Stories

For many years, in the interior courtyard of Old Mission Santa Barbara in California, there stood a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. Around 10 feet tall, the figure is carved out of decaying driftwood, weathered by the salty water of the Pacific Ocean and persistent Southern California sun.

One afternoon, as a teenager at summer camp, I looked up and saw the sun hitting a single oak leaf that dangled from a sturdy branch. 

Sister Theresa sums up the wisdom she offers to others this way: one day at a time helps; trust that God is always with you; keep the faith; be kind.

Saint Francis got it. As I reflect on the wonders of creation, it is clear to me that Francis and I have similar perspectives. 

During the month of September, the relationships and collaborations between sisters, affiliates, discerners and community partners were on full display. Although incredibly busy, it is one of my favorite times of the year — the opportunity to be in community with incredible people.

On Oct.11 in Mary of the Angels Chapel, Stephanie Held was welcomed into the candidacy phase, the first step in the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration process to become a Catholic sister.

On Oct. 4, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, along with Franciscans worldwide, honored the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology.

I went to “the Feast” a gathering here in Spokane with our beautiful brothers and sisters from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to enter in, connect with stories and food and bless the Totem, honoring their victory in removing the Elwha Dam, thus helping to restore health to life and to Mother Earth.

On September 30, the National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding School Survivors and their families, we gathered at St. Mary’s where there was once an boarding school and an orphanage administered by FSPA on the Bad River Reservation in Wisconsin.

When Calvin Cooper passed away in August, the news might have slipped away unnoticed. He had no one to claim the task of laying him to rest. But Calvin had a circle—a kind of family he built week after week at La Crosse’s WAFER Food Pantry.

For the past 40 years, the Franciscan Spirituality Center’s Spiritual Direction Preparation Program, one of its longest-running programs, has shaped lives by forming women and men to listen deeply, accompany others and nurture spiritual growth.

Sister Karen Lueck’s new book, “The Green Thread: Reclaiming Our Spiritual Authority,” is part memoir, part research narrative about what happens when church and earthly powers form an unholy alliance to keep people, especially women, subservient.