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Copyright © Society of Saint Francis, European Province |
| The Wider Picture | ||||||||
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Into all the world The European Province of SSF is not the
only Franciscan witness within the Anglican Communion. The Order of
St Francis was founded in 1919 at Merrill in Wisconsin, USA moved to
Long Island, New York in 1928, and amalgamated with the SSF in 1968
to become the American Province; today there are houses of brothers
on both east and west coasts of the continent and a sisters’ house
close to the brothers in San Francisco. There are many people
seeking to join and new houses in other parts of North America are
planned.
In 1959 the brothers in the UK responded to persistent calls
from the Church in Papua New Guinea to send brothers to establish
the Franciscan life in that country; four brothers, led by Brother
Geoffrey, sailed from England to found houses, first in Port Moresby
and then in the diocese of Popondetta. Five years later brothers
moved to Brisbane, Australia; foundations followed in the Solomon
Islands and New Zealand. Today, there are two separate brothers’
provinces of Australia/New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and
there are moves towards dividing the later into the Province of
Papua New Guinea and the Province of the Solomon Islands, both of
which are expanding steadily.
The story in Africa has been more
difficult; a foundation was made at Fiwila in Zambia in the early
1960s followed by another later in the decade at Dar es Salaam in
Tanzania; neither of these led to the establishment of an indigenous
expression of the Franciscan life. At present there is a small
indigenous Franciscan order, known as the Community of Divine
Compassion at Nyanga in Zimbabwe, which is in a ‘covenant
relationship’ with SSF; despite the very difficult conditions in
that country at the present time the call to live after the example
of St Francis is being heard, as it is also in other parts of the
world, where there are new Franciscan communities in South Korea and
in Brazil.
(l-r: Brothers from the Province of the Americas, Brothers in Brazil; Br Daniel from the Australia New Zealand Province and Br Thomas from the Province of the Americas; Br Samuel and Br Hugh with the Community of the Divine Compassion in Zimbabwe) Besides the First Order brothers and sisters, there are two other orders within the Society of St Francis which reach back to the inspiration of Francis and Clare.
Sr Joyce with Tertiaries in Ghana Companions are those who wish to associate themselves with SSF,
and to support the life of the order with regular prayer and
friendship.
Although SSF remains a totally separate organization from the
numerically much larger and more widespread Roman Catholic
Franciscan orders, there is often close association and friendship
between members of the two communions. This is particularly so at
Canterbury where SSF brothers and sisters, as well as SSF
tertiaries, often attend the Franciscan International Study Centre
for courses on Franciscan theology and spirituality, and also in
Assisi, where SSF maintains a small presence in the city which
is ‘home’ to the whole Franciscan movement. While accepting the
constraints of historic division of the Christian Church,
Franciscans seek to reach out to each other in love and fellowship
and to witness to the fundamental unity which exists in
Christ.
In the links page
you will find links to many of these Anglican Provinces of SSF, and
also to Roman Catholic Franciscan communities. Back to 'Living as Franciscans' |
