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May 2007 |
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May the Lord give you His peace! On April 28, 2007, we celebrated our twentieth anniversary. Twenty years is a very short period of time in the history of the Church. See below for some photographs of the event. We are just getting started! This year I will focus on various aspects of the CFR way of life in particular. |
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This month I would like to comment on our hands-on work with the poor. Our founding friars were inspired by the example of Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was a friend and support. Saint Francis had a desire to be like Jesus who was poor, chaste and obedient. St. Francis' encounter with Jesus in a leper was a key moment in his vocation (read more). Our friars wanted to get back to being poor and being with the poor. All of our friaries are in areas of poverty. We all do some type of hands-on work with the poor (read more). Materialism, that is to say, unhealthy attachments to the things of this earth get in the way of our relationship with God. Bringing Jesus to the poor and finding Jesus in the poor has helped me in my struggle to focus on getting to heaven, our true home (read more). |
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April 28, 2007, Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Adalbert Church, South Bronx. This closed down parish was our first foundation. The rectory became St. Crispin Friary. This is where it all began on April 28, 1987. Fr. Bernard Murphy, Community Servant, was the main celebrant. |
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Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Stella, Stella's son - Fr. Glenn Sudano. |
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This portrait was painted by Anthony Pulitano, the nephew of June, Fr. Benedict's long-time secretary. This is a finalist in the 2007 International |
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N.B. The official "two-week visit" for those men hoping to join us as Postulants in September 2007, will be July 16-30, 2007. Please let us know soon! |
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God bless you,
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 Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR Saint Joseph Friary 523 W. 142nd Street New York, NY 10031 (212)281-4355 (212)234-8871 fax Archive eLetters |
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There are three basic elements to the CFR way of life, likened to a three-legged stool: prayer, fraternity and apostolate. Our founders wanted to recapture the importance of the apostolate in the religious life. From a deep prayer life flows our brotherhood in community. Out of our prayer and brotherhood we are strengthened to serve in the apostolate. Our apostolate is two-fold: hands-on work with the poor and evangelization. On first meeting many people they often ask, "What do you guys do?" Prayer is first, the apostolate flows from our prayer.
Sometimes in April, an excellent HBO movie about the Rwandan genocide:
We are praying for you and your discernment everyday, especially on Wednesdays. Let us set our hands to the plow in the Lord's vineyard and not look back! "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be
rewarded according to his own labor"