Anyone Discerning A Call To The Franciscans/poor Clares?

[Pax_Et_Bonum]

I was just wondering if there is anyone on here who is looking into the different Franciscan groups and what you've found- both men and woman.


Peace and all good!

[chesterton]

[quote name='Pax_Et_Bonum' post='1687885' date='Oct 28 2008, 01:14 AM']I was just wondering if there is anyone on here who is looking into the different Franciscan groups and what you've found- both men and woman.


Peace and all good![/quote]
The Poor CLares of Perpetual Adoration at OLAM rock!

[Pax_Et_Bonum]

I love the Poor Clares, unfortunately there aren't too many around here.

[DeoOptimoMaximo]

Franciscans of the Immaculate

Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

[water]

[quote name='DeoOptimoMaximo' post='1687956' date='Oct 28 2008, 09:15 AM']Franciscans of the Immaculate

Franciscan Friars of the Renewal[/quote]

Have you been able to visit the FI yet?
Thanks!

[the lords sheep]

Oh My, The list is endless....
(There's a joke that says: The three things God doesn't know: What the Jesuits are teaching, what the Dominicans are thinking, and how many types of Franciscans there really are!)
Let's see... Sisters:
The Franciscans (FI) just founded a renewal of the Poor Clares (probably the most beautiful habit I've ever seen)
Then there are the Poor Clares Capuchin (I believe the monastery in St. Louis falls under this)
The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (Mother Angelica)
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration- On in WI with a habit; the other maybe in MI, without
Poor Clares Colletine (Illinois?)
Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George
Franciscan Sisters of Peoria (yea Sr. Rose Therese!)
Franciscan Sisters of Nazareth
Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal
Franciscan Sisters of Life (Not sure about this title, they're in Kentucky, though)
Franciscan Sisters of Charity
Franciscan Sisters TOR
Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist

Then, not to mention all those that take their charism from Holy Father St. Francis:
The Sister Servants of the Eternal Word
Handmaids of Reparation (I think...)
Sister Servants of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Disciples of Jesus the Lord

And that's just all the women I can think of! Have fun checking them out. While I love the Franciscans, I've never really felt called to be one....

[she_who_is_not]

The sisters in in KY are the Franciscans Daughters of Mary.

[KnewInTheTrinity]

Poor Clares!!! Ahh!!! Yeahhh!

[Maria_Faustina]

I am! I had it pretty "narrowed down" (as much as I could with what God was letting me know) to the Franciscans/the Poor Clares, but as of recently, I am fairly certain it's the Poor Clares. Ahh! yay. I was going to add some more of the Poor Clares here in the United States, but unfortunately, you live in a different continent... do you still want to know? I guess I was assuming you wanted to know just to find communities to visit, but by your question, maybe it's more of a just wanting to find out about the order in general. To answer your question then--like the lords sheep said, there are many many Franciscans in the US (and everywhere. really), and several Poor Clares. The Franciscans are varied a lot in their habits (or lack thereof), apostolate, etc. One of them, the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George, has a few sisters at my college right now taking classes. They seem like a dynamic order, and I have heard so from everyone. Unfortunately, a lot of other women Franciscan religious often don't wear the traditional habit anymore, if they wear one at all. The Martyrs' habits have obviously been altered from the original as well, but they are still very pretty, becoming-for-a-bride-of-Christ habits.
The Poor Clares are contemplative, mostly cloistered. Some of them follow a more modern version of St. Clare's rule than others, and some are the Poor Clare Colettines, because St. Colette of Corbie at one point restored and renewed some aspects of the life. Some of these are the ones in Cleveland, OH, Rockford, IL, and Roswell, NM. The only Poor Clares I have visited so far are the ones in St. Louis, MO. I actually don't know if they were Capuchin, like someone above suggested. I spoke with the Reverend Mother and one of the younger junior professed sisters. I don't know how to describe the monastery and do it justice... it was completely peaceful, and truly beautiful. They were both so joyful and peaceful the whole time. They almost never stopped smiling, and it was a real smile, you know? There are certainly some realtively hard penances in Poor Clare life, like observing the Lenten fast year-round (well, I guess I don't know--do all Poor Clares do the same ones? But still). I was blown away, for lack of a better word. St. Francis and St. Clare were both such amazing people... any order founded by them would surely be a great one.
I hope I helped you in some way! As far as male Franciscan communities, well, I don't really know because I've never looked them up!

[Luigi]

The Poor Clares in St. Louis are not Capuchins, or any other adjective (Collettine, of Perpetual Adoration) - they're just plain, old-fashioned Poor Clares.

I know that there are different associations of Poor Clares, similar to how the Carmelite monasteries associate themselves, but that doesn't havae anything to do with the initials after their names. These women are just plain, old-fashioned PCs.

[Saint Therese]

I corresponded briefly, years ago, with the famed Mother Mary Francis, PCC.

[Pax_Et_Bonum]

Do you guys know the Capuchin Franciscans? are there any around your area?

[shortnun]

Just thought I would add another Franciscan community to the discussion: [b][url="http://www.ssfpa.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=1"]Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration[/url][/b]. They're located in Mishawaka, IN and at least one Phatmasser has joined them. They're very good about updating their websites, especially the Vocations related pages.

[Sister Rose Therese]

[quote name='the lords sheep' post='1688259' date='Oct 28 2008, 07:10 PM']Oh My, The list is endless....

...Franciscan Sisters of Peoria (yea Sr. Rose Therese!)

....[/quote]

Thanks for the plug.

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote name='Maria_Faustina' post='1688391' date='Oct 28 2008, 11:06 PM']The Poor Clares are contemplative, mostly cloistered.[/quote]

They're all cloistered as Poor Clares have 4 vows, poverty, chastity, obedience and enclosure

As someone else mentioned there are Franciscan Friars, Sisters and Poor Clares of the Immaculate. Right now PCI only in Italy, the others are in Italy, the US and many other places. There are some earlier threads on them... lots of joy, big Marian focus, press and miraculous medal apostolate especially, like the TLM but don't use it exclusively right now (although the friars are still learning it in places), very reverent, very poor.