Hi, amica mia
It seems to me that the OFS (at least out here) has been moving to a more “traditional” (that isn’t the exact word) Franciscanism. Less emphasis on numbers (sort of like the friars themselves, as JRed has mentioned). Am I judging this accurately?
Also, what has always bugged me a tad, is that $50/year (right?) go to higher councils, leaving the local fraternity with little or nothing.
Hi Luigi Daniele,
I can’t really verify what you’re saying one way or the other about traditional vs. progressive outlook overall. It’s a very mixed bag from my vantage point. I belong to a very small fraternity that’s not very active. We don’t even have meetings every month any more here, now that many people are getting older.
The thing to remember, I think, is that we’re a worldwide order so there are a lot of points of view at the global level to consider and we are a global order. The order is prospering in many parts of the world, with many young people making their professions in Asia, Africa and even Latin America, even though the picture is very, very different here in the USA. We are seeing quite the opposite. That’s one thing.
The other thing is that in the USA only, the order is really moribund. It’s a sad situation. I was professed about 15 years ago. A few years after that, I left because of that very situation. I’m back now, because I think the SFO is where I really belong. It’s very difficult because the reputation of the SFO among that small pool of people interested in religious organizations like this isn’t very good; and also being an SFO isn’t very engaging at times, frankly, due to what’s going on.
The thing to remember, also, is that it’s not about my personal satisfaction. I mean, yes, belonging to an order, even an order where you live in secularity, has the 2 goals of religious life: a) to get the person doing it to heaven, and b) to teach something to the world. But even given all of that, it’s not necessarily about my personal satisfaction in a purely emotional aka consumerist sense. I have to take some of that on faith and let God do what I know he’s promised to do.
The SFO needs people who are willing to “dig their heels in spiritually,” meaning people who are dedicated to pursuing prayer and the rule, and people who are willing to learn the tradition and the way of life and practice it. For so many years, people were just “signed up” at their parish like the order was an altar society, or a ladies’ club or something. We’re fooling ourselves if we think we can act like an order with only that kind of commitment and training. I mean, we are a real order, we need to grow up regardless of our ages, and act like it. Otherwise, it’s going to nearly die out in the US in a few years. Maybe that’s what needs to happen–pruning–for it to take off again. I don’t know.
This urging to do something sounds like the usual CAF hyperbole. I’m not talking about politics or progressive vs traditional or rah-rah-rah or anything like that. I’m talking about each SFO getting off their tired old haunches and learning to pray the liturgy of the hours and put an active and engaged hour or two into their spiritual life every single day. I’m talking about putting the TAU on where people can see it in the supermarket and letting people know in an appropriate way that there is a spiritual aspect to life, God is there, and that they don’t want to miss Him! I’m talking about having a personal reading program into the Franciscan sources that’s appropriate to each person’s learning ability and background, which varies a LOT.
Maybe this new formation program will start things rolling. I haven’t seen it, although I’m told it’s very good, which means it’s got to be dramatically better than what many fraternities have been using.
)
). I was professed 14 years ago, so we are OFS contemporaries. 
) direction. 