Assistant General’s Visit Highlights the Work of South Korea’s Conventual Franciscans

Friar Jude Winkler

Friar Jude Winkler is a Conventual Franciscan from West Seneca, New York – a town southeast of Buffalo. A solemnly professed friar since 1975 and a priest since 1981, Friar Jude is currently an Assistant General in the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He makes his home in the Friary of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome, Italy. Of course, in his ministry as assistant general he is often on the road.

An assistant general acts as a physical connection between the Conventual Franciscans’ General Curia in Rome where the Order’s Minister General resides and friaries around the world.

Earlier this month, for example, Friar Jude flew to South Korea to meet with friars who live in the country and serve its people. The Conventual Franciscans are actually very active in South Korea. In Seoul, they staff a multilingual parish and help run a kindergarten for international students as well as a retreat house. In Busan, the friars have opened a center where handicapped children receive treatment. South Korea’s Conventual Franciscans also offer spiritual guidance to the country’s Secular Franciscans.

During visitations such as the one to South Korea described here, Friar Jude Winkler speaks with friars in each community that he visits. He listens to their concerns and ideas and shares with them news from Rome. Throughout these meetings a spirit of brotherhood prevails.

(Source of image with article: Conventual Franciscans.)