From the frozen forests of Alaska to the tropical island of Jamaica, and hundreds of missions in-between, 700 Franciscan Friars of the Order Minor serve the people of God.
Before last year, they did so divided among six groups in the United States, known as provinces. They produced a great legacy, from the California historic missions, to the urban immigrant ministries of Chicago and New York, to rural parishes and retreat centers in the Midwest, as well as foreign outreach in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
The fruit of that legacy continues. In this newsletter, you can read about campus ministry at St. Bonaventure University, the Franciscan-founded school in western New York State, as well as an urban ministry in Hartford, Connecticut, that has done remarkable outreach for immigrants, the homeless and the HIV/AIDS community for more than 30 years, revitalizing a struggling urban parish at the same time.
Other missions continue. In Alaska, a small band of Franciscans minister to indigenous communities. In Jamaica, a Franciscan parish reaches out to the poor of that island nation via a soup kitchen and an education ministry. The Franciscan presence is felt in direct outreach in this country as well, in soup kitchens in New York City as well as Philadelphia. In California, the Santa Barbara mission continues the centuries-old historic presence of the friars. Those ministries are just a snapshot of the vast Franciscan presence across the country, now unified into a single province.
This Christmas, the Order of Friars Minor will celebrate more than a year together as the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This Christmas will be the second marked by that formal unity, with the Franciscan community thankful for what has been accomplished in the past while hopeful for what the future will bring. The name of the unified province embraces how devotion to Mary has provided a unified focus for Catholics throughout the Americas.
“All good things come from the Lord,” said Provincial Minister Br. Lawrence Hayes, OFM. “In the words of Dag Hammarskjold, ‘For all that has been, thank you. For all that is to come, yes!’”
From its province headquarters in Atlanta, the friars continue to focus on promoting love for creation, assistance to the poor and advocacy for peace and justice. The province has generated some consequential positive outcomes in the past year.
The friars celebrated four men professing solemn vows. They also welcomed four men as postulants.
One insight the province nurtures is the reality that the friars cannot do its work alone. They continue to rely on donors, their sister communities, and Secular Franciscans to assist their efforts. Pope Francis has promoted the concept of synodality, culminating in a series of meetings of representatives from around the world that met this year at the Vatican. The pope has encouraged all the church to tap into the resources of priests, religious and laypeople.
The Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe has heeded that call. This year the friars launched a Franciscan Provincial Synod, bringing together groups such as the Poor Clares, Franciscan sisters, Secular Franciscans and other partners in ministry.
These ongoing conversations will explore how the friars can best live community while embracing their mission to the poor as Our Lady of Guadalupe Province continues to build its renewed Franciscan legacy.
