Work Commission Resources - Secular Franciscan Order

"Let them esteem work both as a gift and a sharing in the creation, redemption and service of the human family" (Art. 16, SFO Rule)

Prayer before starting work - Slide show and PDF

• Article 16 Pamphlet Stories
  Note that each article is designed to be printed as a pamphlet. For reading convenience, the outside/title page is included as page 2.
  • Becoming a Volunteer at 75 - Word and PDF
  • Department of Special Revenue - Word and PDF
  • Five Ordinary People - Word and PDF
  • Front Desk Secretary - Word and PDF
  • The Gift of Health Care - Word and PDF
  • Senior Pipe Designer - Word and PDF
  • An Old Soldier Turns Toward Home - Word and PDF
  • How God Works in our Human Condition - Word and PDF
  • Working with the Poor of Mexico - Word and PDF
• Questions and Answers on Work from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Slide show  PowerPoint
• The Rule and Constitutions with Citations
• "Secularity as a Characteristic Element of Secular Franciscan Identity" - Conclusions of the SFO General Chapter, Mexico City, October, 1993

Early Franciscan Sources- St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Bonaventure and Thomas of Celano provide a Franciscan perspective on work.

• Early Franciscan Sources

• Early Church Fathers prepared by Ann Devine, SFO
• Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium Et Spes)
• On Human Work (Laborem Exercens)
• Guardian of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Custos) a chapter entitled "Work as an Expression of Human Love"
• Labor Day Statement, 1995; U.S. Catholic Conference - Domestic Policy Committee

The following articles develop both the Franciscan and the secular dimensions of work:

• Work in the Writings of Saint Francis by Sr. Joan Schwacke, O.S.F
• Integrating a Franciscan Spirituality of Work Into the Leadership of the Workplace by Mr. Richard Morton, S.F.O., current National Minister of the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States
• To Evangelize American Culture: A Franciscan Approach by Fr. Daniel McLellan, O.F.M.
• Spirituality of Work (a chapter from Confident and Competent - A Challenge for the Lay Church by William L. Droel and Gregory F. Augustine Pierce
• Work Reflection by Fr. Hermann Doerr, O.F.M

Reflections on Article 16 of the Secular Franciscan Rule - articles with dialogue starters by Edward Zablocki, SFO

• Returning to the Sources
• The Absence of Work from Previous SFO Rules
• Why Work is Now Part of The Secular Franciscan Way of Life
• The Franciscan Contribution to Our Understanding of Work
• Work as Gift Given
• Work Brings Us a Great Gift
• Work as Sharing in Creation
• Work as Sharing in God's Redemptive Activity
• Work as Service to the Human Community
• A Theology of Work for Changing Times

In the Trenches Personal reflections on faith and work by Mary Zablocki, SFO

• Vol. 1.1
• Vol .1.2
• Vol. 2.1
• Vol. 2.2
• Vol. 3.1
• Vol. 3.2
• Vol. 3.3

Work and the Social Teachings of the Church - reflections by Terry McCarthy, Sr. SFO

• Excerpts from Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XII
• On the 105th Anniversary of Rerum Novarum
• The Transcendent Dignity of the Human Person

• Vol. 1.1
• Vol .1.2
• Vol. 2.1
• Vol. 2.2
• Vol. 3.1
• Vol. 3.2
• Vol. 3.3