20-2017

Letter of congratulation and reflection on Easter 2017
New document in the downloads section.

Fin de noticia

You can now download the Letter to Nations No. 22

Wed 2-8-2017

We have published the new Letter to Nations nº 22 of 2017. You can download it in the "Documentation" section.

Fin de noticia

We greet with affection

Mon 9-19-2016

Brothers and sisters

We are today in the city of Segovia. This year with the joy of being one of us in this brother’s meeting, we have our sister Marie Wang, the presence of the brothers and sisters from Asians countries.

We will share in these days, the life which is forging with hopes, questions, difficulties, always with the strong encouragement that comes from the friendly and faithful word, that invite us to wake up and walk.

We will pray from our lives and from the sharing action, which is dialogue, listen, dedication and reception, we will all be enriched by humanity.

We will laugh and sing. The joy is with us and we transmit it. It is also a resurrection experience.
Please pray for us.

A big hug for each of you from this city where brothers and sisters shelter an treat us very well.

Intercontinental Team.

Fin de noticia

VI COMITÉ INTERCONTINENTAL

Tue 8-16-2016

We are grateful and remember the basic equipment of the Fraternity of each country. It is difficult to make a global meeting, doubts, finding financial resources, the number of participants, etc., are not clear until the last moment. Still, the Fraternity (and its members) has demonstrated once again the importance of good progress for personal contact, we feel beside the other, walking together to strengthen our commitment and further revitalize your spirit. All this fed the meeting with the contact face to face. For this they have been required all financial contributions that have generously fraternal conducted; the time spent on the preparations by the committee, the effort to be present ... become fruits of enormous satisfaction. We are called to sow (as P.François says, «without waiting to know the outcome»), yet we are lucky and touches us collect (gather the fruit) as close, fraternal encounter, like Jesus. That's why we are already preparing for the next Committee, possibly to be held in 2018.

Fin de noticia

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