Thanks Br. JR for your comments. I just wonder what the effect would be on the vocations to the regular and secular orders. Based on my personal observations, parishes returned to the diocese lose the spirituality and devotions that came with the orders that used to handle them.
I used to live in a community where the parish church was run by the Capuchin Franciscans. When they left, the Franciscan spirit left with them, and I missed that. Fortunately our family moved to a city where our parish by coincidence is run by the same Franciscan Capuchins I knew from my youth. Eventually, I became a Secular Franciscan myself and I am very grateful for my brothers.
As for the parish of my youth, I guess it is now up to the Secular Franciscans there to keep the Spirit of Saint Francis alive, especially if the parish priest is not keen about the Franciscans and Franciscanism .
Thanks.
albertziggy
The Capuchins are a great religious community and they certainly engage people in the spirit of St. Francis where ever they minister. They are one of the religious orders who have cut back on the number of friars that they ordain in order to preserve the charism of the Franciscan order as an order of Brothers.
They have also pulled out of many parishes and are engaged in more independent ministries, as were the early friars. Some of their friars have gone as far as gathering to found new branches of the Capuchins such as the CFRs and the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance (FPOs). They also were asked by Mother Angelica to form the first group of Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, another Franciscan group that shies away from parishes and focuses on the contemplative life and other ministries such as the media.
If you notice, in response to your question, they are getting vocations. The CFRs have passed the 100 friar mark. The Eternal Word friars are close to it. The FPOs have missions in Central America. The Capuchins are in 43 countries and have six provinces in the USA and a vice province in Puerto Rico, completely run by Puerto Ricans and a Vice Province in Guam, completely run by the local friars. Together these make up the American Capuchins.
The SFOs gave birth to my community. We were a group of SFO who gathered to live in community and have now become an independent community of Brothers who live the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance in community.
The pull-out of religious orders from parishes is doing a great deal of good for the orders, both regular and secular. The Secular Orders have had to take up their place in the local diocese and make their presence felt. It was very easy to let the friars permeate the environment with the Franciscan spirit. Now they have to do it.
What we say about Franciscans can apply to Dominicans, Carmelites, Benedictines and Augustinians too.
We are not abandoning the laity. We are following the directive of Perfectae Caritatis and the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity. We are empowering the laity to run their own ecclesial communities in cooperation with secular priests.
Religious and secular orders are still around to support the secular clergy by helping out on Sundays, doing retreats, parish missions, taking on other ministries to release the secular priests to run parishes.
The secular orders still have to get more organized and adopt ministries as a fraternity, not as lone rangers. Those who are involved in ministries by themselves, must share their religious tradition with those whom they serve. It does no one any good if a Secular Franciscan, Secular Carmelite or Lay Dominican goes into a shelter and no one knows that he or she is a Carmelite, Dominican or Franciscan. Everything they sign, their external appearance, their language must reflect the spirit of their order. I don’t see SFOs working in different apostolates and signing anything with the SFO after their name. How are people supposed to ask questions about the Franciscan way of life, if they do not know that we are there?
The term secular can be taken to the extreme where the secular religious disappear into the crowd. That’s not what the Church expects of them. She expects them to shine like a bright light in the midst of the secular world.
I was at a pro-life rally and saw a group of Secular Franciscans with their Tau and their sign that proclaimed that they were Franciscans for Life. It was interesting to watch people ask them about their vocation and their way of life. I also attended a conference on St. Catherine of Siena by a Lay Dominican. It was excellent. I’m sure that it drew some attention from the crowd to see a Dominican who is a mother and a preacher as her father Dominic.
There is a group of Franciscan Youth serving in the missions and in the inner cities of the USA. They are very inspiring to see. This is how we fill in the gaps left by the friars and sisters who move out of parishes to engage in other ministries and to live their religious vocation without the distraction of parish life.
Fraternally,
Br. JR
), and everyone was thinking of being a religious priest. When I brought up the life of a religious brother, they did not know what I was talking about. They were all thinking that the religious brother was a temporary state. Well I guess those who entered know by now.
