The 2025 National Chapter of Secular Franciscans opened with a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Bon Secours Retreat Center in Marriottsville, Maryland, on Tuesday, Sept. 9. The celebrant was Friar Gary Johnson, OFM Conv., vicar provincial and director of the Shrine of St. Anthony near Baltimore.
Gathered for the liturgy were the leaders of the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States: the National Executive Council, regional ministers, committee and commission chairs, CNSA friars, and special international visitors.
Friar Gary began by reminding those present that being together as Franciscans is about much more than “getting along” or “learning to lead.” At the very center of our vocation, he said, is praise. “I have a sense we have it figured out when it comes to praise,” he reflected. “Praise is how we publicly proclaim our love of God.”
Drawing from the day’s reading from a Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, Friar Gary invited the listeners to reflect deeply on what it means to walk in Christ: “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him, and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
He noted that the Franciscan tradition affirms this truth. Our entire world is rooted and built upon Jesus Christ. When we remain grounded in Him, our lives are nourished in ways that allow us to proclaim the Gospel with joy and integrity.
“We live in the flesh,” Friar Gary said, “and show we are grounded in the witness of Jesus Christ, that same Christ who so enamored our founders.” He said praise is never private or isolated. “We can’t praise God without each other. Praise blossoms in community through liturgy, fraternity, and service to the world.”
For Secular Franciscans, this means that every act of daily life can become a song of praise: caring for family, serving the poor, fulfilling professional duties with integrity, and giving time and energy to the work of the Order. Praise draws us deeper into a relationship with God and strengthens our bond with one another.
“We recognize the call to leadership is grounded in the prayer and praise of Jesus. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus chose the leaders from among the disciples and commissioned them to go out with him and witness the faith. They knew that involved compassion, charity, sacrifice, and praise,” Friar Gary said.
Our encounter with God heals us. That’s what happened to the disciples. They were witnessing to the fact that they needed healing, and it came forth from God, he said.
Leadership, then, is not about status or power but about a willingness to walk with Christ, to serve others, and to embody the Gospel in word and deed, he said. In this way, Franciscan leaders continue the mission of the first disciples, proclaiming the Kingdom of God through lives marked by joy, humility, healing, and thanksgiving.
The Holy Spirit helps us to live it out in the everyday experience of our lives. Welcome the Holy Spirit into our Chapter and ask the Lord to help you be grounded in the ways our readings today invite us to lead, Fr. Gary said.
The work at the chapter will continue through Saturday when a new National Executive Council will be elected. On hand for the election are CIOFS visitors Ana Maria Raffo Laos, OFS, NEC elections presider, and Friar Tomas Ginga Panzo Suva, OFM Cap, general spiritual assistant to the OFS.
On the morning of Saturday, August 30, 2025, at the Conventual Franciscan parish of Our Lady of the Visitation in Dublin, Ireland, Deacon Peter George Flynn, OFM Conv. was ordained a friar-priest.
The ordaining bishop, the Most Rev. Paul Dempsey, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Dublin, delivered a moving homily which focused on Our Lord’s words taken from Gospel selected for the occasion: “You did not choose me, no, I chose you” (Jn. 15:16). Bishop Paul emphasized how Christ is at the heart of the priesthood, and it is only by being sustained by Our Lord’s strength and grace that any priest can do what he has been called to do.
At the end of the Holy Mass, kneeling before Our Lady’s side altar, Friar Peter George consecrated his priesthood to the Blessed Virgin, presenting the Mother of God with a bouquet of flowers.
“It was a wonderful day for the Blessed Angelus of Pisa Custody,” said Our Lady of the Angels Provincial Minister Provincial Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv. “The smile on Friar Peter George’s face and the proud look of his family brought joy to the entire Church!”
After the Ordination Mass, there was a wonderful lunch put on in the parish hall with Friar Peter George cut his cake to much applause. Later that same evening, his family and the friars (including those who had travelled to Dublin for the ordination) went out for a dinner together. A beautiful day was had by all. Please keep Friar Peter George and the friars of BAP Custody in your prayers.
Friar Gerry Waterman, OFM Conv., was a guest on “Catholic Conversation,” produced by the Diocese of Syracuse, talking about what it means to walk with Syracuse University students in their faith journey, and how the chapel and new Catholic center are creating sacred space in the midst of campus life.
Three young people, Madeline, Amanda, and Karlie were commissioned as the 27th group of FrancisCorps volunteers by Minister Provincial Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., at Assumption Catholic Church in Syracuse, N.Y. The mission of FrancisCorps is Gospel Service. As brothers and sisters to those “in need”, FrancisCorps volunteers share their gifts and talents in a year-long, faith based community in the spirit of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi.
Alongside them were the FrancisCorps staff, A.J., Jenny Rose, and Friar Nader Ata, OFM Conv., as they each were presented with a Tau cross, which today is a symbol of an individual’s commitment to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and in deed in the footsteps of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi.
In his homily, Friar Michael said, “For this year, you will live together, pray together, eat together, laugh together, and yes, even cry together, the three of you. And that number three, it’s not an accident because we worship a Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God, and three is the number of divine friendship. So, this year, the three of you will grow in holiness together, in divine friendship.”
FrancisCorps 27: Thank you for saying “yes” to the Spirit of Assisi, “yes” to service of others, and “yes” to FrancisCorps. Madeline, Amanda, and Karlie, we look forward with joy and gratitude to walking with you throughout this year!
To learn more about or apply to FrancisCorps, we invite you to visit www.franciscorps.org
The question was simple and familiar to many in religious life: How does one deal with a curmudgeon – someone who is set in his ways, resistant to change and vocal about it?
“I have an idea, but I can’t say it out loud,” quipped Conventual Franciscan Father Michael Heine, prompting laughter from the banquet room at Baltimore’s Hyatt Regency Hotel July 24.
“The key is just to be loving,” he continued. “There is no easy answer. One of the worst things you can do is pull away. Just love them. To realize his past, he’s so hurt or something, you know, to acknowledge that and keep reaching out and trying.”
Father Heine, provincial leader of the Conventual Franciscans’ Our Lady of the Angels Province in Ellicott City, spoke during a panel on fraternity at the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) National Assembly. Held in Baltimore July 21-23 under the theme “Rejoice in Hope: Solidarity and Fraternity,” the assembly gathered 150 leaders representing 125 religious jurisdictions for dialogue, reflection and celebration of faith.
St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee, Mass., participated in Steubenville East this past weekend in Springfield, Mass. Friars John Koziol and Edgar Varela participated together with Sr. Agnesa Neru and Sr. Cordelia, Deacon David Southworth, and parishioner Michael Benoit and his daughter Sydney also participated. The youth event is sponsored by the Franciscan University in Ohio. We had a vocation table, where we met with many teens to share our Franciscan charism. There were over 1,200 teens present.
Farmer Matt Jones with some of the harvest from Little Portion Farm.
The Baltimore Business Journal has named Matt Jones, farm manager at Little Portion Farm, as one of Greater Baltimore’s 2025 40 Under 40. Little Portion Farm, a ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province, donates 100% of its produce to soup kitchen and food pantry partners serving individuals in need. Under Matt’s direction and leadership, Little Portion Farm has donated more than 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to serve people in Greater Baltimore living with food insecurity since the first seeds were planted on the farm six years ago.
When Matt first joined the friars in 2019, the three-acre plot that is now Little Portion Farm, was an empty field, with soil greatly devoid of nutrients after years of overproduction by prior tenant farmer activities, which included chemical use and industrial farming methods. The mission of this uniquely Franciscan ministry was twofold – restore the health of the land and grow food for the poor.
Matt was selected as a 2025 40 Under 40 Honoree for his success in developing a now thriving, biodiverse farm that provides food for those facing food insecurity in the region, and for his efforts in creating a gathering space for community service, reflection, and education. Little Portion Farm hosts thousands of visitors and volunteers every year. As the farm continues to grow – both in how much land is cultivated and how many people come to the farm to serve – Little Portion Farm will be able to provide increased amounts of produce to their partners serving the vulnerable in Greater Baltimore.
St. Anthony of Padua Church in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England was the setting for the priestly ordination of Friar John Paul Banks, OFM Conv., on Saturday, July 5, 2025. Archbishop John Sherrington, appointed by the late Pope Francis on Apr. 5, 2025, and having only received the pallium from Pope Leo XIV the week before, was the ordaining prelate. Friar-Priest John Paul was the first priesthood ordination to happen under the new archbishop. Friar John Paul is a Conventual Franciscan friar of the Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody.
During the Holy Mass of Ordination, Archbishop Sherrington delivered a powerful and touching homily, offering the newly-ordained friar-priest this counsel: “As teacher, faithfully communicate the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ by carefully loving and studying the scriptures and the teaching of the Church. Break these down so that the people of our age and culture may understand the message they communicate. This is a challenge for our technocratic and secular age.”
“As a Franciscan Conventual, you are called to model your life on St. Francis who was humble and poor, who loved creation and all God’s creatures calling them ‘brother’ and ‘sister’, who loved so deeply that he carried the stigmata in his body. As Pope Francis wrote ‘He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.’ (LS 10). Like Francis see that the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.”
In a touching moment at the end of the Mass, Archbishop Sherrington went over to embrace Friar Giles Zakowicz, OFM Conv., who had, just the day before, celebrated his 50th anniversary of priesthood.
Friar Chris Dudek, OFM Conv., sent photos from the Assisi Pilgrimage. There were 33 participants which included youth from St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee, Mass., UNC Chapel Hill, N.C., Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore, and St. Francis High School, Athol Springs, N.Y. We visited Rome, Bagnoregio, Assisi, La Verna, Padua, and Venice. It was great to see young people from various locations and life experiences bond, learn, and pray together at the major sites in the life of Francis and Clare.
