Franciscans in the Public Square

We live in a time when the rate and speed of change affect us both personally and collectively from all sides. Although we are the most “institutionalized” generation ever, polls over the past decade show that most Americans mistrust the institutions they interact with daily.

In fact, only three industries have approval ratings above 50%: the military, the police, and small businesses. Hospitals, schools, government agencies, and even religious institutions fall into the mid-thirty percent range of trust. It’s clear that we feel disappointed and frustrated with the institutions we work with and engage in. Does our Franciscan tradition offer anything when we need to merge provinces, update parishes, and renew our agencies?

Clearly, we have official norms and constitutional principles, but change management is not simply the product of legal standards and official canons. Neither is renewal effectively achieved simply through autonomous efforts and individual achievements. In the last few years of his life, Pope Francis recognized this by reconstituting an ancient ecclesial practice for our modern world, namely that of “synodality.”

Franciscan life in America faces significant challenges. Theologian Roger Haight highlighted the significant cultural obstacles we encounter, including metaphysical cynicism, epistemological relativism, and ontic pessimism.

These challenges are now evident in social policies that rely on “alternative facts” instead of scientific evidence, and they cancel over 87% of humanitarian aid worldwide, leading to millions of unnecessary and preventable deaths.

Even democratic countries are now ignoring established international norms of human rights with regular strikes against innocent civilians, including women and children, hospitals, and schools. How do we as Franciscans in the public square respond? How do we engage the politics of our age when it has so privatized religion as to leave it in a paralyzed state of automated complicity?

What is needed is a new concentration on two realities: Franciscan mission and organizational development. First, we need to articulate our Franciscan mission convincingly in the public square. We must root our call in the dynamics of the kingdom of God that Jesus preached. The late theologian John Feullenbach, SVD, reminded us that the evangelization of the kingdom was not directed toward “getting souls into heaven.”

It was about the transformation of the world into a “new heaven and new earth,” not through the tricks and trades of politicians and pundits, but by the generous gift of self-sacrificing love, as evidenced by Jesus and those who abide in His mercy.

If St. Francis challenged the economic system of his time by disrobing in the public square, St. Clare did so by reordering her sisters’ lives away from patriarchal obedience and humbly shifting their focus toward the principles of mutual charity. Francis and Clare didn't just teach the brothers and sisters to adapt healthily to the significant changes happening in the 13th century.

They aimed to transform the very essence of change itself by shifting the dynamics of change through minority, forgiveness, and mutuality. Their approach was not about mere adaptation and accommodation; it was about transforming the nature of change itself.

How do we learn about the nature of Franciscan mission and the organizational development that will energize it in our complex world? I have written a new book on the subject, titled Franciscan Mission and Organizational Development: A Socio-Analytic Perspective.

One reviewer said this about the book: “It is essential reading for anyone seeking mission-driven, values-based transformation grounded in integrity and solidarity.”  The book is available from the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University and can be purchased at: franciscanpublications.com.

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How do we learn about the nature of Franciscan mission and the organizational development that will energize it in our complex world?

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