The General Secretariat

Every day many brothers from all over the Capuchin world try to contact the General Minister, the Councilors or the various offices of our General Curia. They send in requests and reports on their activities or else simply wish to share some of the joys and sorrows of their everyday lives. The job of the General Secretariat is to facilitate these contacts and make them more and more effective. It is made up of several brothers who work together to assist the General Minister and his Council in carrying out their duties.

Secretariat Staff

Currently, the General Secretariat is headed by Fr. Clayton Fernandes (Province of Goa, India), Secretary General, assisted by Bro. Damian Philip Pereira (Province of Tamil Nadu South, India) and by Bro. Onofrio Farinola (Province of Bari), General Vice-Secretaries, and Br. Patrick McSherry (Province of Calvary, USA), who is responsible for the current archives and registry.

The presence and work of six language secretaries is also an essential component:

for French:                 Br. Antoine Haddad (General Custody of the Near-East, Lebanon)
for English:                Br. John Russo (Province of New Jersey, USA)
for Italian:                  Br. Umberto Losacco (Province of Genoa, Italy)
for Polish:                  Br. Marek Przeczewski (Province of Warsaw, Poland)
for Spanish:               Br. Martin Torres (Province of Peru)
for Portuguese:         Br. Ricardo Farias (Custody of the Amazon and Roraima, Brazil)

The language secretaries assist in the government of the Order by facilitating communications in the respective languages, preparing letters and documents, preparing translations of various kinds, and providing immediate correspondence by use of modern means. Another important part of their service is to welcome visitors to the Curia from those parts of the world where their language is spoken.