Our Work

Francis of Assisi did not have any particular work or apostolate in mind when he founded his Order. He knew only that he had encountered God's love in a profound way and thus had to proclaim that love to all people, following in the footsteps of Jesus. He wished his brothers to be heralds of the Gospel in the midst of society. As he told them: "Give praise to the Lord because he is good . . . the Lord has sent you into the whole world for this reason: that you may bear witness to his voice in word and deed." This desire to be a dynamic, evangelizing brotherhood, bringing the Good News to all kinds of people, has led Franciscans to engage in a wide variety of ministries over our eight-century history.

In North America, the Order's work began as a foreign mission in a growing country. The mid-1800s brought an influx of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Italy and other countries to the Northeastern United States, and friars soon came to serve their needs. Father Pamfilo da Magliano, OFM, and three companions left Italy in 1855 to labor among immigrant Catholics in the Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y. Besides ministering in parishes, they founded St. Bonaventure College, the dream of a layman named Nicholas Devereux, with low tuition that could serve struggling working families. These early Italian missionaries soon established foundations in New York City, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Twenty years later, friars from Germany, fleeing from persecution in their native land, settled in Paterson, New Jersey and soon sought new places in which to labor. Father Francis Koch, OFM, set out on dirt roads with his German-English dictionary, establishing 20 mission parishes in New Jersey and others in New York State and Colorado. He lived to see the founding of Holy Name Province in 1901 with 65 friars. Even in his "retirement years," he continued to plant the seeds of new parish communities until he died in 1920, collapsing after walking a mile through a blizzard after a tiring missionary journey.

From these humble beginnings has grown one of the largest Franciscan provinces in the world, continuing the mission of Francis: to live among, reach out to and gather together people of God who were in need. Francis of Assisi was a man of action, and his followers and supporters today strive to keep his dream alive. At its provincial chapter in 1999, the friars of Holy Name Province ratified the following statement of our mission, as we enter the second century of our corporate life:

"Holy Name Province is an evangelical and missionary fraternity called to minister in the Eastern United States and abroad. Rooted in the Catholic and Franciscan tradition, we are disciples of Christ who seek to bring the Gospel into the everyday experience of all people through Franciscan witness, popular preaching, teaching, and pastoral leadership. We foster Christian discipleship by collaborating with those whom we serve and by standing in solidarity with all people, especially the alienated, the immigrant, and the poor."

Currently, we embody this mission through a wide variety of ministerial commitments:

Parishes
Work within local parishes continues to be a preferred place of ministry for the friars of Holy Name Province. Father John O'Connor, OFM, a native of Queens, N.Y., who is currently serving as Provincial Minister, worked in parish ministry for 15 years. "It was a privileged opportunity to share life with people, from the wonderful experience of birth to the difficult and faith-filled experience of death and all the moments in between. Best of all, parish ministry provides the opportunity of offering others the experience of being part of a worshipping and ministering community in which they come to better know their God." We Franciscans believe that the witness of our fraternity and our sense of service to those in need offer a living model of what it means to be gathered as a community of disciples within the Church.

Outreach to the Poor
"I am taught what I am called to be by the people I am called to serve." So the Spirit teaches Father Michael Duffy, OFM, who grew up in New Hampshire and now lives in the Kensington section of Philadelphia with other Franciscans. They break bread and share their lives with some 300-500 needy men, women and children daily at St. Francis Inn. The soup kitchen, established in 1979, is served by many lay Franciscan Volunteer ministers, as well as friars at various times during their years of formation. It is also the core of a small group of services including a Women's Center and a thrift shop. Here, where Francis's charism shines, "I am rich beyond measure," says Fr. Mike. "I am taught where true joy lies."

Lay Involvement in Ministry
The friars of Holy Name Province are committed to fulfill our Gospel mission through shared partnership with those among whom we are sent to serve. In Jersey City, N.J., as a child, Benedict Taylor got into the "habit" of putting on a brown robe and "walking around the neighborhood acting like a friar." The early practice is evident. The CREATE services in Harlem of Father Ben - a gentle yet determined Franciscan - have been cited for "20 years of providing help and guidance to more than 7,000 men and women," in drug-free counseling alone, "to make ours a more decent, just and humane city." He also received an award from the National Black Catholic Conference for "love, hope and direction to many of Harlem's destitute." Striving to serve anyone in need, from students to seniors, Fr. Ben depends on lay co-workers, saying, "We work like a family and are able to serve more people."

Education
The friars of Holy Name Province have been engaged in the work of education for almost 150 years, continuing the heritage of those friars who entered into the universities of Paris and Oxford in the 13th century. Father Dennis Tamburello, OFM, who has taught at Siena College for over 20 years, states the Franciscan approach to education: "While I value the intellectual life in itself, I value even more the opportunity to relate it to the lived experiences of my students. Francis was not interested in knowledge for its own sake, but knowledge that helps us grow in our relationship with God, other people, and the whole created order. I have seen many students be radically transformed by their experience of a Franciscan education. There is no better reward than that."

Urban Ministry
Father James Hynes, OFM, a Buffalo native, has completed nine years as pastor of a parish of many nations, Holy Name Church, on New York City's Upper West Side. One of the Holy Name Province's newer "urban ministries," the parish provides diverse community outreach programs, as well as the traditional sacramental focus. "Worship and adult education are both high priorities," says Fr. Jim. With a team of friars, deacons, sisters and lay staff, the parish ministers to people of Cuban, Dominican, Haitian, Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, Nigerian, Filipino, Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Senegalese and other heritages! Weekend Mass is celebrated in three languages, and an active school educates some 600 students. Fr. Jim is now ministering in another vibrant urban ministry in Hartford, Connecticut.

Missions to the Third World
Brother Declan McCabe, OFM, has been a Franciscan missionary in Lima,Peru, for more than 25 years. His Brockton, Mass., accent has mellowed with the local Peruvian dialect he has learned. Peru's struggling people call Brother Declan "abuelito," granddaddy. As director of three "postas medicas," or medical centers, he seeks to help heal the effects of malnutrition, cholera, tuberculosis, and the desperation of structural poverty. Typical of those whose lives he has changed are people like Jaime, who conquered a drug problem, Fanny, who obtained education, and James, who needed eyeglasses. Those he helps can pass on their skills to others, to spread the Gospel. "As Franciscans," Brother Declan says, "we should be working with the people who are poor. We should be working by our example."