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National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order - USA

Mission Statement

The National Work Commisson of the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States is dedicated to a two-fold task: (1) helping Secular Franciscans and other people of goodwill to discover the Good News in the work we do and the way that it helps us grow in holiness and dignity as we share our gifts with the world and (2) showing solidarity with workers whose dignity is denied by work that oppresses rather than liberates.

The National Work Commission is one of four Apostolic Commissions established by the National Fraternity of Secular Franciscan Order in the U.S.A. The other three Commissions are Ecology, Family, and Peace and Justice. All four Commissions emerge from the 1978 Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order which updated the Order to be consonant with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The present Rule embodies the "secular spirituality" which the Vatican II developed for the laity; one which placed the growth in holiness and the carrying out of mission within the context of a layperson's ordinary life. This secular spirituality is an incarnational spirituality that has Franciscan roots - for it was St. Francis who brought the Church a renewed reverence for the goodness and wonder of God's magnificent creation and humankind's participation in it. Work is God's way of allowing us to participate in his on-going activities of creating, sustaining and redeeming the world. Work is a principal means by which God intends for us to serve our brothers and sisters and our world. In so doing, we ourselves are blessed as we cultivate our gifts and talents and become better persons more fully revealing the divine image in which we were created.

Resources are available here for understanding the role of work in the Secular Franciscan life and spirituality of work in general, including a new set of handouts from the Work Commission made available at the 2007 Quinquennial Congress.

The Work Commission Manual is available for downloading section by section or as a complete set of files (6.7 megabytes) in PDF format.

Chairperson:
	Sally Haddad, SFO 309 Savage Hill Road Berlin, CT 06037 860-828-0878
Commission members:
	Maria Batista, SFO 326 Rachel El Paso, TX 79927 915-858-9466
	Young (Mary) Kim, SFO 4 Mountain Laurel Drive Greenwich, CT 06831 203-629-5373
	Roger A. Yockey, SFO 15026 40th Ave. W, Apt. 4-104 Lynnwood, WA 98087-8961 425-741-3740
	Cathy Arcand, SFO 121 Robinhood Drive Warner Robins, GA 31088 478-328-0449

Last updated: August 10, 2007

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