Members

Our members come from all walks of life.  They are male and female; married, single, and partnered; clergy and laity; young and old; and from a variety of religious traditions.  The Ecumenical Franciscans of the Renewal do not discriminate on any basis whatsoever.

Vocations

Properly speaking, one does not "decide" to join a religious order. Rather one discerns that one is called by God to explore their vocation with a religious order. That discernment is a process, not an event. After exploring the pages of our website, if you believe you may be called to discern your vocation with the Ecumenical Franciscans of the Reneal you may email us at TheEFR@gmail.com. Our vocations director will contact you in due time.

What to Expect

Your discernment process will require patience. Impatience is the primary indication that you are most definitely not ready for religious life. This is one of the reasons we only check our email once a week. After we receive your email regarding vocation, you can expect that we will enter into a period of several days of prayer before responding.

Our first response will be to send you a copy of the Rule of Life and an application. We request that you prayerfully review the Rule and then prayerfully complete the application. You may return the application by email. You will also be required to have a criminal background check. There is a fee for this service. After we receive your completed application, we will again enter into a period of prayerful discernment after which we will contact the references you have listed on your application. Incomplete applications will be returned.

The next stage in the process will be an interview with the Vocations Director or their designee. This interview will be a telephone interview. After your telephone interview, the individual who interviewed you will report to the vocations committee. You will then be contacted regarding the next step in your discernment process, which may be either continued discernment regarding your call follwed by another interview or entry into further discernment as a postulant for the novitiate.

Postulants are received into the novitiate twice a year, during Liberation Conversation in Hartford, CT and during the General Assembly of the Universal Anglican Church, usually held in Milwaukee, WI. On rare occasions and under extenuating circumstances, alternative arrangements made be made for entrance to the novitiate.

The novitiate usually lasts one year. During the novitiate year the novice is assigned a mentor and extensive formation takes place. During the last six months of the novitiate the mentor reports to the Vocations Director regarding the novice's preparedness to profess first vows. If the novice and mentor feel the novice is not ready to profess first vows, the novitiate may be extended to a maximum length of three years. At the end of three years if an individual is not ready to profess first vows it is considered that their vocation does not lie with the Ecumenical Franciscans of the Renewal.

After three years of professing annual vows, the member has the option of professing life vows or else continuing to profess annual vows.

St Francis - a Tree Hugger?

It would be too easy to make Francis the medieval man into a modern day Tree Hugger. Some have tried to do this. The "hat" does not fit. Too often some relate to Francis as a type of Dr. Doolittle who can perform all sorts of tricks with nature; others have relegated him to the birdbath! This is not the Francis of history.

Francis did not have a sense of the ecological "crisis" as we have; that goes without saying! Nor would be approve that attitude that seeks to "save the planet" so that there is something left for our children and grandchildren. That would have been an human-centred approach for Francis. It leaves God totally out of the picture. Terms like "environmental sustainability"/ "eco-systems"/ "extinction of the species" would mean little to Francis.

The Solution of Francis

Some have asked: what would Francis do or say if he lived today? How would be react to the current ecological crises facing our planet?

Look firstly at your attitudes and behaviors.....
Francis was aware of human sinfulness; he had a sense of his own sinfulness and knew well the causes of unhappiness and much of human suffering. Francis understood that the root causes of environmental destruction are to be found in attitudes of avarice, ignorance and pride. He knew that much of human misery came about because of these sins.

How often has it not been said that the "evils of globalization" are due to sheer greed? Or that the "multinationals" see themselves as "buying-off" the resources they need to expand? Or that the "wealth of the First World is built on the poverty of the Third World"? Pride and arrogance go hand in hand; is not that the attitude of those who rape the environment for their own ends?

Cultivate the virtue of humility.....
Francis was known for his humility. This is not a popular word in our dictionary! Who wants to be "humble"; yet, the word originates from the Latin humus, which means "of the earth". The humble are close to the earth with feet firmly fixed on the ground and know who they are and where they stand. They see themselves as part of the "whole," dependent on the environment for their survival.

Above all, in Francis' understanding, the humble are upright people, who live with integrity and see themselves as a creature, not as a 'creator'.

Seek unity with God and with all creation.....
Francis, the medieval mystic, captured the essential truth that all of us are reliant on the environment for our survival in his own unique way. He had that innate sense that his life and being were intimately connected with every other being but especially his fellow human being. He "transgressed" the borders that separated rich from poor/ Muslim from Christian Crusader/ the outcast from those in the town/ men from women.....

Because of his person and his lifestyle, so firmly fixed on the Gospel of Jesus, literally thousands came to follow him, from every walk of life and from every part of Christendom of that time.

So, is it not surprising that today, the message of Francis of Assisi, speaks not only to Christians, but often to people of every major world religion.

At the core of Francis' spirituality, was not some pseudo-new-age style, but his firm belief in the Oneness of God: that only in and through God is the whole of creation united and connected and that in Jesus Christ, all are equal in the sight of God. For Francis, Jesus was his "brother, his friend and companion." So was every human person.

St Francis was not an environmentalist in our sense of the word but, he was a mystic who was deeply in communion with his own environment. His influence endures to this day and his followers, Franciscans of every walk of life, are often involved in environmental action.

Francis and Nature

St Francis of Assisi is known throughout the world as a lover of nature. Many artistic portrayals of the Saint connect him with the environment. It was not surprising then, that the Pope declared him the Patron Saint of the Environment in 1979. Why in the 21st Century, in the midst of global pollution and warming, expanding holes in the ozone layer and massive devastation of our planet's eco-systems, do we look to a 13th century man to give us guidance and inspiration?

Long before the environment became an issue, Francis saw human beings abusing nature.

In what could be the first "ecological statement" outside the Bible, Francis said this:
"These creatures minister to our needs every day; without them we could not live and through them the human race greatly offends the Creator every time we fail to appreciate so great a blessing." - Legend of Perugia 43

There is no doubt that he demonstrated an affinity with nature and with the animal kingdom.

Many of the old medieval legends about St Francis speak of his ability to communicate with nature in an extraordinary way. There is the famous story of how he tamed the man-eating wolf that terrorised the citizens of the small village of Gubbio. Or the occasion when near the village of Bevagna he preached to the birds. We are told he even lifted worms from his path so that they would not be trodden upon.

Francis' regard was not just for animals. Toward the end of his life, as he was going blind, the doctors had prescribed applying a red-hot poker to his forehead. As the poker was being brought from the fire to be applied to his frail body, he prayed, "My Brother Fire, that surpasses all other things in beauty, the Most High created you strong and beautiful and useful. Be kind to me in this hour; be courteous." It was during this period, in his last days while he lay sick and dying, that this great 13th Century mystic composed that most famous poem dedicated to God and Nature, known as The Canticle of All Creatures.