Carolyn Townes, OFS

Carolyn Townes, OFS, is the 2025 recipient of the Secular Franciscan Order’s Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation award.

Carolyn has served in several leadership roles on the local, regional, national and international levels of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS). She has served as Animator for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) for the Order for over a decade. Carolyn is currently serving on the Ecumenical and Interfaith Committee of the OFS; also educating on topics of mindful communications and racial justice with emphasis on unconscious bias, empathic listening, and conflict management.

Carolyn has also served on the board of the Franciscan Action Network. She is currently on the boards of Franciscans International, Pax Christi International Fund for Peace, and the Franciscan Federation. She also works collaboratively with the Franciscan Action Network and the Catholic Mobilizing Network, and is a member of the Joint Committee on Franciscan Unity.

Carolyn is a spiritual life and leadership coach and a loss to life mindset strategist, where she uses faith-based principles to provide spiritual and emotional wellness to those moving from the pain of grief and loss to a new life of purpose and peace.  Her passion and mission is to help them go from a place of tragedy and trauma to a place of peace and joy. She is also a speaker, writer, facilitator, circle keeper, singer, and storyteller.

“I grew up in Harlem, the product of two Baptist preachers. I joined the Catholic Church in 1997. I believe the Lord brought me here to bring a new and different kind of light and story to the table. Being in leadership positions in the US Secular Franciscan Order, I am usually the only one who looks like me at that table. I bring the voice of the poor and marginalized, the forgotten and forsaken, the overlooked and the underserved. At different points in my life, I have been all of the above. I come to the table to represent those who never thought it was possible to have a seat, let alone a voice, at the table,” Carolyn said.

She will receive the award at this year’s annual Chapter, Sept. 9-13 at the Bon Secours Retreat Center in Marriottsville, MD.