During the 2013 General Chapter, the outgoing Leadership Team recommended relocating the General House from Brooklyn, New York to Rome, Italy. The number of Sisters in the US area, once the most populous geographic area in the Congregation, was dwindling, while the other areas of the Congregation were growing. In addition, because of the limited number of Sisters in the Brooklyn area, opportunities for contact and relationships were limited for the Sisters serving in leadership.
The Chapter Body approved offering this recommendation to the next Leadership Team.
The decision to leave Brooklyn after 45 years was emotional, yet also an opportunity to live the Direction and Calls of the General Chapter, especially to set free the healing energy of Christ in light of our current reality, while embracing the future as Mother Frances and our Sisters who came before us did.
As part of the relocation, the newly elected Leadership Team decided to consolidate the Remsen Street office in Brooklyn with the Foundation office in Manhattan.
The house on Middagh Street was given back to the local Parish. Bishops of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, and Rome were notified of the relocation. The Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, owners of the Remsen Street office, were also notified.
They planned to use the space for St. Francis College and were happy to accept any furniture and equipment that would not be moved to Rome. A new, larger office space for both the Foundation and Congregational Finance department was leased in the same Manhattan building that the old Foundation office.
The newly elected Congregational Minister, Sr. Licia Mazzia, the first and second Councilors, Sr. Marvi Delrivo and Sr. Giannica Selmo, together with the staff, spent months organizing the needed transfer from Brooklyn to Rome. The administrative files were sent to the new Congregational House in Rome or the Manhattan office, while older records were sent to the Congregational Historical Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Meanwhile, plans were made to open the new Congregational House in Rome.
The previous Leadership Team had evaluated many offices and community properties in there. The best option was to rent a house offered by the Sisters of Mary Immaculate (Claretians), an international congregation from Santiago, Cuba. The lease on the house, at Via Calandrelli 16, was signed in April 2014. The house has one floor for offices and the administrative needs of the Congregation and another floor for the Portiuncula Community and hospitality.
On September 7, 2014, the Leadership Team held a ritual to commemorate the years spent at the General House in Brooklyn. The two-part ceremony included time to remember Congregational milestones and past Sisters and employees who served at this location, followed by a blessing of the building and a reception. Later, a tree was planted at St. Clare Convent in Cincinnati, along with the installation of a plaque, commemorating the years spent in Brooklyn.
The entire Congregation was invited to participate in the ritual as well. Communities, along with Associates, gathered as a family for a prayer ritual. Sr. Licia Mazzia, in her invitation letter, wrote:
Wherever we may be, we are invited to welcome “the relocation,” which the Congregation is living not only as a “physical relocation” but more than anything as an invitation from the Holy Spirit to continue our journey of faith, letting go of our certainties and opening ourselves to the future. We do this just as Mother Frances and the Sisters who have gone before us along the path to holiness did.
The ritual began with prayers thanking God for guidance during the relocation journey and at other times in each of our lives. During the “suitcase reflection,” each community gathered symbols of travel and transition, such as luggage, candles, flags and globes, and fabric arranged as a road. This part of the ritual was an opportunity to reflect on the graces needed by each person to embrace the relocation. People shared hopes for the future of the Congregation and the world at large. Lastly they shared blessings for the relocation and the future path of the Congregation.
It was a time of reflection, awareness, and unity; a reminder of personal and spiritual renewal; and a remembrance of those who have previously walked the path of change during the history of the Congregation.
As the Sisters in Goiânia wrote, the ritual, “in a symbolic way, [will] bring us into communion with all the Sisters and Associates of the Congregation as together we prepare for the transfer of the General House from Brooklyn NY to Rome.”
The Congregational House was officially moved from Brooklyn to Rome on November 4, 2014.
The opening prayer for the new Congregational Offices occurred on November 29, 2014, the Feast of All Franciscan Saints. Each room was blessed with prayers and remembrances of Mother Frances. A larger inaugural celebration occurred on May 16, 2015. It was a thanksgiving of God’s Providence during the 170 years of the Congregation.
Many Sisters, Associates, staff members, religious from other congregations, family, and friends joined the celebration.
Still more joined via Skype. It was a time to honor the strength and example of Mother Frances and past Sisters who responded to both the signs of the times and the realities of the Congregation as they lovingly served the poor as well as to celebrate the future of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor.
