Franciscan Spirituality UK

05/03/2022

For all who are interested in new Franciscan resources, please take a look at www.franciscanpublishing.com a small set of tests at present, but hoping to add more soon. Anyone reading this who has an interest in publishing even small books in English on topics relevant to an interest in Franciscan thought and imagination, please consider submitting your work to this new company, based in Darlington.

Franciscan Publishing has been established to enable the Franciscan charism to be made more widely known and available in the English language.

18/11/2021

Medieval preaching and Franciscan community life in Scotland has been revived in the past century in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow. Now Glasgow's energising aspect has increased through groups which met one another in the course of COP26. Not all those who showed their concern for humanity's destructive attitudes have recognised that Christianity has good resources for for creating a language of stewardship that will include compassion for the most vulnerable localities around the world. It is important that these protests about neglect should include constructive dialogue and collaboration between non-Christians and Christians.

18/11/2021

More understanding of Inscape, which relates to Eco-Conversion, and all versions of an environmentalist community spirit can be obtained from Eric Doyle's book, Saint Francis and the Song of Brotherhood and Sisterhood (Seabury Press, 1981). Books by Ilia Delio and Daniel P. Horan should also be helpful But Eric Doyle's seminal text explains the quality of inter-relatedness which is essential, and which the present Climate Crisis debates and dangers have suddenly shown to have been neglected for too long.

18/11/2021

This is Duns Scotus church in Glasgow where a Franciscans International group gathered during COP26. It is named after John Duns Scotus, the Scottish Franciscan Theologian and philosopher, whose love of the integrity of Creation inspired the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to see the world as having 'Inscape' a deep spiritual dimension.

10/11/2021

The friars at Duns Scotus parish in Glasgow have become very involved in COP26, with visitors from Indonesia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Kenya and South Africa, hosted in this photo by George Smulski OFM of the Glasgow community. This gathered group was facilitated by Franciscans International, based with the UN in Geneva (Google them for an archive of newsletters).

05/03/2020

Celebrate the musicality of Francis and Clare to reach out with peace and joy to those around us. Do we have good singers and musicians who could hold a communal concert every couple of months?

02/12/2019

Social justice, interreligious dialogue and ecological concerns were all well represented in the large number of short papers being read in different rooms in Durham, around the cloister there.The different settings, the Exhibition Theatre, the splendid Chapel and Ushaw's Art Gallery made for a blended experience of a shared legacy that was extremely memorable.

02/12/2019

A number of scholars contributed to the Conference, including Profs. Ilia Delio, Jacques Dalarun, Bill Short, Michael Cusato, Jason Welle, and John McCafferty. Amongst those speaking were the Muslim journalist and broadcaster, Mona Siddiqui OBE, Pakistani friar Paschal Robert (resident in Turkey, involved in a community of dialogue, Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald, M.Afr., and by video link, Richard Rohr. Anglican friars and sisters alongside notable Catholics such as Francis Teresa, and Patricia Rumsey and Jane Bertelsen made this a stimulating and lively event, with Evening Prayer held in Ushaw's St. Cuthbert's Chapel. Durham professors Karen Kilby and Paul D. Murray helped to ensure that both popular Franciscan understandings of ecumenism and academic scholarship relating to the gifts of the Holy Spirit were shared to a deep level.

02/12/2019

In the first week of November, over 170 Franciscans and enthusiasts for Franciscan sources and celebrations gathered in Durham at the Centre for Catholic Studies for a conference on The Franciscan Legacy. This was focussed on the 900 year anniversary of 1219, when Francis of Assisi went to protest about aggression by the Latin forces. He wanted the fighting to be called off. He had a companion, Br. Illuminato, and together they walked into the Muslim camp and met the Sultan, Al-Malik Al-Kamil. We do not have really clear accounts of what was said, but it is clear that friendliness between Francis and the Sultan was genuine and included appreciation of religious qualities on both sides.