(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Summer 2025  Issue #116)

by Jerome Wolbert, OFM

National Spiritual Assistant

How would you describe spiritual assistance to someone who is not a Secular Franciscan? I have to answer this even for a lot of the friars that I try to recruit to serve. To help someone understand quickly, we have to be nearly complete, very concise, and entirely correct. Think of a priest you know who has never served as a spiritual assistant – what would you say to try to recruit him?

What

You might start with the things you see a spiritual assistant do – attend meetings of the fraternity, its council, and initial formation sessions; serve on the council but not voting in elections or financial issues; provide spiritual input and oversee formation and the spiritual/liturgical life of the fraternity. But the most important role is to “guarantee” the Franciscan charism of the fraternity, which speaks to how we serve as much as what we do.

How

Spiritual assistants are not supposed to be directive, although sometimes they must direct. They should support the fraternity, but they also have to challenge its members. Spiritual and pastoral assistance has to be kind, but there are times when the lost sheep has to be found, and there are times they don’t want to be told they are wandering away, especially when they drag or push others.

Listening is an important part of spiritual and pastoral assistance. Therefore, the assistant listens and helps others to listen – and to voice their messages in a way that they are more likely to be heard.

Who

Part of the role of the spiritual assistant is the relationship. We think immediately of someone to make sure the fraternity is connected with the friars, but this relationship is more than facilitating a connection. Canon Law (CIC 303) requires the friars to provide an altius moderamen for each fraternity, a “higher moderation” or outside perspective.

Have you ever been part of a group that got waylaid by one charismatic member? I know this never happens in our fraternities (smile), but maybe in a different type of group. The Church insists that every association of the faithful needs this outside moderation, someone to come in from outside to provide a check to “guarantee the Franciscan charism.” Just as a referee can’t be part of a team on the field, the assistant is someone outside the fraternity who walks with the fraternity. The shepherd is not a sheep but walks with them. This is part of our answer to “who” can be a spiritual assistant.

Accountability

The “outside” part of this requirement shows that this is a kind of accountability – checks and balances. Where only one group is “ruling,” there is less chance to catch mistakes or make sure that different voices are heard. We not only see this in government, but in the Church, as well. We have checks and balances – or outside moderation.

Relationships

In March, the CNSA set forth instructions for the implementation of one of the international statutes that has implications for around three dozen local fraternities and half of our regional fraternities: A Secular Franciscan cannot be appointed Spiritual Assistant to his/her own Fraternity at any level (IS 78.2).

While some people have argued this disrespects the service of many OFS members, I hope you see in this article that the question of “who” and the relationships we have are important and should not be set aside just because we lack a friar. In fact, IS 78.1 sets in law that it is permissible for an OFS member to serve as a spiritual assistant – something which the General Spiritual Assistants were hesitant to allow ten years ago.

(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Summer 2025  Issue #116)

 by Bret Thoman, OFS

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us

that we may be called the children of God.”

(1 John 3:1)

What does it mean to be a child of God? It means relating to God, to ourselves, and to others in a deeply sacred manner. It is a mature identity we assume when we become utterly convinced that we are sons or daughters of God the Father through adoption in Jesus Christ. We reach this new identity when we accept that we were created by God the Father, he loves us passionately, knows us intimately, and will provide for us in every circumstance.

This way of relating to others is especially dear to us as Secular Franciscans, in the example of our Seraphic Father. St. Francis, as we know, related to all people and all created things in a way that was fraternal. Believing in faith that all people (and all creation) were created by a loving Father, he could not help but see other people and created things as his brother or sister, that is, fraternally.

When we relate to God and others in this way, it changes everything. Because we have accepted that only God is omnipotent, we admit our limits. In the words of St. Francis, we recognize that “what we are before God, that we are, nothing more” – and I would add, “and nothing less.”

Consequently, we become gentler with ourselves. Moreover, we see others differently. We respond to them with more grace. We do not judge. We recognize that they, too, are fragile like us. It is easier to forgive, as we acknowledge that we are all wounded at some level.

When we recognize our sonship in God, we become aware of our place – the place he has provided for us. We are part of something much greater than ourselves.

This is certainly true regarding the Church universal. Since I was led to convert to Catholicism some thirty years ago, I have been deeply grateful for this gift.

So, when the recent papal conclave was underway, I deeply desired to be present. By chance (providentially?), the day I went to Rome was May 8th, the day the first US born pope was chosen.

We arrived a little after noon just after having missed the first wisp of black smoke rise from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel. While we waited for the next ballot, we entered St. Peter’s and walked down the right aisle, pausing at the tombs of Sts. John Paul II and John XXIII. My eyes welled with emotion as I considered the great pontiffs we have been blessed with in our lifetimes.

I continued past the magnificent Bernini canopy over the confessio and tomb of St. Peter, recalling St. Peter’s “confession” that Jesus is the Messiah. Then we continued along the left aisle, among more tombs of earlier popes and pontiffs. As I walked out of the Basilica, I felt so grateful to be part of our Roman Church, with so many diverse popes.

Finally, in the late afternoon, just as we were considering leaving St. Peter’s (it was getting late, and we had a 3-hour drive home) white smoke came out of the chimney. Just over an hour later, a pope born in the U.S. stepped out onto the balcony.

Pope Leo XIV – Signed Photo

There are some days we will never forget. That was one of them. I couldn’t have been more proud and grateful for the gift of our Church.