National Minister Jane DeRose-Bamman

National Minister Jane DeRose-Bamman

National Minister Jane DeRose-Bamman’s 2026 State of the Order message, presented Oct. 14 at the OFS-USA Chapter at the Spiritual Life Center, centered on strengthening local fraternities and supporting members in living their Franciscan vocation.

Speaking on behalf of the National Executive Council (NEC), Jane reviewed membership trends, national initiatives, and the everyday service of Secular Franciscans across the United States. Her presentation connected those efforts to the Order’s 2025–2028 priority, “Living the Gospel,” which emphasizes building relationships, ongoing formation, attracting vocations and working to rebuild the Church.

“Rekindling the flame of our local fraternities requires joint efforts,” Jane said. Regional executive councils must spend time getting to know their fraternities, with support from national leadership, spiritual assistants, commissions and committees.

Membership figures reflected both continuing challenges and signs of stability. Total professed membership, including active and excused members, declined approximately 5 percent, from 9,277 in 2024 to 8,826 in 2025. During 2025, the Order recorded 341 professions and 797 departures through deaths, withdrawals, lapses, and suspensions.

By Sept. 9, 2026, professed membership stood at 8,829, nearly unchanged from the 2025 total. Another 706 candidates, 265 inquirers and 92 orientees were in formation. The presentation described the attrition rate as stabilizing and pointed to approximately 1,000 people in formation as a source of encouragement.

The number of local spiritual assistants also increased 3 percent in 2025 over 2024, reaching 315.

Yet membership statistics provide only part of the picture.

“We are more than numbers,” Jane said. She emphasized that figures reveal trends but cannot, by themselves, identify the underlying problems affecting fraternity life.

Regional annual reports offered a fuller view of the vocation in action. The presentation grouped their activities into five areas: charity, justice, fraternity, prayer and formation, and humble presence.

Members provided food and shelter, corresponded with incarcerated people, cared for homebound members and accompanied immigrants and refugees. Their service included supporting pregnant women, helping with immigration-related legal expenses, and contributing to water projects and a leprosy center in Zimbabwe.

Justice efforts included advocating for farmworkers, working against racism, caring for creation, and supporting human dignity. Within fraternities, members practiced hospitality and mutual care through visits, shared celebrations and relationships across differences in age, race, ethnicity and political viewpoint.

Prayer and formation sustained that work through retreats, days of recollection, the Liturgy of the Hours and celebrations with the wider Franciscan family. Nationally distributed “Formation Friday” materials supported continued learning, while study of the Order’s governing documents connected members’ responsibilities with spiritual growth.

The presentation also recognized the value of quiet, consistent service as members accompany an individual migrant, join a weekly rosary, participate in a small book study, or visit a cemetery to pray for deceased members. Such efforts illustrated what the report described as living the vocation “out loud.”

National initiatives sought to support that witness and help others discover the Secular Franciscan way of life. The Order formed a new Vocations and Communications Commission in 2026 and contracted with a consulting firm for recommendations to improve its marketing efforts.

The website’s 2026 activity report showed approximately 194,000 page views and 53,000 visitors. Facebook recorded 597,900 views, a 5 percent increase over the previous year. Other avenues of outreach included TAU-USA, the Gospel to Life Bookstore and 1-800-Francis, which averaged 12 communications per month between April 2024 and August 2026.

Personal contact remained essential to service by the NEC. During the previous year, national representatives conducted 10 visitations and seven elections, reaching 16 regions and meeting more than 600 members. Updated documents, sample templates, and a new regional self-evaluation form supported those visits.

Looking ahead, Jane outlined a five-year plan with concrete actions to help local fraternities. Other priorities include vocational materials, youth and young adult outreach, revising the National Statutes, updating guidelines, and managing a bequest. Planning also includes the 2028 celebrations of the Rule’s 50th anniversary and the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ canonization, as well as the 2031 Quinquennial Congress.

The presentation brought those national goals back to daily choices. Examples of Gospel living included forgiving a family member, serving at a food pantry, bringing the Eucharist to an elderly member, studying Scripture, and keeping faith alive within families and fraternities.

Jane’s report closed with words from Minister General Tibor Kauser, OFS, from Oct. 4, 2026: “We are responsible to share it and make our fraternities a better place to live our vocation.”