Plating the Future

Taking home a basket of fresh produce that includes hearty greens, root vegetables, and herbs can be intimidating for any amateur chef. It can be especially hard for clients of a soup kitchen and food pantry with limited resources to cook.

In March 2021, the Franciscan Center of Baltimore, a ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual, started a culinary training program for clients receiving one of the more than 200 boxes of fresh produce being distributed weekly at that time. This past fall, the Center celebrated its 14th class of graduates from the program.

Dignity Plates Training Academy has hosted 118 students for a free 13-week culinary training program over the last five years. And over time the program has evolved from simply teaching clients to process fresh food to a workforce development program, helping students not only learn to cook at a high level, but find employment upon completion of the program.

More than 65 percent of students who have gone through the program have successfully found employment in the food industry in Baltimore. Students have found employment at medical centers, Baltimore sports stadiums, universities and local country clubs. The Center has also employed many graduates as it expands its own catering program.

Sustainable Living

Dignity Plates Culinary Academy offers free tuition for the 13-weeks and includes a $1,300 stipend for participating students. The program is funded through donations from the community and social enterprises of the Center.

In addition to culinary techniques, students are taught menu development and food safety, as well as customer service skills. “Wellness Wednesdays” include classes on diet and nutrition, and students also take classes on financial literacy. Students visit Little Portion Farm, another ministry of the friars which donates a large sum of its produce to the Center’s soup kitchen, during their course to learn about different ingredients they will use in their culinary career. Their final exam is preparing a luncheon for Center donors from start to finish – including developing the menu, ordering all required ingredients and quantities, and preparation.

“We’re helping students create opportunities for sustainable living,” said Chef Derrick Purcell, Culinary Director at the Franciscan Center. “It’s great to see our students achieve a growing sense of confidence and identity after completing the program, which is not easy.”

Looking Ahead

The Franciscan Center of Baltimore offers a variety of services to clients in West Baltimore, including child and family support, health care referrals, Maryland state ID services, and daily hot lunch for clients in the soup kitchen. While the Center has been operating for more than 50 years, Our Lady of the Angels Province began their relationship with the organization 2023 when the Franciscan Sisters of Milwaukee asked the friars to support a ministry they no longer had the resources to provide for.

While the sponsor relationship is relatively new, the friars’ Little Portion Farm has donated tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce to the Center’s kitchen since 2019.

“We were honored to begin working with the Center more formally a couple years ago after so many years of successful partnership with the farm,” said Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province. “St. Francis was a man of the poor, and the Center embodies his spirit every day.”

And the Center has no plans to slow down. In 2026, the hope is to begin offering the culinary training program at night as well.

“We recognize that the industry need is not slowing down, and students can’t afford to give up a paid job to do the course,” Derrick said. “We want to offer chances for students to get a new or renewed passion for cooking.”

Encounter and Transformation

By Friar Chris Dudek, OFM Conv.

Youth ministry has always been central to the Church’s mission, and especially important for Our Lady of the Angels Province. From the beginning, Sts. Francis and Clare recognized that young people are especially open to encounter, transformation, and courageous change. Both heard Christ’s call to a deeper Gospel life at a young age. Today, our Province carries on this legacy by creating spaces where young people can experience fraternity, prayer, and the adventure of following Christ. We are grateful to have friars serving in high schools, college campus ministries, and parishes with active youth groups and parish schools that continue to thrive.

This same spirit fuels my ministry as Campus Minister at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, MD, where the friars have faithfully served for several decades. Each day at Curley is life-giving—journeying with young men as they discern who God is calling them to be, celebrating the Sacraments together, forming them in the Franciscan ideals, and watching them grow in faith, character, discipline, and service. It is an honor to work so closely with my fellow lay teachers and administrators who have also embraced the Franciscan mission. Our school is a vibrant example of what happens when friars and the laity walk with youth consistently and joyfully.

Much of my passion for youth ministry comes from my personal experience. My own calling to our fraternity began in high school, when I met the friars and was drawn to their joy. I was particularly inspired by my active youth group at The Basilica of St. Stanislaus in Chicopee, MA. During that time, I traveled to Assisi for the first time. Walking those old streets, praying in the Portiuncula and at the tomb of St. Francis, and standing where Francis encountered the leper changed my life. That experience planted the seeds of my vocation and showed me that God speaks powerfully through encounters, places, and community. Now, it is a privilege to help create similar opportunities for young people in our province.

In the past three years, one way this vision has come to life has been through the Assisi by the Chesapeake retreat, a three-day gathering for youth on the Chesapeake Bay. Each summer, young people come together to pray, share stories, serve meals, and enjoy being young disciples of Christ. My fellow friars play a big role each year, with at least a dozen joining us to celebrate Mass, lead small groups, offer Confession, play games, and, most importantly, walk with young people on their faith journeys with the warmth and joy of Sts Francis and Clare. My favorite part of the retreat is seeing the Franciscan joy present among both the friars and the young people, the same joy in Christ that inspired me when I was a teenager.

Last year, for the first time, we launched a youth Assisi Pilgrimage, inviting young people to walk physically and spiritually in the footsteps of Sts Francis and Clare. We have already filled up our second pilgrimage for this upcoming July. This pilgrimage is a transformative experience that immerses young people in the heart of our charism. From the holy walls of the Vatican to the quiet caves of the Carceri, from the bustling piazzas of Assisi to the tomb of our Seraphic Father, students and young adults discover the power of place—how stepping into the story of a saint can awaken their own call to holiness. Once again, our friars journey with them, helping each participant reflect on the deeper movements of God within their hearts.

These initiatives remind us that encounter is everything. When young people step out of their routines, place themselves before Christ, and journey with others who love the Gospel, their lives truly change. Some find renewed faith, some experience healing, and some discern a deeper call to serve. And some, inspired by Sts Francis and Clare, may begin to imagine the possibility of religious life.

As a Province, we are deeply grateful to the friars who give their time, the ministries that send their young people, the benefactors who support us, and everyone who prays for these efforts. We ask that you continue supporting these efforts. Encourage the young people you know to take part, come back to Church, deepen their faith, and, if God wills, consider the vocation of a friar or sister. Let’s keep walking with our young Church, trusting that Christ, who called our founders in their youth, still calls today.

New Friary Construction in Northern Uganda

The foundations of a new Franciscan friary in Gulu, Uganda have been laid, paving the way for a larger community of friars to minister in the missionary outpost of the Franciscan Friars Conventual.

“Our mission in Gulu is being built from scratch,” Friar Józef Matuła, OFM Conv. said. “We look forward to offering opportunities for pastoral development, reaching more people in our area, and allowing the mission to grow not only through buildings and infrastructure, but above all, spiritually.”

Friar Józef arrived in Gulu (in the northern region of Uganda) in April 2025. He is helping oversee the construction of the new friary in Gulu, though friars have been living and ministering in southern areas of Uganda for decades.

“We are grateful to see that our mission is growing and brings many wonderful fruits,” Friar Józef said. “Our prayerful presence with all people, our sisters and brothers in our mission, all pastoral and sacramental ministry, catechism and catholic formation, strengthening the faith, raising and discerning new vocations brings so much joy to our missionary life!”

A New Marytown

On an area of about 40 acres in Gulu, tall grasses have been cleared, a deep well dug, and construction begun to open the new site, which was inspired by St. Maximillian Kolbe, OFM Conv.

A saint with a deep devotion to Mary whom he called the “Immaculata,” St. Maximillian Kolbe began the Militia of the Immaculata and envisioned a world where “Marytowns” continued to spread devotion to Jesus through Mary. Franciscans have founded these communities committed to Mary in Poland (Niepokalanow nearby Warsaw), Nagasaki, Japan, and in Libertyville, IL (near Chicago).

Friar Józef envisions the next Franciscan epicenter of Marian devotion in Gulu.

“Saint Maximilian with his great faith and heart wanted also to come to Africa, but because of his sickly health condition and the Second World War made it never happen,” Friar Józef said. “We give thanks to God, that now after many years the dream and prayers of Saint Maximilian, his inspiration brought many brothers Franciscans to this continent and now we are serving in many African countries!”

Hope for the Future

Friar Józef describes Gulu as warm and dry, as compared to Kampala on Lake Victoria in the South, but a rainy season contributes to a lush and colorful landscape. He said most people rely on farming and cattle raising to make a living.

“Every day on such a mission is filled with various organizational and material responsibilities, but we also strive to ensure that this mission grows spiritually and brings blessed fruit to this local Church and everyone we meet here,” he said.

While work is underway on the new friary, the mission friars also dream of building a large Church in the region.

Friar Józef added that through their mission work in Uganda, they have come to see a great devotion to Mary among the people. Especially in a country still recovering from decades of civil war (ended 2008), a center of Marian devotion would be a welcome blessing and promote further healing and reconciliation.

“A Church dedicated to Marian spirituality can bring a very positive, blessed influence and impact on people here and their families,” Friar Józef said.

Donations to the Companions of St. Anthony assist with mission projects in Uganda, through the Franciscan Mission Association.

UNC Chapel Hill Campus Ministry Thrives

“If you build it, they will come.”

Or, in the case of the Newman Catholic Community at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill, if you renovate, even more will come.

When faced with needed improvements to campus ministry infrastructure, Newman’s Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry, Friar Tim Kulbicki, OFM Conv., knew starting a more than $1 million project was a leap of faith.

“God [has] rewarded us with both burgeoning numbers and generous benefactors who often took the initiative in suggesting and funding further projects,” Friar Tim said. “We are now positioned to better minister to both larger numbers of students and increasing involvement in the parish. God bless this community of faith for its hope in the future.”

Phase II of these capital improvements was completed in September – the occasion marked by a rededication ceremony for the main gathering spaces of the Activity Center. The center is now more accessible to students and parishioners with mobility challenges, with ADA compliant facilities and gathering spaces that can more safely and easily accommodate wheelchairs. Additionally, the sound system and electrical capacity of the indoor and outdoor gathering spaces were significantly upgraded.

“This ministry is growing, and these updates will bring the community together even more,” Friar Michael Heine, OFM Conv., said. “We’re blessed to share our Franciscan charism with all who visit there.”

Friar Michael serves as Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province, a branch of the Franciscan Order that ministers in 19 (arch)dioceses of the United States. Friars live and minister in Chapel Hill and the Newman Catholic Community at UNC. Contributions from the Companions of St. Anthony multiply the generosity of the local community in helping this campus ministry to thrive.

“The local parishioners are very dedicated to the students, and the Catholic students reap the benefits of the local community invested in their faith,” Friar Michael said.

The final stage of the renovation project includes replacing the chairs in the Church with pews. These pews are set to be installed in Spring 2026 and the seating capacity in the Church will increase from 315 to 350.

Ken Reeb, Newman’s Finance Council Chair, speaks at rededication ceremony on September 28.

Today’s Invitation from the Canticle of Sir Brother Sun

Reflection by Br. Cristofer Fernandez, OFM Conv.

This year, the Franciscan family and the wider Church family commemorates a triple anniversary—the Jubilee Year of Hope, the 10th Anniversary of Laudato Si’, and the 800th Anniversary of the Canticle of the Creatures. Let’s consider the depth of our foundational Franciscan hymnology – St. Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures – in relation to these other celebrations of 2025 and beyond.

Understanding the Medieval Backdrop of the Canticle

Firstly, most people note how the Canticle identifies Creation as kin, not as object. It is sung praise from the perspective of a man who was an aficionado of knightly chivalry. It’s not a utilitarian inventory of God’s creatures but rather a hymn of praise to God through all creatures and a warning to humanity to live in right relationship with all, offering in a literal sense, orthodoxy or “right praise.”  For Francis, “sister mother earth” was an allusion to a sacred image of the whole community of Creation. His calling non-human creatures sister or brother is a form of spiritual deference, resonant of a courtly sense of family. And this really troubled the early friars of the order. They were baffled by Francis’ Creation mysticism, because never before had a saint related to other creatures as he did. They must have thought he was truly a weirdo! Saints of great virtue had other animals serve and obey them, but not quite in the same miraculous virtue as Francis who not only had an affection for other creatures, but they too reciprocated with loving tenderness. His was a mysticism of ‘true materiality.’ From the warm & fuzzy to the cold & wet, the brothers were existentially challenged by the kinship of St. Francis with the natural world.

A Song of Hope during a Jubilee Year

Important for us to appreciate today is that this as a song of hope, born not in ease but burst out of Francis’ hardship with sickness and nearing death—discovering hope in suffering. In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans (NABRE 5:3-5), we are exhorted to “boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” In Pope Francis’ opening bull for the Jubilee year (Spes non confundit/Hope does not disappoint) we find three echoes from Francis’ Canticle that also remind us of the encyclical teachings of Laudato Si’, On Care for our Common Home:

  1. Endurance or spiritual resilience in the rhythms of life – Pope Francis laments our loss of patience in the ecology of daily life, our rushing past nature’s rhythms and our brushing past one another in our capitalistic penchant for productivity or at times with our inflated craving for instant gratification. He calls patience a “daughter of hope” in his invitation to reflect on Creation’s tempo and tenor. Francis’ vision of Creation as family resonates with the Pope’s critique of speed, exploitation, and disregard for natural rhythms. St. Francis exemplifies patient endurance of life’s ebbs and flows. Whether attending to the needs of Brothers in community, helping with chores and gardening, attending to and accepting his declining health, or paying attention to Brother Sun’s rising and setting, Sister Moon’s calm, and the seasons’ flow, we can learn from his life of intentional and sacred pauses for prayer, humble observation, and creative engagement.
  2. Faith hallmarked by the daily pilgrimage of encounter– When Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year he described it as a collective pilgrimage of hope we embark on as Church, using the active language of encounter: opening doors, reconciling with others, venturing out and leaving comfort— all bearing Franciscan overtones. St. Francis’ goal was to walk as pilgrim and stranger all his religious life, opening doors of peace and solidarity with lepers, with the Sultan, and with non-human creatures.
  3. Justice as the exercise of hope – Pope Francis names addressing impoverishment and hunger, ecological debt and debt forgiveness generally. St. Francis saw evangelical poverty not as curse but as a virtue relational solidarity. Francis of Rome and Francis of Assisi both root hope in justice for the least and the land. A posture of humility before all Creation and our shared common home can allow the Spirit to convict us upon learning about environmental and social injustices and help us reflect in our hearts why working towards peacemaking and the renewal of social friendship, universal fraternity, and the care for Creation is not peripheral but intimately tied to Gospel hope. As social psychology suggests, hope is a function of struggle. Where am I in the struggles of my community and local ecosystem? Am I even in the struggle for the common good?

Building on his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV elaborates in his message for this year’s Season of Creation and the 10th Annual Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation that we’re called to sow Seeds of Peace and Hope in our lives as Catholic Christians. Like seeds, hope begins small and hidden, needing to be nurtured with patience. Pope Leo reminds us that Creation is the garden entrusted to us “to till and to keep” (Gen 2:15). St. Francis lived as cultivator of peace, tending relationships with all beings. The Franciscan cord of integral ecology teaches us that caring for Creation and justice for the poor is inseparable: peace comes when we heal both soil and society. The seeds we plant in our lives—acts of (social/ecological) care, kindness, reconciliation—grow into a peace that is larger than us.

Singing in the right key

In the Canticle, Francis praises even “Sister Death” — showing hope that transcends fear of mortality. Spes non confundit echoes that hope is purified by suffering. The Canticle of Brother Sun is cosmic and universal, reflecting a relational paradigm beyond us in the cosmos and heavens and including us in the sub-lunar dimensions of Creation. Both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV extend the Franciscan vision—ecological care, social justice, debt relief, and peacemaking— suggesting that hope is not just for “me” but for the whole Creation. This Jubilee year of triple anniversaries invites us to live Francis’ Canticle: to let hope sing by our lives, to sow seeds of peace on the pilgrimage of life and walk as strangers no longer.

So, whether we’re planting literal seeds (i.e. gardens, trees, acts of environmental restoration), planting relational seeds (i.e. forgiveness, reconciliation, works of mercy), or planting communal seeds (i.e. advocating for justice, caring for the poor, protecting Sister Mother Earth), we can all play our part in the choir of Creation. The world we are “remaking” and repairing must honor the sacred tension, the sacred question (who do you say that I am) constantly renewed by the Creator Spirit that holds the chords of existence taut by God’s dynamic love—the grey dynamism between divine justice and merciful love—on which the song of Creation hinges, the hidden center of the canticle of life where her musical chords reverberate the ode of perfect joy. The perfect joy experienced by God’s fool, Francis of Assisi, in his exclaiming that “Love is not loved,” in bleating “with tenderness at Greccio’s crib,” in revelry considered “inappropriate” by his confreres, in the animals that revered him, in his composing a mystical Canticle of Brother Sun in the throes of pain, in asking for almond cookies in his last illness, in the laughter and tears that Francis saw as “equally valid functions of the love that flooded his heart” (cf. Mother Mary Frances, PCC). May we walk as pilgrims of hope, singing with Brother Sun and Sister Moon, sowing seeds of peace and hope in God’s garden of Creation.

Br. Cristofer Fernandez serves as co-director of Assumption Food Pantry & Soup Kitchen, Franciscan Northside Ministries in Syracuse, NY and is an adjunct professor of Religion & Ecology, Religious Studies Department at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.

Pilgrimages of Hope to Continue After Jubilee

What began has a Jubilee Year of Hope program at the Shrine of St. Anthony will become a regular offering at the Ellicott City, MD site.

The Shrine offered four Franciscan Pilgrimages of Hope in 2025, each program offering an opportunity for an extended tour of the Shrine, time for Confession and Mass, and an afternoon activity related to the day’s theme.

“These pilgrimages of hope have had a wonderful response and have revealed a true hunger in the people of our local community,” said Friar Gary Johnson, OFM Conv. “By coming to our Shrine during the Jubilee of Hope people are honoring the necessity not only to think holy thoughts but to come to a holy location, to literally walk the way of holiness at our Shrine and campus.”

The Shrine’s resident tour guide, Ray Glennon, OFS, designed and implemented Franciscan Pilgrimages of Hope at the Shrine in response to +Pope Francis’s declaration of 2025 as the Jubilee Year of Hope.

More than 40 pilgrims attended each, with the most popular event in August. More than 100 pilgrims visited the Shrine over two days in which the pilgrimage of hope was offered. The theme of that tour was the life and ministry of St. Maximillian Kolbe, OFM Conv. (Feast Day of August 14). The Shrine of St. Anthony has a relic of St. Maximillian Kolbe and an open-air shrine to the Franciscan saint.

Pilgrimages of Hope for 2026 have already been scheduled. Participation is capped at 50 pilgrims for each event. Interested pilgrims can register on the Shrine website.

  • A Light in the Dark
    • Saturday, March 28, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
    • Theme: St. Clare of Assisi
  • Finding Hope That’s Been Lost
    • Saturday, June 6, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. OR Tuesday, June 9, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
    • Theme: St. Anthony of Padua
  • Hope From Out Mother
    • Saturday, August 15, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. *There will be a Mass for the Assumption at 12 p.m.
    • Theme: St. Maximillian Kolbe
  • Rebuild My Church
    • Saturday, October 3, 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
    • Theme: San Damiano Cross and St. Francis’s Call

The Shrine of St. Anthony welcomes thousands of visitors every year and is a place where pilgrims can find peace and healing. The Shrine is also home to the most significant relic of St. Anthony of Padua in North America. Every Tuesday, Daily Mass attendees receive a special blessing with the relic from the presiding friar.

To schedule your visit to the Shrine, please visit here.

Answering the Call

Friar Franck-Lino Sokpolie, OFM Conv., sent inquiries to two religious orders when he was discerning his call to religious life with the idea that he would trust whoever called him back first. A friar from the Shrine of St. Anthony was the first to call, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I had no anxiety about ordination,” Fr. Franck-Lino said. “I worked hard, I took the classes, and I challenged myself. I’ve done so many things so I could be fully prepared for this ministry.”

Friar Franck-Lino was ordained to the priesthood exactly 12 years to the day after he first entered the community of Franciscan Friars Conventual. Setting the ordination date for July 19, 2025 felt like a divine providence moment, according to the new priest.

Prior to ordination, Fr. Franck-Lino completed a Master of Divinity at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He professed solemn vows with the Franciscan Friars Conventual in 2021 and was ordained a deacon in April 2024.

“People have seen my habit and they’ve called me ‘Father’ already, but ordination brings a spiritual change,” he said. “I’m looking forward to interacting with people in a whole new way – as a spiritual father in the Confessional and in a pastoral setting.” He added he will embrace an open-door policy modeled for him by a pastor in Atlanta. Parishioners seeking help will always be able to find it because the door will (literally) always be open.

Fr. Franck-Lino was born in Togo, West Africa and raised in Europe. About 20 years ago, his family moved to Richmond, Virginia where he first started to feel a call to religious life, particularly as a Franciscan.

“I’m a Franciscan first and a priest second,” he said. “I’m embracing the integration of my Franciscan spirituality and my priesthood.”

Reflecting on 25 Years in Ministry

Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv. still remembers the pewter whale.

As a student at Baltimore’s Archbishop Curley High School, Lasky heard his principal explain that the whale reminded him of Jonah — how God sometimes redirects us toward the shore where we’re truly meant to serve. A similar whale, given to Fr. Michael as a gift at his first profession, sits on his desk today, not in Baltimore, but in Rome, where he now serves as the Franciscans’ global General Delegate for Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation.

On May 20, 2025, Fr. Michael joined four of his closest brothers — Fr. Gary Johnson, OFM Conv., Fr. Pedro de Oliveira, OFM Conv., Fr. Robert Benko, OFM Conv. and Fr. Vincent Rubino, OFM Conv. — to celebrate their Silver Jubilee as Conventual Franciscan priests, each having been ordained together 25 years ago.

Fr. Pedro, raised in the Azores and later Fall River, Mass., described his journey as “a sublime mission” that has taken him across languages and continents.

“We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs,” he reflected, quoting Archbishop Oscar Romero. “The kingdom always lies beyond us.”

Fr. Gary Johnson, now Vicar Provincial and Director of the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, recalled a confessional conversation that sparked his call. “Jesus has found ways to confirm I have been listening and responding to his call,” he said.

Together, the five friars have served in parishes, missions, formation houses, shrines, and international justice ministries. But their friendship and shared vocation remain the constant.

Their lives, like Fr. Michael’s pewter whale, are signs of faith—of listening, letting go, and allowing God to guide them to shores they never imagined.

Breaking the Poverty Chain

In a coastal region of southern Ghana, six women are nearing the end of professional training and educational programs funded by the first of what is hoped to be many rounds of available scholarships for women in the region. Among them are a physician’s assistant, an engineering student, and the only female architect to come from Elmina, Ghana.

“They are trailblazers,” Fr. Joseph Blay, OFM Conv, said of the students. “They are working to serve their community while seeing the value in helping others in the transformation of society.”

Fr. Joe, a native of Ghana, manages the scholarship funds for six women in the Southeastern region of the country thanks to donations provided through the Franciscan Mission Association (FMA), a ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual of the Our Lady of the Angels Province. The six scholarships – three full and three partial – funding education programs for women in Southeastern Ghana, were established thanks to $15,000 in gifts in 2020.

“The intention of this program is to focus on women because when you educate women, you educate their whole family,” Fr. Joe said. “The girls know the value of an education and then can support the education of their children. This is how we break the poverty chain.”

All the women on scholarship today are studying in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related fields. The scholarships cover tuition and fees for students who otherwise would not have been able to afford their education, Fr. Joe said, with sometimes funding just giving families the boost they need to get started.

He added promoting greater gender equality and empowerment for women benefits the entire community, as more often than with men, women remain at home following their education. He said he has been proud to see the women on scholarship today choosing careers that will directly give back to their hometowns and the future generations that live there.

As an example, Linda, the architecture student, is finishing up her architecture degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and has begun creating renderings for a new school in her hometown. The women studying medicine are volunteering in clinics closer to home, as well.

“We are praying we can get more girls on a scholarship,” Fr. Joe said, adding that many more young women in the region are interested. “I think we can do something truly transformational.”

The FMA funds special projects of the Franciscan Friars Conventual as they continue the legacy of St. Francis of Assisi – caring for our poorest brothers and sisters. For more than 100 years, the FMA has supported foreign and domestic missions of the friars and today supports ministries in more than 65 countries.

Fr. Joe has served in Rome as Delegate General for Justice, Peace and Integrity for Creation for the Franciscan Friars Conventual. He has also worked with the Companions of St. Anthony to secure funding for critical medical equipment donated to a clinic he started in his hometown of Jema.

Seeing the Face of Christ

It’ll be a while before Saylor Garcia doesn’t think about what’s for lunch at Assumption Church Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen in Syracuse, New York each day. She lives hundreds of miles away now, having secured a job near Boston, but the kitchen and pantry have left their mark.

Saylor recently finished a year of service with FrancisCorps, volunteering in the kitchen and distribution center. Thousands of vegetables were chopped, but it was the clients that changed her life.

“Getting to encounter the face of Jesus in those who came to receive food almost every day was a true gift,” Saylor wrote in a recent reflection on the FrancisCorps website. “From the person who spoke a different language, to the mother bringing several children to get dinner, to the man who lives in a tent, to the person who just lost their job, and to the kids who came by themselves, they reminded me why I was there. I can only hope they know how much they taught me about God’s endless mercy and love for His children.”

For more than 25 years, FrancisCorps has provided opportunities for volunteers to experience firsthand what it means to live as a Franciscan, serving the community, while also living in community.

A ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province, FrancisCorps continues to invite young men and women to this experience of Gospel life. The goal is helping volunteers turn their year of service into a lifetime committed to living the Gospel in their families, careers, parishes, and communities.

A new cohort of volunteers joined the program in August, shortly after six college graduates completed their service year, including Ali Tregle, who spent her year of service at St. Joseph’s House for Women.

“I learned to slow down and truly see people for who they are, beyond their circumstances, and to hold space for them with gentleness and respect,” Ali wrote in a reflection titled, “When Service Becomes Formation.” She continued, “My time at Joseph’s House strengthened my interpersonal skills in a way that will carry into my career, teaching me how to build authentic connections rooted in compassion and trust.”

Ali is moving on from her year of service into a career as a Provisional Licensed Professional Counselor (PLPC) and will be counseling individuals facing adversity much like those she encountered last year.

“I hope to continue serving God and others through my career, carrying the lessons of mercy, hope, and the inherent dignity of each person into every session I share with those entrusted to my care,” she wrote. “I learned that service often looks like simply being present and listening, and that this, too, can be a profound act of love.”