I don’t know about 5,000. I do know that Franciscan men, as a family, are rare birds. If you put all of us together, we’re the largest religious family in the Church. Of course, we’re one of the three mysteries that the Church cannot explain.
- The Most Holy Trinity
- What is a Jesuit thinking?
- How many branches of Franciscans are there?
That being said, I don’t see any of the obediences (branches) of the Franciscan family growing into those large numbers without subdividing. There are a few that are that big and will come down in numbers and the friars move on to form smaller communities. Those would be the Observants (OFM), Capuchins (OFM Cap), Conventuals (OFM Conv) and the Brothers of Penance (TOR).
The smaller communities are coming from them, not because there is anything wrong with them, but because of the need to focus on specific ministries and specific areas that need to be strengthened. It is easier to focus a smaller community than a corporate body of 50,000 men. These three obediences alone add up to about that many men. Reform becomes necessary about every 300 years. You go back to the roots where it all started.
For this reason, I don’t think that Franciscans are going to see an explosion of vocations as there was from 1900 to 1960.
First:
The Traditionalist and Liberal Catholics feel uncomfortable with the fact that the Franciscan obeys the popes and bishops in all matters, prudential and otherwise, as long as they are not sins. Part of the Franciscan rule is an assent of the will, regardless of the weaknesses of the hierarchy. When the dissent becomes such that the Holy Father or the bishop complains that person is automatically suspended and eventually dismissed. To many this looks like passivism. To us, it’s obedience as Francis practiced it and as he commanded us to practice it.
Second.
Even though we have many priests, Franciscans are not clerical. We place a great deal of emphasis on fraternity. Every member of the community is equal in dignity, rights and duties. No one is allowed to make distinctions, except those that are necessary for sacramental celebrations. Even there, defining lines between the priest and his brothers so rigidly that the priest stands out as if he were not part of his fraternity is strongly discouraged by St. Francis himself. The priest who is a Franciscan must always seek to bring the other brothers and the laity into the celebration of the liturgy so as not to set himself apart. His vocation is to be the brother who leads his brothers and sisters in the worship of God, the offering of the sacrifice and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
We certainly welcome men who want to be priests, but our first message to them is, “Focus on being a good brother first, later we can think about being a good priest.”
Third:
Many people complain about going back in history to dig things up that have been abandoned etc. Franciscans have been directed to do just that. The commission that the Church has given to us is to go back to the year 1209 and reinstate those customs, practices, rules, goals, and spirit of the 13th century and to bring it into our ministries where we “contaminate” the laity with this spirituality. I can’t find another word, better than contaminate. But you get what I mean.
For us, this is not an archeological dig. It’s justice. It’s restoring the Franciscan family to what Francis founded and to what the early Franciscans handed down to us. It is giving it is rightful face.
Fourth:
Asceticism is not an attractive word in our culture. But the Franciscan life is an ascetical life. It begins with obedience. The greatest sacrifice of all is the sacrifice of the will. It goes into prayer. The deeper you go into prayer, the more difficult it gets. There are corporal penances that many people don’t understand or believe that they are unnecessary or not helpful. The greatest ascetical practice of all is community living. The Franciscan is not a diocesan who shares a house with a few other guys who dress the same. That would be the FSSP. You join them, if you want that.
The Franciscan is part of a family that makes demands on his time, talent, resources and even his health and to whom he can never say “No.” If he is the priest who is going to hear confessions, the brother who is going to visit the sick at the hospital, the other brother who is going out to wash the car, and so forth, when that bell rings to call him to a community function, he drops everything and responds. If it’s a genuine emergency, he clears it with his superior before he absents himself from community. This is not easy.
I remember a young brother who was a nurse. He always said that the hardest part of community living was The Grand Silence. Once that begins, the brothers do not speak until after breakfast the next day. If you’re a nurse on the night shift, there is the temptation to speak to the patients, even if it’s to say “Good night” or ask “How are you feeling tonight?” He said that it was hard to walk in, take the vitals, administer medication, make the patient comfortable, listen to the patient and simply respond with a smile. He often found himself offering this ascetical act for the patients and their families.
We don’t fall into a neat category that is either liberal or traditionalist. If one were to call us liberal, it would be because we’re different from other religious. If one were to call us traditionalist is because we preserve Franciscan tradition and we teach it every chance we get. Many people like something that they can put into a neat box. Franciscans are not them. Just compare the Franciscans of the Immaculate and the Franciscans of the Renewal. Both live by the same rule, but each has its own culture.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
The priest who was teasing me said, "Nothing to worry about. There’s a vocation shortage. You’ll only have 2,500. " 