News & Blogs - Franciscan Friars

Franciscan Joy: Strumming feeds his spirit

One of the things that brings me joy as a Franciscan is music. All my life I have been blessed with a good singing voice. As a young...

Standing up and standing together for immigrants

Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv

Nothing is more American than the stories of immigrants who risked everything to be here.

But Bishop John Stowe wonders what’s happened to that...

Reception of Novices

Fourteen novices were received into the Order on July 16 in Santa Barbara, Calif., in a simple ceremony that included four provincials, three secretaries of formation and a host...

Franciscan Joy: God’s loving presence in nature

The whisper of wind through the trees; the gentle sound of water in a babbling brook; the thunderous roar of waves crashing onto a beach; the majesty of mountains...

NBC Left Field Interview

Fr. Richard Goodin, Director of Vocations, is one of two young religious featured in “More Young Christians Heed Call to Become Priests And Nuns”, a video produced by NBC Left...

Franciscan Joy: A Puzzling Way to Pass the Time

When I was a child, working jigsaw puzzles was a frequent recreation in our home. My mother was especially fond of doing jigsaw puzzles, and I got caught up in...

March for Our Lives

"It was a whirlwind trip," says Fr. Henry Beck, who met friends in Alexandria, Va., last Friday and joined them for several hours Saturday in the March for Our Lives...

Franciscan Joy: We Are United By a Sense of Purpose

In my 14 years as a friar, my family, friends and other many friars have cited my "great passion" for living the Franciscan way of life. I appreciate the...

Saving a Shrine

BY TONI CASHNELLI

The statues are peeling. The parking lot is a crazy quilt of patch work. And the chain link fence has taken a few hits.

But Friar Alex Kratz looks...

The Testimony of Easter

BY FR. MARK SOEHNER, OFM

Last Saturday Lt.-Col. Arnaud Beltram, 44, a French police officer, voluntarily took the place of a female hostage in a terror attack in a supermarket in...