Order Of Ecumenical Franciscans?

[ez3714]

Never heard of such a thing; never knew that a Catholic group would be willing to embrace someone who wasn’t one of their own. And yet OEF shows up in my surfing today.

Anybody ever heard of them or had any contact with them?

 

[JReducation]

Never heard of such a thing; never knew that a Catholic group would be willing to embrace someone who wasn’t one of their own. And yet OEF shows up in my surfing today.

Anybody ever heard of them or had any contact with them?

I have never heard of them. They may be a very young community. There are ecumenical communities. The oldest one that I know of is the Monks of Taize. It is a well respected community among Catholics and Protestants.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[AdvanceAlways]

They are not sanctioned by any diocese. They are a group of men (and women i think…) who have created their own community which is interfaith. It isn’t Catholic per say.

 

[JReducation]

The first problem you have is the word “order”. An order can only be approved by the Holy See. There are very few religious orders in the Catholic Church. The founding of orders was closed in the 1500s. The rest of the foundations were congregations. If this group is an order, it must have Pontifical Approval.

For Catholics to join it, the community has to be approved by the local bishop in their diocese or by the Sacred Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated LIfe and Societies of Apostolic Life, such as the Monks of Taize.

To be a consecrated religious you must profess vows in the presence of a religious superior and another witness who has the authority to serve as a witness for the universal Church. Otherwise, your vows are private, not public. To be a consecrated man or woman, your vows must be public. That’s canon law.

For a community to be Franciscan it must have the approval of the Council of Franciscan General Ministers. The members of this council are:

1. Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Observant (OFM)
2. Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap)
3. Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv)
4. Minister General of the Third Order Regular (TOR and OSF)
5. Minister General of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO in the USA and OFS in the universal Church)

Any other institute calling itself Franciscan is outside of the Franciscan order. They are Franciscan because they follow the spirit of St. Francis and his way of life. But they are not canonically part of the Franciscan Order. They are usually congregations such as many of the congregations of sisters who teach and nurse etc. But these congregations are autonomous. Their existence depends on the local bishop or the Holy See.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[joandarc2008]

The first problem you have is the word “order”. An order can only be approved by the Holy See. There are very few religious orders in the Catholic Church. The founding of orders was closed in the 1500s. The rest of the foundations were congregations. If this group is an order, it must have Pontifical Approval.

For Catholics to join it, the community has to be approved by the local bishop in their diocese or by the Sacred Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated LIfe and Societies of Apostolic Life, such as the Monks of Taize.

To be a consecrated religious you must profess vows in the presence of a religious superior and another witness who has the authority to serve as a witness for the universal Church. Otherwise, your vows are private, not public. To be a consecrated man or woman, your vows must be public. That’s canon law.

For a community to be Franciscan it must have the approval of the Council of Franciscan General Ministers. The members of this council are:

1. Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Observant (OFM)
2. Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap)
3. Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv)
4. Minister General of the Third Order Regular (TOR and OSF)
5. Minister General of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO in the USA and OFS in the universal Church)

Any other institute calling itself Franciscan is outside of the Franciscan order. They are Franciscan because they follow the spirit of St. Francis and his way of life. But they are not canonically part of the Franciscan Order. They are usually congregations such as many of the congregations of sisters who teach and nurse etc. But these congregations are autonomous. Their existence depends on the local bishop or the Holy See.

Fraternally,

JR

Bump. This particular order seems to be supporting some things that are not within the teachings of the Magisterium. Or at least some of the members do. On their initial page it talks about welcoming everyone including gay or straight. I don’t yet understand how one can have a Franciscan Order or even want to form a Franciscan Community without holding obedience as a charism.

 

[Dale_M]

Bump. This particular order seems to be supporting some things that are not within the teachings of the Magisterium…

I only know what I have gleaned from their website, but they are not a Catholic order so do not follow the Magisterium. They are an ecumenical order, with members from at least 15 different Christian denominations. They got their start as an association of United Church of Christ members, although these members (and their order) were influenced by contact with the TSSF (an Episcopal Franciscan order) as well as by historical documents of St. Francis and the Catholic Franciscan tradition. They left behind their United Church of Christ shell in 1988 to become officially ecumenical.

As for obedience as a charism for the order, I don’t know. Their website does say: “We are governed by the leadership of the professed members of the Order in accordance with our Constitution and Bylaws.” It also says that all members are accountable to one another, as well as to the leadership.

Br. JR made an important point regarding the ECF:

For Catholics to join it, the community has to be approved by the local bishop in their diocese or by the Sacred Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated LIfe and Societies of Apostolic Life, such as the Monks of Taize.

I am not aware that either of those two things have occurred.

 

[curlycool89]

There is an actual group of Franciscans that engage in Ecumenism, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement (they actually started the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity). They appear to be part of the Third Order Regular branch.

 

[joandarc2008]

I only know what I have gleaned from their website, but they are not a Catholic order so do not follow the Magisterium. They are an ecumenical order, with members from at least 15 different Christian denominations. They got their start as an association of United Church of Christ members, although these members (and their order) were influenced by contact with the TSSF (an Episcopal Franciscan order) as well as by historical documents of St. Francis and the Catholic Franciscan tradition. They left behind their United Church of Christ shell in 1988 to become officially ecumenical.

As for obedience as a charism for the order, I don’t know. Their website does say: “We are governed by the leadership of the professed members of the Order in accordance with our Constitution and Bylaws.” It also says that all members are accountable to one another, as well as to the leadership.

Br. JR made an important point regarding the ECF:

I am not aware that either of those two things have occurred.

One of these things that made me ask is that one of their members seems to be publicly supporting another organization that has had a jaded history with the Church so to speak so before I spoke incorrectly I was trying to figure out if this group was actually a Catholic organization or was claiming affiliation.

 

[JReducation]

There is an actual group of Franciscans that engage in Ecumenism, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement (they actually started the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity). They appear to be part of the Third Order Regular branch.

The Society of the Atonement is a Franciscan congregation of men and women religious that follows the third rule of St. Francis. They are not part of the Third Order Regular (TOR). The TOR and SFO are from the same seed. The other Franciscan congregations that follow the third rule, also known as the Rule of Penance, are canonically Franciscan. However, unless the founder was a member of one of the orders that Francis founded, they do not have Franciscan Succession, in which case, they are not part of any of the Franciscan Orders. However, they are part of the Franciscan family.

The Society of the Atonement is such a congregation. They trace their origins to the Anglican Church. They were founded as an Anglican Franciscan congregation. The founders converted to Catholicism and were accepted into the Church in the USA at Greymore, NY. They were allowed to keep the original vision of the founders, beause it was consistent with the teachings of St. Francis on the matter. They were to work for reunification of Christians and the unification of Christians and non Christians. This was a work that was begun by St. Francis in 1221, centuries before the word “ecumenism” existed. St. Francis first introduced the idea into his onw branch of the family, the Friars Minor, by introducing customs from the Eastern Orthodox and from the Muslims into the life of prayer of the friars and the manner of organizing their worship space.

St. Francis was concerned that the divisions between people of faith not only endangered the soul, but its effects could be seen in the violent struggles between divergent religious traditions. The killing that took place between people, becaues of religion, was a clear sign to St. Francis that unity under the faith of the Church was a moral imperative. However, St. Francis disagreed with those around him on how to achieve unity. He commanded his three orders: friars, nuns and seculars to avoid all allegience to any monarch, nation, or army. Our allegience is to be to the Gospel and the Church alone.

St. Francis also introduced the first efforts to work cooperatively with non-Christians. He ordered his friars to the Holy Land, but commanded them not to proseletyze the Muslims or Jews. The friars were to work for the good of the Christian faith and for the good of the Christian people in the Holy Land. Their presence among Muslims and Jews was to be the only form of preaching to them. They were allowed to answer questions about their faith, to teach the Christian faith to those who asked to learn it, but were not to set out on a campaign to evangelize through proselytism. This was circa 1221-1223. The years are not exactly known. The result was very positive. To this day, the Franciscans are the only Roman religious community that is protected by Muslim and Jewish law in Israel, Jordan and Egypt. This is the result of an alliance struck between Francis and the Sultan at Dalmietta.

To this end, the Society of the Atonement was accepted in the Catholic Church as a Franciscan congregation, for the purpose of continuing and developing Francis of Assisi’s vision of unity and evangelization through presence and charity, at the same time, remaining faithful to the Catholic Church.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[cmodrmac]

It is not a Roman Catholic Order although some members are Roman Catholic-a group of Christains who strive to follow the teachings of Christ in the Franciscan tradition. Many serve in helath care fields and various ministries-not to worry they will not take over the RC orders-small and diverse and loving
charlie McAllistr M.D.