(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall 2025  Issue #117) Meet your 2026 Q Planning Committee. (Pictured from left to right) Br. Bob Brady, OFM; Cathy Roszhart, OFS Joe Edwards, OFS; Susan Ronan, OFS Jim Graczyk, OFS; Claudia Kauzlarich, OFS Diane Menditto, OFS; Jane DeRose-Bamman, OFS What does it...

               Jesus comes with a new order of things, the Sermon on the Mount.  It’s more than a collection of moral directives, a profound declaration of the moral nature of the Kingdom, intended to shape the lives of His followers.  It’s the crucial role in Christian ethics, and offers a radical re-definition of...

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall 2025  Issue #117) By Sharon Winzeler, OFS • Communications Committee Chair As part of their National Chapter, on Friday, September 12th, members of the Secular Franciscan Order set aside time for a half-day pilgrimage to St. Anthony Shrine in Ellicott City, MD....

by Kathy Vore, OFS Photo by Kathy Vore, OFS Italy joyfully celebrates every Christmas season from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany, January 6, unlike the American Catholic Church, which celebrates Epiphany on the nearest Sunday.  Italians recognize Epiphany as a national holiday. As American Secular Franciscans, my husband...

“And as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  Nelson Mandella’s 1994 Inaugural Address as President of South Africa Father’s Homily – video Father’s Homily – text

The...

Lay religious groups have been around the Catholic Church for centuries, but are little known.  They include the Secular Franciscan Order, Benedictine Oblates, and Lay Dominicans. Their members make simple professions rather than vows and commit to daily prayer, ongoing formation, community gatherings, and ministry. Members bring the spirituality of...

By Kathleen Molaro, OFS • National YouFra Commission Chair A story by Anthony De Mello, Jesuit priest, spiritual writer, and teacher, seems to define where we are in the process of introducing YouFra to the United States The explorer returned to his people, who were eager to know about the...

What does Jesus see when He sees?  Seeing is a physical act.  It notices outward appearances.  Seeing is also a mental act.  It evaluates people and places them in social categories the mind uses.  But seeing is also a spiritual act.  It is aware of the spiritual nature of people. ...

By Mary Frances Charsky, OFS International Councilor, OFS-USA Mary Francis Charsky, International Councilor Our OFS Rule Article 5 reminds us that the heart of our vocation is encounter. As Secular Franciscans, we are called to seek the living and active presence of Christ in our brothers and sisters, in sacred...

Fr. Marek Stybor, OFM Conv., Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM , Fr. John DeLaRiva, OFM Cap. and (virtually) Mary Frances Charsky, OFS, Fr. Christopher Panagoplos, TOR and Corinne Lorenzet, OFS with Friar novices and formaters at San Lorenzo Novitiate, Santa Ynez, California. During the week of January 25-30, the CNSA Friars...

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall 2025  Issue #117) By Joe Makley, OFS • JPIC Animator Our JPIC Award recipient for 2025 is Carolyn Townes, OFS. Carolyn has had a long and impactful history as the National JPIC Animator for over ten years, and currently serves on the...

Jesus’ message, “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.”  More than sorrow for sin, repent calls for a change of mind, not just in an intellectual sense, but a change involving a transformation of attitude at a deep, personal level, to be prepared to look at one’s life...

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall 2025  Issue #117) Continued: Fr. Jerome also cautioned against relying too heavily on niceness and surface gestures, but instead, offering our neighbors true compassion. “You don’t need to be smiling all the time,” he said. “Smiles have their place, but sometimes others...

Standing united, we bear witness to the love of the Father revealed in Christ.  We fulfill the prayer of Jesus, who asked the Father “that all may be one,” so that the world may believe.  We recognize today that we share real, if imperfect, unity. Father’s Homily – video Father’s...

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall Issue 117) By Sharon Winzeler, OFS • Communications Committee Chair From daily Mass to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, prayer was an essential element at the 2025 National Chapter at the Bon Secours Retreat Center in Marriottsville, Maryland, and was led by...

All members of the Franciscan family are invited to subscribe to CIOFS e-newsletter and be informed of the events planned to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the transitus of St. Francis of Assisi as well as other news.  You can subscribe by clicking on this link. Included in the newsletter...

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall 2025  Issue #117)  “For His praise, I wish to compose a new hymn about the Lord’s creatures, of which we make daily use, without which we cannot live, and with which the human race greatly offends its Creator.”   St. Francis of Assisi,...

All of us are the chosen ones.  Not “them and us,” not “one race and the exclusion of others.”  In wonder and gratitude, the mystery reveals, manifests, that in God’s eyes all people are equal. Father’s Homily – video Father’s Homily – text

The Gospel Through a Franciscan Lens –...

By Corinne Lorenzet, OFS National Executive Council In early December 2025, one of the daily gospel readings was from Matthew 7:24-25 “…like a wise man who built his house on rock…it did not collapse because it had been built solidly on rock.”. Article 4 of our Rule, placed at the...

 by Sharon Winzeler, OFS  Committee Chair (This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Fall 2025  Issue #117) Fr. Tomas, Church witness, Ana Maria, election presider, and Kim Pappas, election secretary. The National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States (NAFRA) concluded its 2025 Chapter with the election...