Franciscan Spirit
Pope Francis: Fix the Clergy Sex-Abuse Crisis Now
Pat McCloskey, OFM
August 23, 2018
Dear Pope Francis: I write about how the Catholic Church responds to clerical sexual abuse and the bishops or superiors who have enabled it.
A Reflection on Planet Earth
Kyle Kramer
August 16, 2018
In an era when people form and reinforce their opinions entirely within a chosen bubble of like minds, any earnest quest for truth seems almost quaint. How did truth become so passé?
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St. Clare of Assisi: A Little Plant or a Mighty Oak?
Fr. Don Miller, OFM
August 11, 2018
East of the Piazza del Commune in Assisi, stands the Cathedral of San Rufino. Near the church and its adjacent piazza once stood the home of the nobleman and knight, Favarone Offreduccio and his wife, Ortulana.
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Mothers Unite!
Susan Hines-Brigger
August 6, 2018
I have an announcement to make: My kids are not perfect. They never have been; they never will be. They throw fits, argue with one another, cop attitudes, and don’t always listen very well. They’re kids. And I love them more ...
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The Franciscan Saints: Pope John XXIII
Robert Ellsberg
July 30, 2018
Pope John XXIII, as Pope Francis said, “was a country priest, the priest who loves all the faithful, who knows how to care for the faithful, and this he did as a bishop, and as a nuncio.”
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The Franciscan Saints: Padre Pio
Robert Ellsberg
July 29, 2018
Capuchin Friar, Mystic (1887–1968) Padre Pio, a Capuchin friar of peasant background, spent virtually his entire life in a monastery in southern Italy. In most respects he was indistinguishable from his fellow friars. But for some mysterious purpose, Padre Pio ...
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The Franciscan Saints: Solanus Casey
Robert Ellsberg
July 27, 2018
Capuchin Friar (1870–1957) Solanus Casey, the son of Irish immigrants in Wisconsin, felt called to the priesthood after witnessing a drunken sailor stabbing a woman. Somehow, this scene of sin and suffering caused Casey to dedicate himself to God and ...
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