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Folks, if you haven’t seen this, buckle up and get ready to be excited because God is on the move! Did you know that in the late 80’s an American went to Italy and there met a religious hermit – the Hermit of Lereto as he is called – and that hermit told this man that God had revealed to him that God would raise up a man to lead America back to God and he had the name of that man. When he was asked who God was raising up, the hermit replied, “Donald Trump.” You can imagine that...

‘One of the most recent cultural challenges to the Sixth Commandment and to the reality and integrity of the human person is the transgender ideology,’ Fr. Terrance Chartier said. BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (LifeSiteNews) – A Franciscan priest said that transgender ideology is an affront to at least four Commandments. “One of the most recent cultural challenges to the Sixth Commandment and to the reality and integrity of the human person is the transgender ideology,” Fr. Terrance Chartier of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate said during his homily on May 30 at the friary in Bloomington. Lying to someone and telling...

Post by Franciscan Media Saint Berard and Companions Saint of the Day for January 16 (d. January 16, 1220) Audio Player Saint Berard and Companions’ Story Preaching the gospel is often dangerous work. Leaving one’s homeland and adjusting to new cultures, governments and languages is difficult enough; but martyrdom caps all the other sacrifices. In 1219, with the blessing of Saint Francis, Berard left Italy with Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo and Vitalis to preach in Morocco. En route in Spain, Vitalis became sick and commanded the other friars to continue their mission without him. They tried preaching in Seville, then...

Police drag Father Fidelis Moscinski, CFR away from the Garden State Gynecology abortion center on July 13 after a Red Rose Rescue. MORRISTOWN, New JerseyTwo Catholic priests and two lay pro-life activists were arrested this morning for entering and refusing to leave an abortion facility, offering red roses to the women inside and encouraging them to choose life. At least one woman turned away and didn’t go through with an abortion, Red Rose Rescue spokeswoman Lisa Hart told LifeSiteNews. The woman’s mother was forcing her to have the abortion. “I was in the process of trying to get her...

The EWTN Host and Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Co-Founder Dies Dec. 13 at Age 75 NEW YORK — Franciscan Father Andrew Apostoli, EWTN host of Sunday Night Prime and a founder of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, died Wednesday at age 75, after a battle with cancer during the last several months. His death came the morning after the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is the patroness of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Every friar is consecrated to her under this title. “Father Andrew conformed his life to Christ’s,”...

A bronze statue of the Roman Catholic priest Junipero Serra at the Old Santa Barbara Mission was decapitated and doused with red paint on Sunday night or early Monday morning. The statue, on the western side of the Central Coast property near the mission's office, has since been covered with a tarp. The Santa Barbara mission has been called the "Queen of the Missions." The statue was vandalized in a similar fashion as another Father Serra statue in Monterey last year. That figure, which was beheaded but not painted, has since been repaired. Another, in Santa Cruz, was vandalized with...

[Translated from Polish]The San Damiano Cross (the Franciscan Cross) has been officially hung over the entrance door in the Main Session Hall of the Council of Ministers of Poland, right opposite the Prime Minister`s chair. The decission has been accepted unanimously by all Ministers of the Polish Goverment. As a result of the October`s general elections, the conservative party Law & Justice gained the absolute majority in the Polish Parliament and since then has formed a government which replaced 8 year-old rules of the liberals of the Civic Platform.The cross has been hung in place of the wall clock, which...

Franciscan Sister Alicia Torres gathered about three dozen volunteers in the hall of Our Lady of the Angels Church in Chicago on Nov. 21, having them count off into groups to form teams to serve the roughly 600 guests who would be seated just an hour later. Sister Alicia, 30, spoke clearly and loudly enough to be heard without yelling. As she spoke, more volunteers were busy finishing the cooking for a Thanksgiving brunch that included baked frittata, roast pork, potatoes, fruit and pastries. Through it all, Sister Alicia maintained her good humor, greeting friends and volunteers with smiles...

The Pope’s visit to the United States will include Wednesday’s plan to perform the first canonization on U.S. soil; the act will make controversial Spanish Franciscan priest Junipero Serra a saint. On June 25 the California Senate voted 22-10 to banish a statue of the Spanish Franciscan priest Serra that has stood in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall since 1931.

After more than a century of ministry and service to West Virginia, the Capuchin friars are leaving the Mountain State this month. Vows as Capuchin friars require they live together in community as brothers, sharing a prayer life and meals. A minimum of three brothers is necessary to fulfill this supportive environment. The area has two Capuchin friars serving five Catholic parishes in Kanawha and Putnam counties. The Rev. James Kurtz serves St. Anthony on Charleston’s West Side and Our Lady of the Hills in Elkview. The Rev. Joseph Tuscan serves Holy Trinity in Nitro, Christ the King in Dunbar...

For more than 100 years, an order of Capuchin Franciscan priests has prayed and preached in the Kanawha Valley, celebrating baptisms and marriages, comforting the bereaved, ministering to the needs of generation after generation of Catholics, always based in a small church on the West Side of Charleston. As of today, the Capuchin presence on the West Side, in Charleston, in the Kanawha Valley and in the state of West Virginia, is no more. The order’s provincial minister, based in Pittsburgh, made the decision to reassign the two remaining Capuchin priests in the state after concluding the community here could...

Left: Monument of Junípero Serra on plaza de San Francisco de Asis in Havana; right: Mission church of Jalpan de Serra, Querétaro, Mexico, built by Junípero Serra between 1751 and 1758 (Images: Wikipedia) Los Angeles, Calif.- California missionary Father Junipero Serra’s canonization is “long overdue,” says a university professor concerned that the priest’s history has been politicized and misrepresented. “When he died, many native peoples came to the mission for his burial. They openly wept. Others of his colleagues and even colonists, believed that he would be made a saint, because of the way he had lived his life,...

Fr. Hanna Jallouf, O.F.M., who was abducted Oct. 5 along with some 20 villagers from Qunaya, Syria. Photo courtesy of Custodia Terrae Sanctae. Aleppo, Syria, Oct 7, 2014 / 04:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Militants linked to al-Nusra Front kidnapped a Catholic parish priest and as many as 20 people from a Christian village in Syria on Sunday night. The priest has been identified as 62-year-old Father Hanna Jallouf, O.F.M. “Let us pray for him and for the other victims of this tragic and senseless war,” the Custody of the Holy Land said on its website. The Custody of the Holy...

The Catholic Church and the Franciscan family lost a giant today. This moment is one that finds the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR) with mixed emotions, as we are deeply saddened by the loss of Fr. Benedict but also relieved that God has set him free from the physical and mental suffering he has experienced over the past decade. The world knew Father Benedict as a priest, teacher, evangelist, retreat master, and a steadfast defender of and advocate for the Catholic Church that he loved so much. The members of his religious family saw all these...

Away in a Manger January 5th, 2009 by Fr. William Saunders As we learn each week from the saints, one must wonder, “How did the saints celebrate Christmas?” One of the best examples whose celebration lives on in our own is St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). Thomas of Celano, one of the first biographers of St. Francis, wrote, “More than any other feast, he celebrated Christmas with an indescribable joy. He said that this was the feast of feasts, for on this day God became a little child and sucked milk like all human children. Francis embraced with great tenderness...

PETALUMA, Calif. — Do all animals go to heaven? The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi wants them well-positioned for the possibility by creating San Francisco's first pet columbarium, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Church leaders are currently raising funds for the 850-square-foot pet memorial space, the city's first "final resting place for the furry and feathered," as the Chronicle cutely put it. The new columbarium, which organizers hope will be up and running by spring, will be able to hold the ashes of up to 1,000 animals, according to the Associated Press. Cremation costs have not yet...

Syrian terrorists have beheaded a Catholic priest who they accused of collaborating with the Assad regime. Those accusations have not yet been verified. Father Francois was summarily executed and the Vatican has confirmed the martyrdom.VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - The Vatican is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23. Below is the news release from the Vatican, via news.va. On Sunday, June 23 the Syrian priest François Murad was killed in Gassanieh, in northern Syria, in the convent of the Custody of the Holy Land where he had...

When I was asked during my grade school years, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” my standard answer would be, “Either an opera singer or a Sister!” That was quite a range. It is easy to tell which one became a reality. Franciscan-Sister-RenitaOn a hot Sunday morning in August, I was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Anita Broecker Tadych and Zenon Tadych. I have two younger sisters, Dorothy and Caroline (Kitty). My mother died when I was three years old. Some years later my father remarried, and we were blessed with Lillian, “our Mom,” and LaVerne,...

Edit: an increasingly US brokered war continues in Syria as Catholics and Orthodox Christians are being driven from the land. Damascus, 22/04/13 (Kipa) The Franciscan church and associated monastery in the Syrian town of Deir ez-Zor were destroyed in a violent explosion. This was reported by the Vienna-based foundation "Pro Oriente", citing the Vatican's Fides news agency on Sunday. Speaking to the press agency Tony Haddad said, the Franciscan Church was until then the only remaining undamaged Christian house of worship in the city on the Euphrates. It remains unclear how the church was destroyed. Eyewitnesses reported that rebels entrenched...

Image: Franciscan friar, Alessandro BrustenghiFra Alessandro Brustenghi is Franciscan friar from Assisi in Italy, the birthplace of St Francis. He's the very first friar ever to land a major record deal. Fra Alessandro is not a conservatorium-trained singer and only pursued singing seriously after entering the Order of Friars Minor at the age of 19. Following a series of auditions, aged 34 he now has a debut album of spiritual songs and hymns called Voice From Assisi, produced by Mike Hedges, best-known for his work with U2 and The Cure. From the Porziuncola, the small church where St Francis...