Missions

Fr. Jim Bok, OFM, with Jamaican schoolchildren Giving Tuesday, which always falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, started in the US in 2012 as a way to give back and transform communities. Since its inception, this global generosity…

Board member Carol Swavely and Henry Beck welcome retreatants. Photos by Sr. Eileen Connelly, OSU “I feel peaceful here and very welcome.” ‘It’s as if the friars are opening their home to us.” “I experience God’s presence when…

Friars from Austria began the Province of St. John the Baptist in Cincinnati. The first friars arrived in Florida in 1573 with the Spanish colonizers and ministered primarily to the Native Americans who were already living there. A…

Workers replace the roof of St. Mary of the Angels Church. Aug. 29 marked one year since Hurricane Ida made landfall in the city of New Orleans. It is the same month and day that Hurricane Katrina made…

A school bus sits amid debris in the creek bed along Route 30 between Jackson and Hazard. Photos by Sr. Eileen Connelly, OSU The destruction and loss caused by heavy rains and flooding in many Eastern Kentucky counties…

Fr. John Bok, OFM We are excited to share some wonderful news with you! In October 2023, our Cincinnati province will join five other US provinces to become one really big Franciscan family named Our Lady of Guadalupe…

A group photo of the Gather and Discern attendees. Photos by Sam Reinke and Sr. Eileen Connelly, OSU The sense of unity, fraternity and joy was obvious as Franciscan friars from the US-6 provinces came together at the…

Friars Brian Menezes and Tyler Grudi participated in the Brothers Walking Together program. Dear Friends, Each year, friars in formation participate in the Brothers Walking Together program—an interprovincial, post-novitiate experience coordinated by the six US provinces in which…

Fr. Francis Tebbe sprinkles holy water on Maggie, a nine-year-old amputee service dog, as her owner Becky Buchanan of Munster keeps hold of a stroller during the blessing and introduction of the pet therapy program at Franciscan Health…

Colleen and John Gerke pose for a photo with guests Rosa and baby David. A simple plaque on a wall in John and Colleen Gerke’s St. Bernard home proclaims a deeply meaningful message. It reads in part: “This…