Veterans Day: Honoring Those Who Serve

Note: This reflection was originally published at https://hnp.org/veterans-day-2017/

In anticipation of Veterans Day, a student friar who spent 12 years in the military reflects on the importance of the holiday and of recognizing men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Each year on Nov. 11, our nation honors the men and women who served in our armed forces. This tradition dates back to Nov. 11, 1918, the final day of World War I. In 1918, this day was referred to as Armistice Day, as the word “armistice” is an agreement made by opposing sides in a war. It wasn’t until 1954 that the Nov. 11 holiday was referred to by its current name, Veterans Day.

Perhaps you are asking yourself who these “veterans” are and why we honor them each year. According to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau, there are 21.8 million veterans in the United States. This population includes all the men and women who served in the military at one time or another. This is a striking number, given that the population of the United States is approximately 323 million people. These statistics show that veterans make up nearly seven percent of the entire U.S. population. Most likely you know someone or many friends or family members who are veterans. My experience is that most veterans who are on active duty or previously served go about their lives with quiet professionalism. One might never be aware of the responsibility to service that veterans display.

Now, onto the second part of the question: why do we honor these men and women each year? From 2003 to 2015, I served in the United States Navy alongside some of these men and women. I consider it a great honor to have worked with individuals who selflessly dedicated their lives to a central mission.

I saw people make great sacrifices; whether it was having to leave loved ones behind during extended deployments or standing watch through the middle of the night, these veterans have gone to great lengths to protect and defend the rights of this great nation. And veterans are not just the ones who we read about going to war and into battles. Many veterans serve or have served in roles that may primarily have included hours and days of tedious training to be prepared should some action be required of them.

I want to share briefly the lives of two individuals who have strongly influenced me during my time in the military. These men are Lt. Brendan Looney, USN, and Capt. Owen Thorp, USNR. Unfortunately, both of these men have passed on to eternal life, however, during their life here on earth, they both had a strong impact on many people. Lt. Looney was a fellow lacrosse player at the United States Naval Academy and went on to become a Navy Seal. His genuine spirit of kindness along with his commitment and perseverance always stood out to me.

Capt. Thorp was a kind, compassionate leader who strongly valued his faith. As a submariner, I don’t believe he ever had to serve in any hostile combat. However, as a long-serving engineering instructor at the academy he used his strong Catholic faith and belief in the development of young leaders to provide immeasurable care, counsel, and encouragement to many midshipmen he met while serving there. On one occasion, he mentioned to me that he thought I might have a vocation to religious life. While I distinctly remember wrestling with this idea, it turns out that he had some wisdom there.

You all probably know some veterans as either family or friends. Let us remember all of those individuals even the ones we don’t know on this Veterans Day in gratitude for their selfless service.

Peace & all good.  I wish you a happy Veterans Day!

Friar Steve Kuehn is a member of the Holy Name Province. A 2003 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he grew up in Annapolis, Md., where the academy is located. He is the youngest of four children. His father, Leo Kuehn, was a Commander in the Navy and served in aviation as a naval flight officer onboard P-3C aircraft.  Steve now lives at St. Joseph’s Friary in Chicago and studies theology at Catholic Theological Union.

Franciscan Friars

Office of Vocations

1500 34th Ave.

Oakland, CA 94601

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

Email:  vocations@sbofm.org

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SBFranciscans

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/SBFranciscans

Website:  www.sbfranciscans.org

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

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

New Podcast Channel, Part II

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 to part II of our conversation.

This week blog and podcast focuses on the question, "What was important in your vocation search or story?"  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. Jeff who spent six (6) years as our former postulant director and four (4) years as our Director of Temporary Professed. 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 is important in your vocation search?  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

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

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

Relationships and Technology

This reflection by Br. Keith Warner, OFM was published in The Way of St. Francis, a magazine of the Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara in June of 2012.  He reflects on his relationship as a Franciscan to technology.

I am a recent convert.  Thanks to the generosity and insistence of my dad (a retired engineer), I have fled from the PC world (as much as one can) and become a "Macfanatic."

By disposition I am skeptical of technology, but the cluster of Apple's innovative products that easily synch with each other have won me over.  I am an itinerant Franciscan and thus don't like to be tethered to a cubicle, so the mobility they offer is a big plus.  No more begging and pleading with PC units to talk to each other!

About the same time as my conversion, I began listening to Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple founder Steve Jobs.  Apparently Jobs had an ego the size of Silicon Valley, and was in some ways disturbed.  Whether you are drawn to him or repelled, his ability to imagine how personal technology might contribute to human wellbeing inspires me.  While listening to the Jobs biography on my iPhone, I began to reflect on some similarities between Apple and the Franciscan tradition.

As the patron saint of ecological consciousness, St. Francis lived in a relation universe.  For him, everything was related.  Brother Fire, Sister Water, Brother Air, Sister Mother Earth.  He understood God as Father and Jesus as his brother.  All reality is created by God, and inescapably interdependent.

I don't wish to sound like a commercial, but Apple's products also work together.  Jobs conceived of personal computing as providing an end-to-end wrap around experience -- holistic and relational, if you will -- for the user.  The devices work seamlessly together to support each other.  After years of frustration trying to bend PCs to my will, Apple products seem designed to help me serve others.

Questions for Today's Users of Technology

If we accept that computers are part of our lives now, it makes sense that they would work with us rather than against us.  Jobs conceived of human beings having an intimate relationship with their computers.  The challenge I propose to young adults today is this:  Can we conceive of God's love for us being more personal and more intimate than our personal technology devices?

Most older Franciscans would be horrified at this question.  However, in my twelve years of working in universities, I have observed that young adults today have a very personal relationship with their technology, and they generally experience much more intimacy with these devices than with God.  To my eye, the problem is not the sense of personal, nor the technology, but with the choices we make about entering into relationship with others.  God must be first, and we must express that in our love for each other and for the Earth.  Technology can help us, even help us be better Franciscans, but only if we keep the right priorities in our relationships. 

St. Francis as Social Innovator

In some ways, Steve Jobs was like St. Francis.  Both had enormously powerful imaginations and charisma.  Both were able to recognize potential where others could not.  Both infused innovation into organizations that they did not really set our to create.  Both experienced bitter personal tragedy at the hands of the organizations they began (the "near-death experience" of entrepreneurs), and yet came out the other side transformed.

Jobs and Steve Wozniak conceived of the new category of personal computer and invented it with Apple, yet shortly afterward, Wozniak left and Jobs was fired by the company he established.  Toward the end of his life, Francis was marginalized by the rapidly growing order he founded.  He despaired of its direction, yet it would become arguably the most influential religious order for the next several centuries.  The Order of Friars Minor pioneered new forms of evangelization and missionary work, formulated new philosophies to guide economic development and contributed substantially to the art, literature and science of the late Middle Ages.  So influential was the order that most of its contributions have been adopted by the broader Catholic Church.  Distinctly Franciscan contributions are scarcely apparent to most Catholics, just as few people who use a computer today are aware of the unique contribution of Jobs and Wozniak in a world still dominated by PCs.

Steve Jobs liked to quote the statement:  "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."  Think different was the Apple slogan.  Francis was neither an engineer nor entrepreneur, yet he was a visionary, and we might call him a social innovator.  He and his companion St. Clare were very clear on their experience of God and what that called them to be.   Church leaders tried to persuade them to operate with existing religious categories, but the vision of Francis and Clare included following the poor Christ in ways not done before.  Francis' contemporaries described him as showing them a new way to be a Christian.

The future of Franciscan life depends upon this same kind of innovation.  Of course, we Franciscans are deeply traditional in many ways, yet social innovation is a vital part of that tradition.  To live the Gospel today, we must find ways of helping young adults learn who they are -- or could be -- in Christ, speaking their language, but also helping them realize that their dreams for a more just, sustainable and fraternal world are possible.  Francis showed us a new way of being Christian, and it is up to us to show this technology-infused world a fresh way of living the Gospel today.

Brother Keith Douglass Warner, OFM teaches science, technology and social justice at Santa Clara University.  His research investigates how science and technology can foster sustainability and social justice.  He is co-author of Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth. 

Peace and All Good,
Bro. Scott Slattum, OFM

Personal Reflection:

Can we conceive of God's love for us being more personal and more intimate than our personal technology devices?  Feel free to share your answer in the comment section below.

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

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

The Faith Story of Br. Phillip Polk, OFM

In the distance I can hear the sound of church bells echoing throughout town.  This was our sign to start the short walk down the street to St. Charles for Sunday Mass.  At times I can still hear my Grandfather's voice, "Come on, let's get going."  It was a short walk that would have a lasting and profound effect on my life. 

On our Sunday morning walks to gather with the Apache Catholic community, my grandfather would always ask me one question:  "How are you doing?"  He said it with real concern, and not as a way to make small talk.  I would share my struggles and some of the joys I was experiencing in my young chaotic life.  He would share his stories of hardships he experienced growing up in a similar situation.  No matter what, he would always remind me how much he loved me, and I always knew it, not by his words, but by his concern and care.

This short journey I shared with my grandfather shaped me into the person I am today.  It was on this journey that I experienced the meaning of God and what God's love is really about.  Now I wish to journey with others, as my grandfather journeyed with me, so that they too might have an encounter with the love of God.  

I recently graduated from Holy Names University with a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies and I'm currently studying at the Franciscan School of Theology in Oceanside, Calif. as part of my formation and education in preparation for the priesthood.

Br. Phillip grew up on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona.  He is the first American Indian to take solemn vows with the Franciscan friars of the Province of Saint Barbara.  The friars have ministered on the San Carlos' reservation for over 100 years.  This past August he made solemn vows.



Br. Phillip Polk, OFM and three other bothers make solemn vows.

Contact Information:

Franciscan Friars
Office of Vocations
1500 34th Avenue
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 James Seiffert, OFM

Childhood Journey

Br. James' childhood was spent in New York in the ethnic and religiously diverse Bronx with his German Irish family.  He attended primary school with the Carmelite Fathers. However, it would be Sr. Michelle, a Sister of Mercy, who would awaken him to a faith expressed through joy.  Sr. Michelle snuck her third grade class into a local performance of "Up with People."  Their joy filled songs and celebration of life made a deep impression on James. 

Years later when James' family moved to the suburbs of Long Island he began to attend CCD.  It would be music that enkindled his desire to serve others.   His Confirmation class sang Christmas carols at the local nursing home.  James saw the impact this had on the residents.  This would be the start of his desire to serve others, especially the sick and elderly.

James' high school years were spent in Georgia.   His father moved the family there for work.  He describes the relocation as moving to another country.  As a Catholic he became a minority in the South.  However, it would be there that his faith would grow.  Baptist friends asked him if he was born again.  He said, "That question started the conversation about what I believed."

Adult Journey

After high school James' family moved to Florida where he attended community college.  It would be here that he would be introduced to the charismatic movement of the 70's and 80's.  After reading an article in the local Catholic newspaper he attended a talk by a  Catholic nun.  Little did he know this nun happened to be Mother Angelica from EWTN.  Her talk was a light hearted presentation on the twelve apostles and was filled with music and prayer.  After the presentation Mother Angelica prayed over James and he experienced the joy and love of the Holy Spirit.  The Charismatic movement helped shaped his outlook and desire to pray for others, especially the sick.

After a stint as a physical therapist assistant he found himself working for United Airlines after he got the travel bug visiting his extended family in Germany.  His time in Germany was also a transformative moment.  As part of his travels he visited Lourdes for the Eucharist Congress and discovered the universal Church, her beautiful liturgies, and her care and compassion for the sick.

AIDs Ministry

After several years with United Airlines he was transferred to San Francisco. He attended Holy Redeemer Parish located in the Castro neighborhood.  His time at the parish coincided with the AIDs crises of the 80's.  He volunteered with the parish's AIDs Support Ministry caring for men dying of AIDs. 

James told the story of one client, Thomas a former school teacher, who was living in San Francisco.  At first James cleaned his home, cooked for him, and ran errands, but what Tom really desired was to talk.  They would talk for hours about philosophy, spirituality and God.  It would be in these conversations that James was first asked about becoming a religious brother or priest.  Through his airline benefits he accompanied several AIDs patients to Lourdes where they found peace and healing in the final days of their live.

Hospital Ministry

Later in the 90's James started attending St. Dominic Parish, a culturally diverse Dominican parish.  He served in the parish's sick and homebound ministry at the local hospital.  It would be his gentle care and presence at the hospital that got him noticed by the patients and the nursing staff.  He was often mistaken for the full-time chaplain.  He soon realized this could become a future career after his retirement.  He attended SFU and earned a degree in Philosophy and Religion to pursue his goal of becoming a hospital chaplain.

Due to an office closure at United Airlines James was transferred to Hawaii.  It would be here he would encounter his first Franciscan, Sr. Candida.  She recruited him to serve as a volunteer chaplain in the spiritual service department at their sponsored hospital.  He fell in love with Franciscan spirituality and its approach towards life.  When United Airlines offered him early retirement he took it, knowing it would free him up to attend graduate school, to pursue his retirement career as a hospital chaplain.  Sr. Candida told James, if he choose to return to Hawaii, she would have a chaplain job waiting for him.

Discovering a Franciscan Call

James returned to San Francisco and began looking at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.  He was especially looking at the Franciscan School of Theology.  However, he was also interested in the Franciscan Covenant Program run by the Province of Saint Barbara.  James became familiar with the program after meeting its directors at the LA Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California.   He was attracted to the idea of living with the friars and experiencing their prayer and fraternal life.

James asked God for guidance while walking the streets of San Francisco.  His answer came in the form of a parked car's license plate.  It read "FRE 2 SRV" (Free to Serve).  He applied for the Covenant program and was assigned to Old Mission San Luis Rey.  He became their volunteer coordinator and museum manager.  

On James first day he hosted a group of military chaplains.  After spending the day with them they asked if he planned on becoming a Franciscan.  This was not an option; he was already over the age for applying.  He simply laughed it off.  Yet, he was confronted with this question not only from visitors, but from the staff, volunteers and parishioners at San Luis Rey.  His answer was always the same," I'm past the age limit."

The Franciscan friars at Mission San Luis Rey began discussing amongst themselves too if James had a calling to religious life.  They couldn't help but experience his joy filled spirit he had towards life and the gentle presence he had towards others.  The friars decided to approach James with an invitation to consider discerning a vocation to religious life as a Franciscan friar.  The age limit was waived for him by the friars.

Answering the Call

After careful discernment James entered the friars' Postulancy program in the Fall of 2012 and made his first vows in the Summer of 2014.  Br. James now resides at St. Elizabeth Friary in Oakland, California.  He works as a chaplain with the homeless for "The Gubbio Project" and is researching graduate programs to pursue hospital chaplaincy.

When you meet Br. James you can't help but experience his exuberant joy and his love for the goodness of life; a seed first planted on the day Sr. Michelle broke the rules for him and his classmates, and took them to see "Up with People".  Little did he know forty years later the rules again would be broken for him, this time to allow him to become a real troubadour, a troubadour for Christ, a Franciscan friar of the Province of Saint Barbara. 

Br. James Seiffert, OFM with his novice classmates.

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