Under that rule, terms were taken directly from religious life to describe novices and postulants, novice master and novice mistress, also T.O. Provinces, with Ministers Provincial. Practices followed language. They called one another Brother and Sister in secular life. Under this Rule, the terms from religious life are translated into terms appropriate for secular people. The SFO has regional fraternities directed by regional Ministers and their councils.
Practices follow language.
The members retain their baptismal names and address one another as they would address other lay people. A husband and wife can belong to the same fraternity and it would be normal for them to sit next to each other at meetings. As ideals, they are not dropped in the new Rule, but they are renewed. The unity of the Secular Franciscan Order and its restructuring into Re- gional and National Fraternities is well on the way to achievement. It is difficult for some to grasp the nature of the secular vocation, and there are those who want to imitate the externals of religious life.