From the National Office
Federation Announces Leadership Transition
The Federation has announced that Sara Marks, its first lay executive director, will resign on September 30, 2024, after more than two years in the role. Sara is stepping down to focus on completing her doctoral dissertation and expanding her consulting business. During her tenure, she led key initiatives, including an administrative reorganization, a website redesign, and the implementation of a donor database and online donation platform. She also secured significant grants and built strong partnerships within and outside the organization.
Our current Associate Director, Eunice Park, has been appointed as Interim Executive Director effective September 1, 2024. Eunice has already made significant contributions to the Federation, such as launching this newsletter, growing our social media presence, coordinating our Commissions and Networks, and supporting various outreach initiatives. Eunice will continue to lead during the transition period to oversee upcoming events, as well as our continued growth of new members and the creation of new programs.
The Federation plans to begin a national search for a new Executive Director in the coming weeks, focusing on the organization’s future needs and insights gained from recent transformation efforts.
Federation Board Changes
The Federation Board held a meeting from August 22-24, graciously hosted by the Aston Franciscans. During this gathering, the Board bid farewell to four longstanding members who played pivotal roles in guiding the Federation through its 2021-2024 transformation. These members extended their service to ensure a successful transition for the organization:
- Sr. Suzanne Kush, President
- Sr. Joyce Shanabarger, Vice President
- Fr. Frank Scornaienchi, Treasurer
- Sr. Kathy Warren
The Federation expresses deep gratitude to Suzanne, Joyce, Frank, and Kathy for their years of dedication and service. At the same meeting, the Federation welcomed new Board members and elected new officers for 2024-2025:
- Jeanne Connolly, President
- Darleen Pryds, Vice President
- Sr. Jeanne Bessette, Secretary
- Michael Fenn, Treasurer
New Board members also include Sr. Michelle Balek, Sr. Celeste Crine, Fr. Mike Higgins, Sr. Sandra Lyons, Kevin Ryan, and Betsy Savare. The new Board of Directors is committed to leading the Federation into this new time in the spirit of Francis, Clare, and our many congregational founders.
Member Spotlight
Hello! My name is Kelly Moltzen and I live in Washington. D.C. I have felt part of the Franciscan family since my days as a teenager with Capuchin Youth & Family Ministries in Garrison, NY, where the tagline was “Make Faith Your Own.” St. Francis’ focus on the poor and the environment – as well as his peacemaking efforts with the Muslim sultan during the Crusades – have always attracted me to the tradition and guided me on my journeys in public health, food systems, and interfaith dialogue. I professed as a Secular Franciscan in 2018, co-founded the Interfaith Public Health Network in 2019, and continually find ways to make faith my own – engaging in work around Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation, Ecumenical/Interfaith collaboration, and intergenerational efforts to unite the energy and wisdom of younger Franciscan-hearted individuals with those who are more seasoned in the faith. I have felt supported and encouraged in doing this work through the Franciscan Federation over the past few years, especially through the JPIC Commission which I now co-chair, being part of the core group of the Intergenerational Eco-Justice and Spirituality Network, and participating in the Emergent Group. Finding new ways to live out our faith in the present time is so important for building community today while also recognizing that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. I have been happy to find the Franciscan Federation putting words into action and living out the faith in ways that I believe St. Francis would have us do.
Events
Listening and Learning
There’s still time to register for our last two L&L events of the year! We have one more in-person and one more online event. These gatherings are great opportunities to share, meet other members, and help shape the future of the Federation! Our in-person gathering will be held in Racine, WI on September 21-22 and the online gathering will be on Zoom on October 12th. Please join us if you can, the details and registration information is on our website.
Join Us in Celebrating our Transformation Journey
By: Jeanne Connolly, Chair of the Year of Listening and Learning Committee. Jeanne is a member of the Franciscan Federation Board of Directors, serves as the Director of Charism and Mission with the Wheaton Franciscans, and has been a Covenant Companion with the Wheaton Franciscans for more than 27 years.
“Life is a journey, and the key to a happy journey lies in celebrating each step along the way.” – Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and It’s All Small Stuff (1997)
Mark your calendars and plan to attend the Franciscan Federation Membership Forum on Saturday, November 16, 2024, via Zoom (from 1pm – 5pm Eastern Time / 12pm – 4pm Central / 11am – 2pm Mountain / 10am – 1pm Pacific).
The purpose of the special gathering is to celebrate and inspire. The theme is Our Mutual Call to Leadership of the Ever-evolving Gospel Way of Life. Sr. Mary Beth Ingham, CSJ, will offer the keynote address.
This special event is the capstone of our Year of Listening and Learning and will celebrate the Franciscan Federation’s Transformation process to date. Our time together will be one of sharing what the Federation has accomplished and learned, as insights and inspiration for shared leadership, as Federation members strive to lead an ever-evolving way of life inspired by the third Order Regular, St. Francis and Clare, and the early lay penitents of Assisi. It will be a time to meet the new board members and to express our deepest gratitude to members of the board departing after years of faithful service.
Although the event will be open to all interested people, a discount will be provided to current Federation members. Remember, if your Canonical Community is a member of the Franciscan Federation, every vowed member who belongs to that unit enjoys membership benefit. Likewise, if your Associate community has joined the Federation, every Associate (Companion, Cojourner, Affiliate, etc.) who belongs to that community enjoys full membership benefits. For more information on membership, please visit our website.
Annual Virtual Retreat – Save the Date!
The Member Engagement Commission is busy planning the 2025 Franciscan Federation Retreat. Our first retreat earlier this year was filled with inspirational speakers and connections with Franciscans of every type. The 2025 retreat will be no different! There will be two dates for the retreat, each with the same content. So if you can’t attend one, you can enjoy the other. The retreats will be held on: January 26th (1pm – 4pm Eastern Time / 12pm – 3pm Central / 11am – 2pm Mountain / 10am – 1pm Pacific) and February 23rd (3pm – 6pm Eastern Time / 2pm – 5pm Central / 1pm – 4pm Mountain / 12pm – 3pm Pacific). Registration forms will be available soon. We look forward to seeing you!
Franciscan Thoughts…
A Year of Ministry at the United Nations: A Conventual Friar Interns at Franciscan International
By: Cristofer Fernández, OFM Conv., a member of the Franciscan Federation’s Emergent Group. He is a friar of Our Lady of the Angels Province and serves at Franciscan Northside Ministries in Syracuse, NY as well as on the province’s JPIC commission.
Prior to professing solemn vows, Franciscan friars in formation typically have a “pastoral” year experience out of an active friary with solemnly professed friars. In my province, we call it the “Fraternal Apostolic Year.” In addition to the intellectual and spiritual formation received up to this point in initial formation, the fraternal apostolic experience, as the name suggests, is an opportunity for a young friar to deepen their learning of how to integrate both the fraternal and ministerial elements of full-time ministry into their life of active contemplation.
This past year, in addition to ministering most of the week at our parish in Brooklyn, NY, I had the opportunity to intern part-time at Franciscans International (FI)—an NGO with a mandate on behalf of the Franciscan Family to advocate for human dignity and environmental justice at the United Nations through a rights-based approach. From our Manhattan based office, I was able to augment my fraternal-apostolic year with this special opportunity to support FI’s mission through promotion of our work, outreach, and collaboration with Franciscan organizations and all people of good will. Under the supervision of a Capuchin friar and in virtual coordination with most of our staff based in Geneva, I was able to assist with communications, programmatic planning and logistical organization, and also participate in advocacy forums in the UN community.
One of the highlights of my year was being able to resume coordination of a Franciscan presence at the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This year I helped recruit 9 Franciscan women of different backgrounds to come represent the Franciscan Family at CSW68 for a couple of days, to learn about global women’s issues, and to offer their input for future engagement. Together we asked, how can we co-create a more maternal and life-giving world?
Overall, I was very moved by the whole gathering, particularly the formal and informal opportunities for fraternizing and faith sharing. Among the comments shared, one thought rang clear: “If St. Francis was alive today, he’d be going to the Commission on the Status of Women,” said Felician Sister, Maryann Mueller, CSSF. It resonated with me that the witness of Francis’ life paid special care to the plight of women and girls living in impoverished conditions, in addition to weaving in the feminine into the essence of Franciscanism. It occurred to me, that despite the goal having been to welcome Franciscan women to CSW, Franciscan men very well should have participated, as well! Being the largest diplomatic forum held at UN Headquarters on gendered issues, the CSW has become a crucial space for strategizing around sustainable development goals. As the UN representative for the Loretto Community put it: “CSW isn’t just for women, it’s for men, too! Our brothers ought to know that women’s issues are also men’s issues.”
So, as it turned out, my apostolic year experience was truly Franciscan in its fraternal and sororal nature! Most people don’t realize the breadth of work many Catholic and faith-based NGO’s do at the UN to help secure the common good internationally—like the Religious at the UN (RUN) and the Justice Coalition of Religious (JCoR). Although this component of my year was more professional ministry than it was typical “pastoral” ministry, I found that it enriched my own Franciscan vocation with a wider exposure to the Franciscan family and to Church advocacy work in the international arena. It is a rare and special occasion when we gather together as members of different branches and obediences of the Order, let alone get the opportunities to work with each other, in person (and not over zoom). I felt blessed by the various friars, sisters, seculars, ecumenical society members, and Franciscan hearted friends I met this year in our collaborative efforts of offering a collective Franciscan voice to the world of diplomats. Together with the skills I was able to exercise, I can’t think of a better ministry than FI for an intersectional space for witnessing to Gospel peace and goodness. I certainly won’t forget this experiential ministry of presence at the UN!
A Time for Radical Encounter
By: Lori Winther, a Chicago-based consultant who works with the Franciscan Network for Migrants and other groups who make grants to migrant-serving and other organizations in Latin America. She can be contacted at loriwinther6156@gmail.com.
Now strong and courageous
Before you, fearful and solitary
We are so similar and so different
Two worlds separate us.
The dream that we will be two consoles my understanding.
Reality comes to me until I reach my limit.
I become: desperation, tears, and cries.
Everything here crumbles.
Before you, strong and courageous, now alone, alone, we are you and me.
A me that will never leave me.
A you that completes me.
–The Threshold, by Joao Paulo Gabriel OFM
St. Francis calls us to a life of encounter with the most vulnerable and despised in our midst. For most of my own life, I’ve struggled to follow the path of true encounter. It is not easy to find ways to express solidarity and comfort for those who, like the leper that Francis encountered, are rejected by society. The words never seem appropriate, and actions are never enough.
In my service with the Franciscan Network for Migrants, in my time as a volunteer at La 72 Migrant Shelter in México, and now with the family of asylum-seekers who share my home, the deepest encounters with migrant people have come in the form of listening. Oftentimes a person who is being forced from their homeland simply wants to tell the story of their journey. To fully encounter the other requires compassion, and compassion springs forth when we understand the journey that has led a person to our door.
In our fractured and hostile world, encounter provides a path for us to become fully and completely human, in full presence with another person, listening, understanding, and appreciating their humanity.
