A Simple Act of Saying “Yes” to God
- Judi Painter, OFS Candidate
- 9 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Stephen Copeland’s November/December article “A Diplomat’s Journey to Activism” introduced readers to Michele Dunne, CEO of the Franciscan Action Network (FAN), a former U.S. diplomat and now a Franciscan activist. Her journey, which began long before diplomatic meetings or her advocacy work, was shaped by early spiritual stirrings, her first encounter with St. Francis, and a gradual turning toward humility, simplicity, and the gentle movement of the Holy Spirit.
How did her Franciscan heart shift from thinking about “downward mobility” to embracing a forward-moving, complex adaptive approach to justice and peace, one that our traumatized world urgently needs?
Faith and Prayer Journey
Michele smiles and describes herself as a “cradle Catholic” who moved away from religious practice during adolescence and reconnected with it more deeply when she began raising a family. As a young girl, she often wandered woodland trails, finding God most vividly in creation, feeling what she called a “breathless excitement” in the presence of beauty.
Michele's spiritual curiosity led her, in the 1980s, to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Years later, a pivotal moment came when she met a Franciscan friar who introduced her to The Cloud of Unknowing, a 14th-century classic of Christian mysticism. Drawn by its contemplative invitation, she soon picked up a biography of St. Francis. That book became a doorway which reshaped her understanding of faith, prayer, and the very purpose of her life. In August 2013, she professed as a Secular Franciscan (OFS).
That decision gave Michele a new lens through which to see the world. She describes the comfort and clarity she has found in her local fraternity; Franciscan spirituality had called her toward a simpler, more humble way of living. That transformation has fueled her passion for Franciscan action and social change.
Michele firmly believes that Franciscan life must reach beyond the walls of meetings into concrete steps to heal broken relationships between people and creation. She quotes Article 6 of the OFS Rule: “Led by the Spirit, let them begin a life of penance, conscious that all of us must be continuously and totally converted.” She sees the Franciscan path as one of continual and interconnected turning toward God, justice, and mercy.
FAN brings together people from the many branches of the Franciscan family (Catholic OFS, Franciscan religious communities, Anglican and Lutheran Third Orders, and “Franciscan-hearted” Christians), helping them unite their voices on behalf of justice, peace, and care for creation.
Building Bridges Across Traditions
The Franciscan movement has always reached beyond boundaries. While the Secular Franciscan Order is rooted in the Catholic Church, the Franciscan charism flourishes across Christian traditions, animated by the same values of humility, simplicity, peacemaking, and reverence for creation.
In a world wounded by environmental, social, political, and spiritual trauma, she sees this shared spirituality as having enormous potential to become a bridge. Franciscan values transcend doctrine: compassion, nonviolence, deep listening, care for the poor, and love for Sister Mother Earth, offering fertile ground for full collaboration between Catholics and Protestants in the work of healing.
“If any tradition can model unity in a fractured world,” Michele says, “it is the Franciscan family, a community rooted not in uniformity but in kinship, encounter, and the healing movement of the Holy Spirit.”
She herself is deeply rooted in that family, working daily to strengthen its unity and widen its embrace. She points out that the Virgin Mary held a place of profound devotion in the hearts of both Francis and Clare. Francis called her the “Virgin made Church” and believed her humble “yes” made God accessible to humanity.
Michele shares this devotion. She spoke tenderly of Mary as “the first and greatest of the saints,” a woman whose simple consent to God’s plan set the course for all that followed, even though, as Michele notes, Mary never again saw an angel after the Annunciation. Mary walked in trust, not certainty. She stepped into the unknown with courage.
Michele recognizes that same spiritual movement in her own life. Mary’s example continues to shape her approach to Franciscan discernment: open, steady, and willing to let God lead the way forward.
A Franciscan Future for the Next Generation
Michele’s vision is also deeply intergenerational. FAN is working intentionally to build a Franciscan movement among young adults ages 18–30—with hopes of eventually reaching high school students. Through partnerships with Franciscan colleges and universities, FAN is nurturing a new generation of Franciscan-hearted leaders prepared to work for justice, peace, human dignity, and care for creation.
Michele sees this as a Franciscan movement forward: adaptive, contemplative, ecumenical, and grounded in hope. In a world marked by trauma, Michele believes the future will require a Franciscan way of listening, experimenting humbly, building relationships, and trusting the Holy Spirit—much like Mary, much like Francis, and much like Clare.
Her simple “yes” to God continues to unfold in ways that bless the wider Church, the Franciscan family, and the world.