Article by Brian McLaren and Patrick Carolan
At AFC 2021, Brian McLaren, the keynote presenter, broke open the concept of a Franciscan Renaissance. In January of 2023, Brian McLaren and Patrick Carolan; former executive director of the Franciscan Action Network, cowrote an article that was published in Red Letter Christians.
Neither of us are professed Franciscans. Our deep love and understanding of Franciscan spirituality came from our work and relationships with Franciscan sisters and friars in the US and across the World. When we talk about a Franciscan Renaissance, we are not referring to otherworldly piety and escapist rituals or propping up the status quo of Franciscan institutions. Rather, we advocate a Franciscan Renaissance centered in the spirit of St. Clare and St. Francis, embodied in their examples, further explored in the works of brilliant Franciscan theologians like Blessed John Dun Scotus.
McLaren & Carolan, 2023