Brothers find their way among the impoverished, Newark monastery will open up its space

The thin stream of blood extended the length of the sidewalk running by the Catholic monastery's front door, trickled around the corner and ended midway down the block. The friars who live inside assumed a gunshot victim had collapsed. There, the monks gathered one night last summer and prayed, as residents of 13th Avenue in Newark's West Ward looked on. Two months later, the friars showed up in religious garb at a fu neral for another young area gunshot victim, and they again drew stares.

Last autumn, the friars learned that people liked having them in the neighborhood. A man at the door seeking a sandwich told a friar that area residents thought they were "good guys," recalled the Rev. Richard Roemer, who has lived at the monastery since 2005.

The friars and their order, Franciscans of the Renewal, is an order that has been attracting national attention.

Catholic religious orders worldwide are having trouble recruiting new members. But the Franciscans of Renweal, a young order founded in 1987, have been drawing a steady flow of recruits in their 20s and 30s. Starting with just eight members, the order now has 107 friars.

The Newark priory was purchased for $1.5 million in 2004 by a nonprofit group called Friends of the Newark Monastery. Because the friars take a vow of poverty, they are not permitted to own property.

The priory had been used for years by a group of cloistered Dominican nuns who rarely ventured beyond the walls and who had not let outsiders in except to pray at a chapel.

This fall, the friars will open the European-style courtyard, spacious back lawn and other prayer space for regular religious retreats.

Regular recipients of the Grayfriar News will notice that the list of friaries and convents on the back page continues to grow. This summer the friars will open St. Patrick Friary in Limerick, Ireland and Sacred Heart Friary in Fort Worth, Texas. The friars in this photo received the customary “Mission Cross” for those who are assigned overseas. They are (l-r) Fr. Augustine Conner (England), Fr. Emmanuel Mansford (England), Fr. Juan Diego Sutherland (Honduras), Br. Dominic Bormans (England), and Fr. Paulus Tautz (Ireland). Br. Seraphim Roycourt, not pictured here, is also being sent to Limerick, along with three friars who are currently living in England. Four friar pioneers will begin the friary in Fort Worth. In our time it is difficult to say which countries are more “mission lands” in terms of preaching the Gospel, but no matter where it is, a new friary means many challenges and many graces.

Looking joyfully themselves is this gang of ten who recently made their first profession of vows. They are: (top row, l-r) Br. Gabriel Joseph Kyte, Br. Felice Maria Gavazzi, Br. Paolo Maria Kim, Br. Justin Jesúsmarie Alarcón; (center row) Br. Juanmaría Arroyo-Acevedo (standing at left), Br. Stephen Joseph Long, Br. Barnabas Joseph Leonard, Br. Nicholas Maria White, Br. John-Mary Johannssen; and (seated in front) Br. Ignatius Mary Shin. These capable young friars testify that God is still calling young people to make a generous gift of themselves in poverty, chastity, and obedience.

This year yielded the largest harvest yet of CFR friars ordained to the priesthood. Seven “hoods” were equally balanced by seven “men in black,” their classmates at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, ordained for the Archdiocese of New York. This photo shows all 14 newly ordained at the liturgy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. These new priests forever are (l-r) Fr. Louis Joseph Cottolengo Anderson; Fr. Gilberto Francisco Angel-Neri; Fr. Gabriel Mary Bakkar, CFR; Fr. Justin Francis Cinnante; Fr. Augustine Mary Conner, CFR; Fr. Douglas John Crawford; Fr. Brendan Thomas Gormley; Fr. Pio Maria Hoffmann, CFR; Fr. Kevin Peter Malick; Fr. Emmanuel Mary Mansford, CFR; Fr. Lawrence Joseph Schroedel, CFR; Fr. Jean-Paul Dominic Savio Soler; Fr. Juan Diego Sutherland, CFR; Fr. Paulus Maria Tautz, CFR.

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