This is also why I love the Franciscans that try to go back to “the way it was Francis was around” and follow the Rule absolutely. That would include such things as: the lay brothers not praying the Office (Chapter 3), Saying “peace to this house” whenever entering a house (chapt. 3), Not receiving any money (chapt 4 & 5), No preaching unless the Minister General has approved you (Chapt 9), ect. I could go on. And that is just the Rule. We haven’t started talking about other Franciscan writings.
Even here, there are certain things that you can never go back to. You have touched on one example, “lay brothers”. The term is no longer applicable today. These were men who were illiterate. Therefore, they could not use the breviary. They entered the order as friars, like any other friar. They were not lay brothers as one would find in a Dominican house, Benedictine monastery or Carthusian Charter House, whose vocation is to support the life and ministry to the priests by taking care of the material needs of the community.
These “lay brothers” were not auxiliary or coadjutor brothers. In some of the mendicant and monastic orders there were parallel vocations, the Fathers and the Brothers. That was never the case among the Franciscans. For example, Brother Leo was never anything other than one of the friars. He is one of the most important friars in Franciscan history, because he knew Francis more intimately than anyone else. He was the scribe, confidant, nurse, companion and friend.
Anthony of Padua was not a priest until three years before his death. He had been a religious for 15 or so years. No one ever speaks of him as a lay brother. Why not? Because he was a scripture scholar. He was literate. He died at 33.
When we go back, for example as my community has done, the Franciscans of the Renewal, Franciscans of the Primitive Observance and others, we would never think of asking the non-clerical brothers not to pray the Breviary with the community. That would be unnecessary. Today, all of the friars can read. Many of the non-clerical friars are highly educated in theology and philosophy. Some teach theology, are superiors, formation directors, spiritual directors, retreat masters, parish administrators, technicians, or excel in many other skills. But they are not illiterate.
The early friars did not ride horses. Today, we drive cars. If we don’t own a car, we take a bus, train or hitch a ride. The horse is no longer a sign of status and wealth. Most people don’t own horses, but they do own cars, ride buses and trains. In our community, we have one car for four people to share. Obviously, someone is going to take the bus, unless everyone is going in the same direction.
You also mentioned priests as problematic and they have been, especially during that last 150 years. For this reason, the return to the roots has included pulling out of ministries that require priests, such as parishes. The focus has shifted back to the early focus. One enters the community to be a Son of St. Francis. If you want to be a priest, we refer you to the local diocesan vocation director. It does not mean that we don’t allow anyone to be ordained. It means that we go back to the early days when the priesthood was accidental to our way of life not essential. We create a way of life and work on apostolates that do not require Holy Orders: street ministry, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, pregnancy centers, hospice care, the disabled, the immigrant poor and so forth. The superior and the student friar discern if he has a vocation to the Franciscan life and if he has a vocation to the priesthood. They are discerned separately, as they were back in the early days.
On the other hand, Francis said that the friars had to work for a living. For most of us, work requires tools such as computers, gadgets necessary for fixing a car, office equipment, even special gadgets for the brother who cooks. We don’t ask the brother who cooks to start up a fire in the backyard when he can use a stove, oven and other kitchen appliances. Francis mind was that they be working men, not ineffective.
There are many things that we cannot go back to, because they are no longer necessary. We would be creating an artificial situation. There is nothing virtuous in that. There are other things that we can go back to. For example, in our community, I’m the superior. I’m not a priest. There are three priests in our community. I am the one who decides whether and when they can celebrate the EF or if they can preach or not preach. I decide whether they will help out at a parish on the weekend or spend Saturday afternoon with Mrs. Murphy who is in hospice and has no one to be with her as she waits to die. That’s going back to the early days. There is the spirit of obedience.
Even I have to be obedient as Francis was obedient. If the chapter says that I must do X and not do Z, then that is what I must do. I can’t negotiate my way out of it.
We go back to simplicity in dress. This is very interesting. Many people think that simplicity in dress means a habit. The truth is that a habit is a very simple garment. However, it’s not one that a poor man can afford. Unless you have someone in the community who can sew, you must have your habits made outside. We pay $250 for every habit, sometimes more. A shirt and a pair of docker pants are cheaper, if you go to a store like Target. We wear the habit because it’s an anchor to an 800 year old tradition. I always say that the cord on the habit ties us to St. Francis and to every Franciscan who has come before us and every one who will follow us. This includes the friars, nuns, sisters and seculars, the entire family. Francis founded a family, not an order.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
