In 1221, Saint Francis of Assisi wrote his first rule, the first with a missionary dimension, and the first to refer to how the brothers sent among believers of other faiths should behave. After the first assessment of sending brothers on itinerant missions, in chapter 16 of this first form of life, Francis proposed two spiritual ways for the brothers to behave: the first, that the brothers “do not engage in disputes or controversies,” and the second, that they “submit to every human creature for God’s sake, simply confessing that they are Christians.” Over the centuries, many brothers gave their lives as missionaries in the midst of Islam, making their lives one of service and dialogue. At this moment, we brothers in Morocco feel like heirs of a long Franciscan tradition, sent by the Order to live our vocation in Morocco as brothers and minors, called to live among them, to incarnate ourselves where we live, and to live our faith as people of prayer among other people of prayer.
The Franciscan Custody in Morocco combines pastoral care for the small pilgrim Christian community in Morocco with intense social and cultural work. The socio-cultural centers of the Custody in different fraternities and the brothers’ work in service to the poor, migrants, and vulnerable people make the Franciscan charism of recognizing in every person, in every creature, a brother or sister to love present The experience of interreligious dialogue with Muslims involves friendship and encounter, as well as the dialogue of charity.
Our Franciscan presence in Marrakech is rooted in the first testimony of the protomartyrs of the order, who opened a path of presence that increasingly focused on recognizing the other, their values, and the challenge of working together for the construction of the Kingdom of God.
The Franciscan fraternity in Marrakech attends to a very diverse and international parish pastoral structure and supports three social projects through the parish Caritas: attention to the most vulnerable, service to sub-Saharan migrants, and a project to assist victims of the September 8, 2023 earthquake.
The experience of this social service, in collaboration with Moroccan and Muslim friends and volunteers, makes us recognize common values and engage together in building a more just world for all. We stand alongside the earthquake victims, with two daily teams from our parish community going up the mountain to heal the sick, help with material and social reconstruction, work on family rehousing, and collaborate with civil society in human and social development programs. The experience of friendship being created with the people of these small communities is opening doors to a new presence of seeing the church as a service presence and in a dialogue of faith with all the people we meet. It is truly significant how, at each moment of inauguration of one of the Caritas projects, the friar and the imam meet, embrace, pray together, and participate in the inauguration of the new spaces in service to the most disadvantaged, people who, if they were already poor, after the earthquake, were left with absolutely nothing. To participate, in a Franciscan way, in building an open, plural, and supportive society, we want to develop the culture of dialogue as the way forward; collaboration as conduct; and mutual knowledge as method and criterion This is the path we are called to follow to pave the way for a spirit of fruitful and respectful collaboration, “communicating to all creatures that there is no Omnipotent but God.”
