A Diaconate Ordination: Behind the Scenes

It was 4 o’clock in the morning. I was wide awake and could not go back to sleep. It was the day of my diaconate ordination. In about 6 hours the bishop would be laying his hands on me, invoking the Holy Spirit to empower me to assume this ministry that has existed since the time of the apostles. Although I had been a Franciscan friar for almost 10 years by this time, and had professed my solemn vows two years prior, I was still filled with trepidation. The clerical status (that of priests and deacons) is such a highly visible, public ministry in the Catholic church. I wasn’t sure I could take on that tremendous responsibility. I doubted my worthiness of such an important, holy office.

I tried watching something on TV. It did little to ease my anxiety, so I decided to walk out of the house. There was a meditation chapel next to the friary on the grounds of the Franciscan Renewal Center. I was starting to walk over there when I noticed a cozy, peaceful-looking ramada. The sky was softly lit up by the early light of dawn. Beautiful desert vegetation surrounded the ramada. The birds were chirping. The early fall air felt cool on my skin. I had always prayed better when i was out in nature. I made a turn and started walking toward the ramada.

I sat there in quiet for awhile, taking in all the beauty around me. Then I started saying my prayer. I could only mutter one sentence, over and over again: “I’m scared, Lord.” Plus the sobbing. For the last few days I had been so busy preparing for the ordination. I also had to introduce myself to the community, which meant lots of smiling and shaking hands. Little did I know that I had been suppressing all the nervousness, anxiety, and other unpleasant emotion. It was only then that I could open the flood gate and let all the raw emotion come out.

Then the sun started to appear in the horizon. I could feel its warmth on my face. I paused my lamentation. Suddenly I remembered one of my favorite songs, Rawn Harbor’s rendition of Psalm 27: The Lord is My Light and My Salvation. Finding a new strength, I started walking back to the house. There, I pulled out my Bluetooth speaker, searched for the song on my phone, and played it in full volume. I jumped in the shower and sang along. The belting out of the cantor, along with fresh, warm water, gave me a bit of energy.
 


After I got dressed, I went out go get coffee. A friend of mine sent me a Starbucks gift card with a generous amount of credits. I decided to finally give Pumpkin Spice Latte, that great American fall tradition, a try. I splurged and ordered a grande. Then I sat there for awhile and did more reflection. I looked back at my past life, of all the things that had been helpful to my vocation, and some that had served more as a distraction. When I checked my watch, it was time to get back.

Around 9 AM, I walked into the church. The choir was practicing and the sacristans were preparing the space. A couple of guests who had come early greeted me. I still had a little anxiety and didn’t feel like greeting a lot of people. So I went into hiding in the Blessed Sacrament chapel. It also always felt cooler there than in the church. I knew I was going to sweat a lot. I naturally do anyway, but this time it was further exacerbated by my nervousness. I thought sitting there would calm and cool me down.

That sense of calm and cool didn’t last very long. I had to go back to the seemingly warm church. The bishop was already there, so my anxiety went up. Then it was time to line up for the entrance procession. In my nervousness I neglected to say hi to my brother friars who had come to support me and were lining up in front of me. I only remembered making a special request if one of them, who had been a good friend to me, could sit next to me during mass. Maybe he could catch me if I fainted.

Somebody gave us the sign to start the procession. I forced my legs to move. As I stepped into the worship space, the choir was still singing the prelude. It was Chris Muglia’s “You Are Welcome Here.” 

Come all you wounded and weary
Come all you heavy of heart
Come with your fear and your burden
Come with your pain and your scars

You are welcome here, come as you are
You are welcome here with open arms
Bring your burdens, bring your pain
Bring your sorrow and shame
You are welcome here, come as you are.

I choked back my tears. I looked away from the assembly in an attempt to hide them. I cried because at that moment I really felt embraced lovingly by God. It was as if the words of that song were directed specifically to me. I was the one with the heavy heart. I was the one filled with fear, sorrow and shame. How could a man like me be a deacon of Christ? Yet God was saying to me, through the community in their song: “Come as you are!”

I wiped my tears and turned my head back toward the assembly. My heart, my steps felt lighter. I found it easier to crack a smile. The rest of the mass seemed like a breeze, despite problems with the AC and trying to keep my stole in place. As I laid prostrate during the Litany of Saints, I tried to imagine all the saints mentioned surrounding me, especially Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI who had just been canonized a week earlier. But somehow it also came to my mind all the migrants that had died on our southern border. I vividly remembered a photo of  one of them, a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador named Josseline. I also remembered Richard Purcell, a friar who helped me a lot during formation and died not long after I finished novitiate. Again, I felt a little strengthened knowing that all these people, on earth and in heaven, were supporting me.

Some of my old friends from my years with the Indonesian Catholic young adult group in Los Angeles traveled the long distance to be with me. Their presence reminded me of what prompted me to walk this path into priesthood for the first time. It was the time I had spent with them, praying, singing, sharing our faith, feasting, serving, and laughing that inspired me to want to dedicate all my life to the Church. We can barely call ourselves young adults now. Some of them even have already had kids.

A couple of days later I finally had time to open all the congratulatory cards. One of them had a piece of paper attached. On it was something scribbled by one of my friends' kids. My friend told me that on that long road trip from California, his kid had been busy flipping through the pages of his Bible, trying to find something to write for me. My tears began to flow as I was reading it. It was the perfect prayer for what I experienced that morning of my ordination. Through a 7-year-old, I was reminded that God had been with me throughout that very special day, and all my journey that got me this far.

Friar Sam Nasada joined the friars in 2009, professed solemn vows in 2016, and received his Master of Divinity degree from the Franciscan School of Theology in 2017. He was ordained to the diaconate in October 2018 and currently serves at the Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, AZ.

Franciscan Friars

Office of Vocations

1500 34th Ave.

Oakland, CA 94601

Phone:  (408) 903-3422 of (510) 821-4492

Email:  vocations@sbofm.org

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SBFranciscans

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/SBFranciscans

Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

Franciscans = Great Lovers

"Death of St. Francis" by Giotto, Bardi Chapel, Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy

This reflection was given during a Transitus service commemorating the death of St. Francis on October 3, 2017 at St. Francis Mission Church in Elfrida, AZ. 

A friend of mine once asked me, “Can you pick one word to describe what Franciscans are all about?” At first I wanted to say, “Humility!” But then I thought, “That won’t be a very humble thing to say.” So I paused and thought hard. Then it came to me: Lovers! We, Franciscans, are great lovers! I will explain why in a minute. But to understand why, we need to go back to the man who started it all: St. Francis of Assisi.

Francis was born around 1182 in a small Italian town of Assisi. He was the son of a cloth merchant, in a family that had money. Francis had no problem spending his time and money for food, drinks, and parties. He liked being the center of attention. To gain more fame, he wanted to become a knight, going to battles and win an honor for his own name. Unfortunately, during one such battle, he was captured by the enemy and imprisoned for a period of time.

There are many versions of what happened next. Some said God talked to Francis in a dream. Another said he heard Jesus talking through a crucifix. But they all seemed to agree on something: Francis went through a profound conversion. I personally like the version that came from Francis’ own writing. In what is called his Testament, he wrote:
“The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, thus to begin doing penance in this way: for when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them and I showed mercy to them. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body. And afterwards I delayed a little and left the world.”

Francis, in his own word, attributed his conversion to an encounter with the lepers. At that time, lepers, people who were sick with leprosy, were considered outcast. They had to move out and live outside the city. Nobody wanted to do anything with them. But it was this experience that turned Francis’ life around. He began to embrace them as his brothers and sisters. Not only that, he embraced all God’s creation, like the sun and the moon, as his brothers and sisters too. We heard that in the song earlier. He considered all of them brothers and sisters because he was able to see that we were all created by God in Jesus Christ. We are all related. We are all brothers and sisters of Jesus.

And because we all came from God, Francis loved everyone and everything. He saw the world as good, just as God saw all creation as good in the story we find in the book of Genesis. He loved the world because he believed that was the reason God created everything. The love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit was so great that it poured out into the world and everything in it. And God the Father sent his only Son first and foremost because God so loved the world. Christ became human because he loved us and wanted to be with us. That was the primary reason. Not to condemn us because we’ve been bad. Not to fix us because we’ve been broken. But to show how he loved us.

Francis fell in love with this kind of loving God, and he also fell in love with all God’s creation.
So what now? Who is Francis for us today?

If we want to really follow his footsteps, then, like Francis, a conversion is in order. Are we able to see God as someone who loves us unconditionally, or do we see him as a judge that watches everything we do, waiting for us to make a mistake and punish us? Do we see God as forgiving or do we want him to punish everyone whom we don’t like? Do we see others as brothers and sisters or as competitors, as those who don’t deserve our love or attention, as resources to be exploited?

The world we live in can seem so dark sometime. We are faced with sickness, with deaths in the family, with the breaking of relationships, with political turmoil among our elected officials, with natural or human-caused disasters and tragedies. But if we share the faith that Francis had, that this world is fundamentally good because it was created by God as such, then we can be the ones who wake the world up and help others to recognize their innate goodness. If we are convinced that God so loved the world, then we can be the channel of God’s love to others, especially to those who have been outcast, rejected, and condemned by our society.

My prayer is that tonight, you feel inspired by the example of St. Francis. My hope is that you too can be Franciscans, not necessarily wearing a brown habit, but as people who will bring about peace, reconciliation, justice, goodness in this world. Our world today is in desperate need of love more then ever. I hope that you too will be inspired to become lovers - great lovers - of God, of others, and of all creation. Amen.

Sam Nasada, OFM received his Master of Divinity degree from the Franciscan School of Theology in Oceanside, CA this past summer. He is currently part of a new initiative of the Province of St. Barbara: a small intentional community near the Arizona-Mexico border that is focused on contemplation and helping those in the margins. He hopes that this experience will help in his formation to become a priest who will not be afraid to, borrowing a term from Pope Francis, "smell like his sheep".

Franciscan Friars

Office of Vocations

1500 34th Ave.

Oakland, CA 94601

Phone:  (408) 903-3422

Email:  vocations@sbofm.org

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/SBFranciscans

Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

Safe Streets = Safe Kids

I stood outside the parked car's window. My eyes connecting with the driver. He looked down at the sign I was holding. "Safe Streets = Safe Kids," he read. He looked down at his crack pipe and turned to his passenger to confirm what he was seeing. However, his passenger's attention was focused on the friar standing outside his own window. The friar held a similar sign, "Peace on our Streets". I could tell in that moment he was wondering if he was experiencing a bad drug trip, or were there actually friars standing outside his car, on the inner-city street's of Oakland, while he sold drugs. The answer was, YES.

We were invited by our local city-councilman to walk with him for peace. We accepted his invitation. We walked to support our local businesses, and to stand in solidarity with our neighbors who experienced the consequences of violence in their Fruitvale neighborhood. This became our Friday's Lenten devotion.

We were nervous and timid on our first Friday night. Our chanting for peace was meek, and our signs lay motionless in the dark. Then I heard an inner voice, "Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come follow me." My poster transformed from a child's hand-made sign into a street sign twirler hired for Domino's Pizza. Soon the other friars joined my lead. The cars filled with gang members, protecting their turf, began to hear our shouts for peace, and the passing cars began to honk their horns in support. The night was filled with horns crying out for justice and peace.

Our group began to grow. We were stopping, along the way, to pray with other Churches for peace. Soon they began to walk with us. The former Mayor of Oakland joined us. Business owner were staying open later on Fridays. And men, women and children we encountered soon became our co-workers for peace. This group of walkers, along with the Franciscan friars, became a visible sign of God's faithful love for the neighborhood of Fruitvale. And our Friday's Lenten devotion unpacked for the friars what it meant to be a Fraternity-in-Mission.

Reflections on Religious Life:

By its very nature, our religious life foretells the glory of Heaven. Our fraternity-in-mission is a witness to this future glory. In the Bible Jesus offers the image of a wedding feast as a metaphor for understanding Heaven. In Heaven, two different houses will come together and become one in God and celebrate together with Christ. Our fraternity-in-mission models and celebrates this reality on earth. And through our care and love for one another, we remind humanity of what one day we hope to all experience in Heaven.

This is the value of our fraternity-in-mission. It prompts and embraces all people to be open to the possibility of relationship where there has been no relationship before. It inspires us to nurture peace in places of distrust and violence, where fear of "the other" too often dominates. It is an affirmation of the value of cultural diversity, shared leadership, and the creative expression of the love of Jesus Christ.

If you are discerning our way of life we invite you to come and experience our fraternal life.  Discover if this is how God is calling you to mission.

Peace and All Good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

A Pantry Full of Food and Gratitude

Brothers Sam and Scott collect frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving
with volunteer firefighters at the St. Anthony Foundation.

September is Hunger Action Month™, when Feeding America and member food banks ask everyone in America to take action to fight hunger in their community, all month long. The Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara's sponsored ministries are proud to take part in this national outreach.  Everyday we are reaching out to those who are struggling with the basics of life.  Read about Br. Scott's work with our sponsored ministry the St. Anthony Foundation...

She was holding her stomach as she approached. I could tell she was a few months pregnant. “I’m really hungry; I’m pregnant, and I’ve run out of food,” she shared with a hint of desperation in her voice. In San Francisco, one in five adults lacks the resources to provide food for themselves or their families. In the Tenderloin that number is as high as one in two.

I continued to listen to her struggles to find adequate and nutritional food. I made sure she was connecting with other resources, CalFresh (food stamps) and Women with Infants and Children (WIC). She was, but like other recipients of these benefits she needed to supplement them with other food program to meet her nutritional needs.

After paying rent she was forced to choose between food and health care. This is a situation that gets played out every day in the Tenderloin. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve heard this story. I’m stationed on Fridays at St. Anthony’s Social Work Center, where I help our guest access our emergency and supplemental food pantry for individuals requiring special nutritional support, seniors, and families.

Her sense of desperation began to fade as I told her she qualified for our supplemental food pantry. Within 20 minutes she was enrolled in our program and walking out the door with two full bags of groceries, and a heart full of gratitude for St. Anthony’s social workers, benefactors and volunteers. As I said good-bye to her my next appointment was coming in. He had a different story, but shared the same need for nutritional food to support his battle with cancer.

 As Catholic Christians we are called to engage in the Corporal Works of Mercy.  Can you name all seven of them?  Trying naming them and then check your answers using the list below.  (The answers are spelled backwards)

• yrgnuh eht deef oT
• ytsriht eht ot knird evig oT
• dekan eht ehtolc oT
• sselemoH eht retlehS oT
• kcis eht tisiv oT
• denosirpmi eht tisiv oT
• daed eht yrub oT

How many did you get right?  How many of them do you practice?  I am going to challenge you this month to choose one Corporal Work of Mercy and practice it.  It is through "action" that we manifest the Good News for others.  St. Francis of Assisi understood this as he told his brothers, "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.

If you are discerning a vocation to religious life its also imperative that you begin to practice the Corporal Works of Mercy.  Your vocation will be worked out among the poor and marginalized, as it was for St. Francis of Assisi.  It was his starting point:

The Lord granted me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance in this way: While I was in sin, it seemed very bitter to me to see lepers.  And the Lord Himself led me among them and I had mercy upon them.  And when I left them that which seemed bitter to me was  changed into sweetness of soul and body; and afterward I lingered a little and left the world.

Lastly, reread our vocation blog post called, "Consider your Gifts" for more information on how to discern religious life while working with the poor and marginalized.   

Peace and all good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

 

Practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy

 St. Anthony Foundation - San Francisco, CA

Personal Reflection:

What Corporal Works of Mercy do you find easy to do?  What Corporal Works of Mercy do you find difficult to do?  Feel free to share you answers in the comment section.

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

New Podcast Channel

Have you listened to our new podcast channel called, Discern the Call?  The podcast was created to supplement our blog by the same name, Discern the Call.  Each podcast is only few minutes long, but packed with insights into the Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara.  Discover the beauty of each friar and listen today.

This week blog and podcast focuses on the question, "What attracted you to life as a Franciscan friar?"  The answer are all different, but the same.  Can you guess the answer?  More than anything else, men are attracted to their particular religious institute by the example of its members, and especially by their sense of joy, their down to earth nature, and their commitment and zeal according to the National Religious Vocation Conference.  These podcast are our attempt to introduce you to our members with the hope you will visit us in the near future.






The last podcast focuses on the question, "Why is formation important?" presented by Br. Robert who spent nine (9) years as our former postulant director. To learn more about our first stage of formation called "postulancy" visit our blog post called, "To Know God's Will, Is to Know God."


Peace and All Good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Personal Reflection:

What are you looking for in a Religious Order or Institute?  What draws you to look at a particular community?  Please share your answer in the comment section below.

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

Happy Easter!

The Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara wish you and your family a blessed Easter!  Let us rejoice in song with the words of St. Francis of Assisi.  Alleluia!

Peace and All Good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

The Good News of Sin

We were created to live in perfect relationship with God and to care for others in perfect love (Mk 12:28-34). This relationship is often referred to as harmony or peace.  When we fail, miss the mark, break our commitment to love, ignore justice, and fall into sin, it fractures our relationship with God and our brothers and sisters.  God longs to heal those relationships.

The message of reconciliation preached by the Franciscans is one of "Good News".  In the Bible, as strange as it sounds to modern ears, the word sin actually implied hope.  If an action were condemned as sinful, then the person could repent, change the situation, and be made new.  In a world that believed in the powers of fate controlled by gods and powers of earth, sin was a word that inferred the possibility of healing, repentance, and change.  This was a radical message of the time; God created humanity and offered free will!  This is the message of the Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara.

Pain, despair, and sinful situations are not the will of God.  The New Testament presented the life, teaching, death, Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as his gift of the Church, as the means of grace to reconcile ourselves with God and with others.  The Franciscan friars assist in maintaining and sharing this gift with the world, especially those on the margins.

In a special way, Jesus, through the action of our Franciscan priest, invites people to release the past, be forgiven and reject sin (Jn 8:11).  Jesus bestowed on the Apostles and the Church the power to forgive and to liberate souls from the burden of sin through the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation (Jn 20:23; 2 Cor 14-6:2).  Our priest are known world-wide as graced-filled confessors. 

While discerning our way of life you'll need to test your desire and abilities to promote reconciliation in the joyful and prophetic spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. Your trying to discover if you have the ability to become a bridge-builder and reconciler.  Look for local opportunities to get involved in your community around issues of strained or broken relationships (minority groups vs. law enforcement; or homeless vs. downtown business owners, etc...).

As you volunteer or work in this field you'll need to become aware of the movements of consolation and desolation before, during, and after engaging in this work. As you reflect on your experience you'll ask:  Did I experience desolation?  Did I feel weary, dry and dissatisfied?  Did I feel consolation?  Did I feel cheerful and satisfied?  Was I able to engage in these activities with a joyful and generous heart?  These two movements well help reveal the movement of the Holy Spirit in your discernment process.  Read the blog post "Consolation and Desolation" for more information on using this discernment tool.

Next, take your experiences and engage in theological reflection.  Theological reflection is an essential ingredient in the process of spiritual discernment.  It holds the possibility of discerning God's presence and/or direction.  It's the process of standing before your experience 'open' to what may or may not be revealed through the lens of faith.  Read the blog post "Theological Reflection" for more information on using this discernment tool.

Next, share you experiences with your spiritual director and/or vocation director.  This person will listen to your story with an ear for the movement of the Holy, of the Divine.  They will also help you discern between your voice, the world (family, culture, and society) and God's voice within your experiences and theological reflection.  Read the blog post "Spiritual Direction" for more information on using this discernment tool.

Remember to be nourished by the Word and the Eucharist at Mass in order to be sent forth in mission to love and serve the Lord.  Read the blog post "Freely You Have Received, Freely Give" for more information on why Mass is important for discernment.

Lastly, at this stage in the journey you are trying to put on the "habit" of becoming a reconciler .  You're trying to see if you have the abilities and the desire to become a bridge-builder as a brother or priest.  The work is not easy, but it's the love of God that sustains and nourishes us in this work.

Peace and all good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

A Friar Profile of Fr. Christian Mondor, OFM

In today's friar profile we reflect on Fr. Christian Mondor, OFM who recently celebrated 70 years as a Franciscan friar of the Province of Saint Barbara.  He's known as the surfing priest and for the blessing of the waves, but that only hints at the depth of his Franciscan life.  Fr. Joseph Chinnici, OFM was asked to reflect on his life and ministry during a celebration of his life in August.

We have all gathered this morning to celebrate Christian's 70th anniversary as a Friar Minor.  I have been asked as a former provincial, an historian, and fellow educator to summarize in twelve minutes some of the significance of Chris' life as a Franciscan, a priest, a friend.  Good luck on the summary; the twelve minutes I can do.

Each friar of our province has in the provincial office an eight by twelve inch card summarizing the important dates and assignments of his life.  Having seen almost all of these, I can tell you quite clearly that Chris's is uniquely covered on both sides with minute scribbles detailing an astounding peripatetic journey, perhaps to be expected from the son of a salesman.  Here is a man who has been stationed in every region of our province: the southwest (2 years), the northwest (21 years); northern California (5 years); southern California (26 years).  He has lived in eleven different locations, spent four years in Montreal, one year in England, and engaged in every ministry except the Native American missions:  20 years in education, 24 years in parish work, 10 years in formation, 9 years in retreat work.

If you can imagine it, his business acumen has purchased land for one parish and overseen the building of another; he has worked as a Newman chaplain and served three years as President of a college.  Did you know that for one brief period he was "Dean of Discipline" in a high school:  We would all love to have been students at that time!

For most of the seventy years, having forgotten his suitcase and anything else that might prove useful, he has been travelling around in an old car, driving hundreds of miles on an open road, asking various hitch hikers to travel with him in some species of automobile he has attempted to reconstruct from purloined parts in a city dump.  You get the idea.  A future provincial reading this card, would probably come to the reasonable conclusion:  Why so many assignments; why so many friaries?  why so much movement?  This man must have been either a wanderer or a trouble maker.  While perhaps a reasonable conclusion from the bare facts, another story tells the truth.

In the Midst of Social Change

Richard Mondor, born in Los Angeles and growing up in Westwood, received the "habit of probation" and a new name, "Christian" upon entrance into his novitiate year on July 9, 1944, just over one month to the day after D Day, and one year and one month before the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Too young to be a member of the "greatest generation", he was old enough to experience first-hand the momentous changes which marked the passage from the Great Depression to the post-war boom.  In addition, his entrance into the Order is sandwiched in between the two major initiatives of Pius XII that would lead to the Second Vatican Council and make such a great impression on Chris' life:  the renewal of the Church around the Word of God (Divino Afflante Spiritu, 1943 and liturgical reform (Mediator Dei, 1947).  The habit of the friar which he received would be knit from these two threads of great social change and Church renewal.

The social change touched Chris's life most directly as he engaged the three great challenges of the 1960s:  poverty, war, and race.  In the middle of it all, as President of a noble but failed experiment, and teacher to high schoolers, collegiates, and ten young friars, he struggled to renew the Gospel life and fulfill his vocation around the three natural virtues which came with his disposition:  simplicity, peace, and openness to people.  A wanderer, yes, but one with an internal compass of committed perseverance.  Students from those days still testify to his impact on them. 

These social changes accompanied the tremendous post-war growth of Franciscan ministries into Arizona and Oregon.  Chris wandered because the Province asked him.  In the 1950s, he experienced the cutting edge of the developments:  a participant in a new generation in Arizona bent on loosening up and old German system; a builder of new chapels in the northwest; a pioneer in a high school in Salem, and a teacher at the new high school seminary in Troutdale.  Everything spoke of efforts to make the Gospel come alive in the contemporary world.  The same pattern continued as he moved to California for new experiments in the formation of younger friars and the great venture of ecumenical education at the Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley.  I remember his excitement upon coming to Berkeley and having an opportunity to learn by teaching liberation theology and engaging in ecumenical dialogue.

Called and Sent...

Growing up in a Province in movement, the missionary goals of the friars themselves led Chris into places wherever something new was occurring, wherever a challenge of evangelization was developing, wherever some boundary between people needed to be crossed.  What was desired was someone who was adaptable, open minder, person-centered, intellectually studious, and willing to serve.  Such qualities were accompanied, I might add, by an innocence of life that could be easily used by others and then suffered with some degree of courage by our wanderer.  The anchor of Chris's life became, over time and surrounded by these challenges, the twin sources of Scripture and liturgy.  He entered deeply into a faith filled meditation on the missionary journeys of Paul, the life of the pilgrim Jesus in the Scriptures, and the presence of the people of God in the celebration of the Eucharist.  A fine athlete from the beginning, he gradually grew into the habit he so enthusiastically received seventy years ago.

Such is the more truthful underlying story summarized on our personnel cards.  I mentioned at the very beginning the name our honoree receive when he first entered the Order:  "Christian".  After seventy years, we look back on it and know how appropriate it was.  Francis of Assisi always referred to each leper who revealed the sweetness of God's own Son to him as "Brother or Sister Christian"; he nicknamed his most significant follower, Clare of Assisi, "Christian."  For Francis it was a name most dear to his heart and summarized for him the central Gospel message of his calling.

Our own Christian is pretty close to the mark.  Have you ever had a cup of coffee with our Christian:  Isn't the conversation marked by his "gentle attentiveness", something the Lord himself brought to his work?  And, isn't it remarkable that after all this wandering and in the midst of all this change, our Christian has in abundance that quintessential characteristic of Franciscan life, what St. Bonaventure calls "admiration": Wonder: Wonder at creation as a man rides the waves of God's own ocean; Wonder at the marvelous work of God in contemporary doctors who can rebuild an injured chest; Wonder at the journey of a life itself that has experienced through brothers and sisters the providence of God's own faithfulness; Wonder at the marvelous five-stringed banjo, given by God to a genuine wayfarer, to lift his spirit along the way and invite others into the joy of community; Wonder, finally, at the people of God in Huntington Beach, Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Muslim, believer and unbeliever, who reveal to a wandering Christian the face of a God Who is Love Admultos annos, Christian!

Peace and All Good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Personal Reflection:

If you ever have the chance to meet Fr. Christian Mondor, OFM you can't help but experience a deep sense of joy that radiates from him.  Franciscan friars are called to walk in the joyful and prophetic spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.  When you are engaged in serving the poor, promoting justice, peace, care of creation do you radiate joy?

Contac Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave
Oakland, CA  94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

Franciscans and the Nativity

Throughout Christmas and up to Epiphany, God’s word proclaims Jesus’ mastery over creation.  In the Gospel readings he can heal the sick; he multiplies the loaves and fishes; he walks on water.  These miracles demonstrate and remind us of Jesus’ almighty power and how much he emptied himself when he became one with us.  Not as a man, but as an infant. 

The Creator of the world could not walk, talk, or even roll over.  The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity weighed just a few pounds; he shivered, cried, and nursed at his mother’s breast.  The message of Christmas and God's incarnation is shocking. He who created the billions of galaxies with billions of stars, who created the countless creatures of our world, became completely dependent on us for his safety, well-being and nourishment.

It seems almost blasphemous to suggest that God became human. Yet, he did so out of love for us.  A testament to who “I” to who “We” are.   That are goodness far out weights our brokenness.  That we are much more than our sinfulness.  So much so that God placed his trust and faith completely in us.  And given our track record of violence he probably should have feared us. 

Jesus, became one with us, out of love for us, and amazingly as scripture points out, "we must have the same love for one another" (1 Jn 4:11).  One of the great Christian apologists of our time, G.K. Chesterton, once wrote a parable to illustrate this point:

“A man who was entirely careless of spiritual affairs died and went to hell.  And he was much missed on earth by his old friends.  His business agent went down to the gates of hell to see if there was any chance of bringing him back.  But though he pleaded for the gates to be opened, the iron bars never yielded.  His priest also went and argued:  “He was not really a bad fellow; given time he would have matured. Let him out, please!  The gates remained stubbornly shut against all their voices.  Finally, his mother came; she did not beg for his release.  Quietly, and with a strange catch in her voice, she said to Satan:  “Let me in.”  Immediately the great doors swung open upon their hinges.  For love goes down through the gates of hell and there redeems the dead.”  

The incredible graciousness, power, and mercy that came into our world in Jesus is still, at least potentially so, in our world in us, the Body of Christ. What Jesus did we too can do; in fact, that is precisely what we are asked to do as Christians. We are called to enter the world of another; to enter their pain and suffering. We are to be reminders that their goodness far out weights their brokenness. That they are much more than their sinfulness. We are to remind others that they are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image and likeness of God and they are GOOD!

This is the true message of Christmas and the primary mission of the followers of St. Francis of Assisi.  A powerful message of our goodness and the message we are called to share with others. 

Peace and All Good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Join the Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara in praying the "Collect" and
reflecting on the Gospels of Advent leading up to the powerful message of Christmas.

Personal Reflection:

If you feel called to religious life as a Franciscan friar of the Province of Saint Barbara are you willing to enter the world of another, to enter their pain and suffering?

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

Care for Creation

"Saint Pope John Paul II named Francis the patron saint "of those who promote ecology" in 1979. Ecology in Europe refers to what we in the United States call environmentalism and not just the science. Francis is the patron of those who cultivate ecological consciousness, but that means a lot more than being the patron of environmental educators. His example really points to a mystical or a spiritual vision for all of the creative world as brother and sister, as he describes in his Canticle of the Creatures." - Br. Keith Warner, OFM

As Franciscan friars and followers of St. Francis we are called to cultivate this spiritual vision for the natural world as brother and sister and our need to care for creation.  If you are interested in our way of life you'll need to clarify your willingness to serve the poor and marginalized through caring for creation.  The poor and care for creation are linked together.  It's the poor and marginalized who are the first to suffer the consequences of the abuse of the earth's resources. 

While discerning our way of life you'll need to test your desire and abilities to promote and practice this vision within your family, neighborhood, community, etc....  Look for local opportunities to get involved in your community around environmental issues.

As you volunteer or work in this field you'll need to become aware of the movements of consolation and desolation before, during, and after engaging in this work. As you reflect on your experience you'll ask:  Did I experience desolation?  Did I feel weary, dry and dissatisfied?  Did I feel consolation?  Did I feel cheerful and satisfied?  Was I able to engage in these activities with a joyful and generous heart?  These two movements well help reveal the movement of the Holy Spirit in your discernment process.  Read the blog post "Consolation and Desolation" for more information on using this discernment tool.

Next, take your experiences and engage in theological reflection.  Theological reflection is an essential ingredient in the process of spiritual discernment.  It holds the possibility of discerning God's presence and/or direction.  It's the process of standing before your experience 'open' to what may or may not be revealed through the lens of faith.  Read the blog post "Theological Reflection" for more information on using this discernment tool.

Next, share you experiences with your spiritual director and/or vocation director.  This person will listen to your story with an ear for the movement of the Holy, of the Divine.  They will also help you discern between your voice, the world (family, culture, and society) and God's voice within your experiences and theological reflection.  Read the blog post "Spiritual Direction" for more information on using this discernment tool.

Remember to be nourished by the Word and the Eucharist at Mass in order to be sent forth in mission to love and serve the Lord.  Read the blog post "Freely You Have Received, Freely Give" for more information on why Mass is important for discernment.

Lastly, at this stage in the journey you are trying to put on the "habit" of serving the poor and marginalized by promoting care for creation and living in balance with the earth and her resources.  You're trying to see if you have the abilities and the desire to live within and promote this spiritual vision as a religious brother or priest.  The work is not easy, but it's the love of God that sustains and nourishes us in this work.

Peace and all good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Reflection:

For more information on St. Francis' vision of the created world as brother and sister and how it  informs our understanding of "Care for Creation" read Franciscan Keith Warner, OFM article published in U.S. Catholic Magazine.

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Ave
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

The Faith Journey of Eddie Fronske, OFM

Fr. Eddie Fronske, OFM shares his faith story with the Franciscan Renewal Center (The Casa).  He was honored with their Peace Award.  The following is his acceptance speech given on September 21, 2014.

The Beginning
 
I am grateful and humbled to be receiving this peace award from the Casa today.  My Franciscan journey began here in 1954, when I made a men's retreat.  I'd never even heard of Franciscans before.  One morning I had served Mass for a friar, and when asking my dad who those guys were-Franciscans, and what they did, he signed me up for a men's retreat here at the Casa.  And at the end of the retreat, I was signed up for the seminary in Santa Barbara.

My parents, each of my eight brothers and sisters, and Isabel - whom I nicknamed 'Bika', who worked for the family during my childhood, have had - and still have - a wonderful influence on my friar journey, as have the friar community.  In 1967 I was ordained in my home parish of Nativity, in Flagstaff.  I told my family I was going to pray for snow so people would remember - 83 inches!  My little sister, Beth, met me at the train station with:  "You overdid it!

Work with Cesar Chavez

My first assignment was Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Delano, California.  Bishop Manning asked the friars to take over because of the escalating tension there.  So, I went from the theology classroom to Delano - no year of intership for me!  The Farmworker Union under Cesar Chavez's wonderful leardership, had its hands full with the strike.  Cesar had a gift of leadership and a passion for justice like I'd never seen.  You would never know he only had an 8th grade education.  His commitment to nonviolence equaled his passion for justice.  His deep faith, which I got to witness on many occasions, truly inspired me.  His love for our Lady of Guadalupe was like none I'd ever seen.

But what most challenged and inspired me was his passion for justice.  I remember when a couple of ruffians from another union - who gave the farmworkers a hard time - got into a fight with each other and were arrested, roughed up in jail and given a heavy fine.  Cesar heard of it, and sent two of his lawyers to take their case.  The fine was lessened and each of the men giving an apology.  This was hard for the young union members to handle, and even threatened the union's unity.  But Cesar did not budge.  I believe one or two of those men became Cesar's bodyguards.  Cesar's faith and courage, the farmworkers' loyalty in the midst of so much violence and injustice, had a profound effect on me!

Work with Undocumented Immigrants 

Though I'd asked to go to the Apache nation, my next assignment was Las Vegas, to live in the Black ghetto and minister to the Hispanic parish of St. Christopher.  On arrival, I was asked to take a vacated parish out in Overton, sixty miles north of Las Vegas.  Here I ministered to St. John's parish, half Anglo, half Hispanic.  Invitations to baptize from an area north of Overton, introduced me to a community of undocumented Catholic families, and I began having Mass in a little motel, room 6, which we called the cathedral of Cristo Rey.  Soon I was ministering to undocumented families in the wider area.  How I cam to love them!  On one occasion there was a raid, during which  the immigration officers flagrantly broke the law.  I was enraged!  We met that night in one of the homes that had been affected.  As I sat there, I was thinking: Let's just get one of them and show them that they can't hurt people like that.  Imagine!  I had said nothing as I sat simmering, but the mother, whose house it was, looked directly at me and said:  "Father, as long as you hate immigration people, you're no good to us.  You have to help us fight their injustice, but you have to love them, or you can't help us."

Work with the Apache American Indians

You see what great teachers I had!  They prepared me for the ministry I am in, and have been for the last thirty-one years, pastor of one, and then three White Mountain Apache parishes.  And what great teachers they have been!  I can vividly remember sitting in the hospital emergency room with a mother whose daughter had been shot through both legs at a dance.  Her mother said to me when I came and sat next to her:  "Father, I'm trying to forgive the man who shot my daughter, but I am having a hard time!" Talk about teachers!

With Pope John Paul II's visit in the 1980s, I heard him apologize to the Native Americans for our misunderstanding and persecution of their religious beliefs and traditions.  He asked for forgiveness and told them to go back to their own spirituality, which was given by God and sacred, and bring those tradition to Christianity so both could be enriched. What an incredible blessing that was!  And my bishop, Pelotte, our first Native American bishop, encouraged me to combine the two spiritualties as much as I could.  Again, what a blessing!  How it has enriched our liturgies!  And I've been invited to participate in their ceremonies, and been so enriched by them!  As the Pope and Bishop encouraged, we use parts of their spirituality in our Eucharistic celebrations; they use our rituals - blessings, Eucharistic, prayers - as part of their ceremonies.

In the 31 years I have been with the White Mountain Apaches, I've seen so much injustice and prejudice, so much oppression, from within and without.  I have seen their woundedness, divisions and addictions.  I see them struggle to keep alive their sacred traditions and ceremonies.  

And I have been so blessed by a number of parishes,  including here at the Casa, and St. Thomas More in Glendale.  You help Anna - who has ministered with me for over 11 years - and me, to reach out to those in great need, and great need there is!  Because we have won the trust of so many in the community, we are in a position to reach out.  We do so with the help and support you give us.  For example, the food cards you have sent, are so important, and enable us to be there in a quite, sometimes critical way to help ease some of their burdens.  We have won the trust of so many, Catholic and non-Catholic.  But without your most generous support, we would be helpless to reach out to them. 

And they have been such an inspiration in so many ways.  One of our parishioners, Deedee, came upon a scene where an inexperienced driver from the Valley had slid off the road in the snow and hit a tree.  Deedee was the first on the scene.  She stopped, saw that the mother - the driver - was dead, and that her son was in bad shape in the back seat.  Her prayer of what to do was answered by the Lord asking what she would want someone to do if that were her and her son in the back seat.  So, she crawled in the back seat, held the boy and began to sing to him in Apache.  They boy later told the doctor who was stitching him up that an angel had come along, crawled into the seat with him and sang to him, but he didn't know what she was singing.  Years later, as her own son was dying, after two lung transplants, I was there as she held him in her arms and sang to him:  "This little love of mine, I'm going to let him shine..."  She is now in our music ministry. 

Reverse Mission

I have been so blessed to have been with the White Mountain Apaches for these 31 years!  The Apaches in our three parishes have embraced me - and now Anna - so well; have been such wonderful teachers.  An now we have begun bringing in outside groups for an immersion experience that has dramatically influenced the lives of those who come!  This now includes friars in our formation programs.  I call it "reverse mission":  "those who used to receive the missionaries, are now the missionaries, and the role of the missionary - me - is to build a bridge of trust so others can come and experience the richness of their lives and spirituality."  Reverse mission is truly one of my passions!

I am deeply touched by this award!  It came as a complete surprise, and it will encourage me to continue to work in the midst of such overwhelming odds.  My love and respect for my teachers, mentors, friars, and friends along the way, makes me most grateful to our provident and loving God, who writes so well with crooked lines.  Thank you for this most amazing gift!

Jesus, Francis, Cesar Chavez, Fr. Alan McCoy, my undocumented brothers and sisters, my fellow friars, the White Mountain Apaches, my family and many friends, have reminded me that each of us is called to struggle for peace and justice in our very hurting world.  Each of us is gifted.  Each of us is a part of a faith community; we can, and are called to witness, pray, and continue to work for peace and justice.  Jesus encourages us:  "With Me you can do all things."  So, as my father St. Francis told us:  "Preach always, and if necessary, use words."

Thank You!
 

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
21500 34th Ave
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone:  (408) 903-3422
Email:  vocations@sbofm.org
Facebook:  www.facebooks.com/SBFranciscans.Vocations
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/OFMvocation
Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org