The OFM provincial ministers of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Name, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sacred Heart, Saint Barbara and Saint John the Baptist provinces gathered with their provincial councils at Mount Alvernia Retreat Center in Wappingers Falls, NY, from August 21-25, 2017 to further the discernment of renewal and revitalization of the life and ministry of their friars. On August 23, 2017, they voted unanimously to place before their provinces for a vote at extraordinary chapters in May 2018 a resolution that the General Minister and Definitorium of the Order of Friars Minor approve a formal process to reconfigure their six existing provinces into one new province.