You do not need to study if you just want to be a religious brother without taking orders
Not exactly. Most Franciscan communities require either a university degree or an equivalent in work experience. Depending on the ministry, you may need a higher degree. I’m a religious brother and I had to get an STD in Ascetical and Mystical Theology. We have brothers with Master’s, Doctorates, Bachelors, technical degrees or diplomas. It all depends on the needs of the community and the gifts of the individual.
We have brothers who cook and have PhDs. We have one brother in our community who is the maintenance man for our pregnancy centers and he’s a priest, who only celebrates mass. His time is spent with the plumbing and then we have a brother who is not a priest who is a theologian who teaches at the seminary and another who is not a priest and is a parish administrator.
There are brothers who are very gifted with certain skills such as carpentry, sewing, cooking, auto mechanics, gardening. The more they learn in those fields, the more they can do for the community.
You may have the brother who is the accountant and he’s a CPA or one like Br.David Sumasy, who is an MD, PhD in Theology and PhD in Medical Ethics, but he’s not a priest. He practices internal medicine at a large hospital and serves on several board in medical ethics. Then there are brothers like the late Br. Jim Townsend, who never went past High School, but had so many skills, that it was not necessary to send him for further studies. He was a great public speaker and preacher. He preached retreats, gave spiritual talks, and fixed anything that was broken.
There is no fixed level of studies for Franciscans. All are brothers, ordained or not and all bring different gifts with them and are educated according to those gifts.
By the way “just a religious brother” is quite offensive to brothers, especially Franciscan brothers, because our founder was never a priest. Legend had it that he was a deacon. Recent historical writings have shed some light on this and apparently he was never a deacon either. No one would ever call Father Francis of Assisi, “just a brother.”
We have brothers who are superiors, theologians, carpenters, novice masters, seminary rectors, cooks, physicians, missionaries, spiritual directors and many other things. But they all have one thing in common. They are all sons of Father Francis of Assisi, who was “just a brother.”
I hope this helps.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
My brother, I (58yrs) had looked for 3yrs now and yes all told me the same thing, but I did found out I can take vows with a bishop and be his hermit and have followers, thus an order of brothers. if you wanted to be a priest then you can talk to the bishop and may become one. All this is in Canon Law #603. So now I have done just that and am looking for others that want to become: