Letter from the Pastor

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time October 22, 2023

The Franciscan Friars

My letters to the parish usually speak to what is going on in the parish, be it a note of appreciation, our Stewardship Campaign, the need for a new roof, or the most recent news of the creation of a memorial in the Beach Haven Church gardens to our predecessors in faith who established the foundations of our Catholic community on LBI. This week, if you would oblige, I share a more personal reflection.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the connection I saw between St. Francis’ encounter with the other and Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality’s charge to listen to and encounter each other in the church and in the world today. In that letter, I mentioned that everything changes, noting that as we grow older, we all know that change is real, whether we like it or not.

This past week, Fr. Scott and I were in Kansas City, Mo., with over 330 friars at a “Chapter of Unity.” [chapter = meeting for those of us in Religious life.] This meeting was the culmination of almost 15 years of work done by 6 provinces of the Order of Friars Minor [Franciscans] in the United States. As the name would suggest, this Chapter united the provinces into one. On Monday, the friars on LBI belonged to The Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, established in 1901. On Tuesday, we all belonged to Our Lady of Guadalupe Province, established on Oct. 17, 2023.

At Morning Prayer of that same day, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, the successor of St. Francis of Assisi, Br. Massimo Fusarelli, OFM, formally “suppressed” our old provinces and established one new province. There are many reasons why we chose to realign and reimage ourselves. Suffice it to say that the decrease in the number of friars in the United States was driving this decision. When I entered Holy Name Province in 1989, there were well over 650 friars. Now, 34 years later, with this realignment of 6 provinces, we are 701. In three years, we are projected to have 614 friars, with only half being in full-time ministry. Change happens, whether we like it or not.

*Br. Massimo Fusarelli, General Minister of the OFM, and Fr. Fran, in Kansas City, Mo.*

Although this may sound foreboding, the spirit at the Chapter of Unity was uplifting and, in fact, inspiring. In his first address to the friars of this Chapter of Unity, the Minister General told us that “Everyone gives up something and everyone gains something. It is the Paschal Mystery.” We do believe that as we get older, as we change, we may forfeit our youth, but we gain, hopefully, wisdom. As we lose the ability to do what we used to do, we realize, hopefully, that it is not what we do that defines us but who we are as God’s beloved. The Paschal Mystery reminds us that unless the grain of wheat falls, it will remain but a grain.

The suppression of our provinces was a painful experience for everyone, but the joy and the promise that filled the room with the friars of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province was energizing. Br. Massimo reminded us not to look to the past but to recognize that we are “planting the seeds for the future, and we welcome the gentle breath of the Holy Spirit to breathe life into our endeavors.”

Change is real, and although it may be painful, it is not always bad. With the same breath that the Holy Spirit blew life into the nostrils of Adam, we, too, are filled with the newness of life.

Please pray for all the Franciscan friars of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province and know that the five of us on LBI continue to pray for you and your families as we all journey through change, to the life that has no end.

May God’s Peace and All Good be ours.