St. Francis is known as a peacemaker, and for the Peace Prayer, which, although not written by St. Francis, reveals his thoughts about peacemaking. However, I still have questions about how St. Francis actually demonstrated this in real life. ...
The commission has spoken many times about the importance of creating youth-friendly fraternities. Why is this essential and what does this really mean? The simple answer to the first question is, it’s essential because if a young person is interested in joining a YouFra (Franciscan Youth Fraternity), at this point they have nowhere to go with that desire, except to us—the Secular Franciscans. There are only a few official YouFra groups in the United States. ...
The priorities for the National Fraternity for the next three years are Vocations, Relationships, and Communications. All are incredibly important to who we are as Franciscans. At a brainstorming session at our recent in-person National Executive Council meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, I shared my thoughts on the three priorities: “We must build relationships with better communications in order to bring in vocations.”...
...the National Fraternity has appointed a task force to help our celebrations to be as widespread and universal as possible. ... 2023 is going to be a busy year for us, with TWO centenaries to help celebrate, as well as planning our work. The NEC has asked us to plan a face-to-face event at Chapter and a Zoom event open nationwide each year and to create a common calendar of centenary events from across the country. We are also creating/collecting resources and ideas for centenary celebrations and posting them on our section of the website: https://www.secularfranciscansusa.org/franciscan-centenary-celebration/ ...
It is further testament to the authenticity and originality of St. Francis that even though we encounter the Canticle often and in different ways, his song retains its power to inspire us. Even so, we should not take the Canticle for granted. Using our imaginations, we can bring fresh insights to the poem. We can find ways to keep his voice resonating anew for us. Consider a few thoughts along these lines: ...
The National Ecumenical Committee has changed faces and set different goals during the many years of its existence. Our focus has been on the outreach and involvement of those on our Joint Committee (TSSF Third Order Society of St. Francis, OEF Order of Ecumenical Franciscans and OLF Order of Lutheran Franciscans). ...
This year, 2023, the Franciscan Family will commemorate the 800th anniversary of the confirmation of the Later Rule. Also known as the Approved Rule, or the Rule of 1223, the papal approval of the Rule marks the culmination of a long and difficult journey for St. Francis. His journey can be an example to those of us who have professed a different rule, the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. ...
... I have spent the better part of the past two months trying to think of how to write about the polarization we all encounter in our nation and in the Church. ...
As Catholics and Secular Franciscans, we are called to shape society and our Order's future. We are called to be good communicators and users of the means of communication available to us. When we hear the word “communication,” the first thing that probably comes to mind is media, that is, forms of communication with an “s.” ... All the communications (media) in the world go to waste if we do not communicate who we are to others and seek to understand who they are.
The National Database for the Secular Franciscan Order of the USA is expected to roll out in May 2023. At the recent National Chapter in October, members of the OFS-USA Database Committee provided a demo of the new database and projected the database would be introduced in the spring. ...