Minister's Note for June

Franciscan Family Tree

The Angel Oak Tree: https://rare.us/rare-life/angel-oak-tree/

     The Franciscan family since the earliest of times has had many branches. The diversity of Franciscan communities seems to be part of our history and our DNA. One big, beautiful, ancient branch of the Franciscan Family is the Secular Franciscan Order. The Secular Franciscan Order was one of the three Orders founded directly by St. Francis of Assisi. There are about 350,000 active Secular Franciscans globally today.[1]  I especially like this Franciscan Family Map (below) that includes our Anglican brothers and sisters.[2]

     We’ve recently had guests joining us at our Fraternity gatherings including Fr. David Gaa, Fr. David Gaa OFM, the Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara and Sr. Kathy Warren OSF, the Director of Women Religious for the Diocese of San Diego. Both shared a similar message regarding Secular Franciscans, ‘Now is a GREAT time to be a Secular Franciscan; the world needs you!’ This Secular Franciscan vocation of ours is a beautiful gift, something for us to be continually unwrapping, cherishing, and putting it to service in a world that is so terribly in need of it.

Pace e Bene +
Laura Chun, OFS
Minister, San Luis Rey Fraternity

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_Franciscan_Order
[2] https://franciscansinternational.org/about/franciscan-corner/