When I heard that last week Conventual Franciscan Friar Tom Smith led a retreat for candidates to the diaconate and their wives, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Like Francis, Friar Tom was strengthening the faith of his brothers and sisters who in turn were also getting ready to serve the Church in a very special way.

The retreat took place at Holy Cross Retreat Center in Mesilla Park, New Mexico where Friar Tom is the director. With more than a dozen retreatants, all energetic men and women of faith, one could not help but feel excited. These soon to be deacons and their spouses exemplify the fact that God calls all of us to a vocation. Have you thought about what God is calling you to do in life?

Friar Jude Winkler

 Friar Jude Winkler – the Assistant General for the English-speaking Conference of the Conventual Franciscans - recently traveled to Tagaytay in the Philippines (south of Manila). The Conventual Franciscan Friars run an Interjurisdictional English Language Novitiate in the city. Three novices from the Philippines and two from Vietnam currently call the Tagaytay novitiate home.

Friar Jude visited the men at the end of April to deliver over several days workshops on the Sacred Scripture. He flew into the Philippines from Australia where he had met with local friars. As an Assistant General in the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, Friar Jude visits his Franciscan brothers around the world to bring them news from the General Curia and to listen to their concerns.

His ministry brings to light the interconnectedness of the Conventual Franciscan Order. Friar Jude hails originally from the Buffalo area in New York State. His home is in Rome, Italy. On his travels he meets friars from many different nationalities. The men are, however, united by a common vocation to follow in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi.

(Source of image with story: Conventual Franciscans.)

Friar Nicholas Dragone

On several previous occasions we have reported on Friar Nicholas Dragone’s gift of music. Friar Nicholas is a singer and a composer. Last week he graduated from the Benjamin T Rome School of Music at the Catholic University of America (CUA is in Washington, D.C.) with a Bachelor of Music degree.

For his senior recital, Friar Nicholas sang 7 compositions, which required him to use not only English but also Italian, Spanish, and German.He also holds the distinction of having been the first Rome School of Music undergraduate to deliver a lecture; he laid out a method in his talk on how best to teach voice to young men.

With so many accomplishments, it is no surprise that CUA President John Garvey awarded Friar Nicholas the Outstanding Music Educator Award. The entire faculty voted in favor of Friar Nicholas receiving this special prize.

Now that he has his degree, Friar Nicholas will embark on his fraternal apostolic year. He will spend it at St. Philip Benizi Parish in Jonesboro, Georgia fulfilling the ministry of parish music director. The community is indeed lucky to have this young friar bring to them the joy and wonder of music and faith.

(Source of image with story: Conventual Franciscans.)

Friar Paul Gawlowski attended last month the Faith Summit on Poverty in San Francisco, California. The Conventual Franciscan is the pastor of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Parish, a Roman Catholic faith community located in Bayview Hunters Point, one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods.

The summit was an ecumenical and interfaith effort. Representatives from the Jewish faith as well as Protestant and Catholic communities met with lay people, officials from the government of San Francisco, and chief executives of charities. They discussed the current level of poverty in the city, which Ted Egan, the chief economist at the Controller’s Office in San Francisco, pointed out has risen over the last decade. Single parent families led by women, immigrants, senior citizens and several other demographic groups are particularly susceptible to falling below the poverty line.

By the end of the Faith Summit on Poverty, participants produced a plan on how to help San Francisco’s poor rebuild their lives. The participants’ goal is to reduce the city’s poverty level by 50 percent in the next seven years. Education, job creation, and affordable housing are three factors that will help turn this plan into reality.