Live Help Trial May 17, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Site Updates , 1 comment so farI am trialling a Live Help chat program. If you are having difficulties with this site, or have any questions click on the Live Help icon in Members > Live Help or click here. If I am online then you will be able to chat live. If I am not online you will be able to send an email with your question and I will return you email as soon as I can. Pax Nathan.
Provincial Newsletter Vol 7.1, Easter 2007 May 15, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Provincial Newsletter, Resources , add a commentThe latest Provincial Newsletter (Vol 7.1, Easter 2007) has just been uploaded. Don’t forget, you can now comment on articles, editorial etc by selecting add a comment from the links above. This allows you to open up and participate in discussion on topics you have read in the newsletter.
Franciscan Blogs May 15, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Blogs, Franciscan , add a commentA blog is short for web log (or journal, diary etc). A blog is a means of sharing your thoughts, opinions, feelings, reflections etc on topics of interest. They range from travel blogs to more profound and philosophical discussions. Authors can post material and visitors can add comments, opening up a series of discussions on the topic of question.
A list of related blogs on a person’s blog is often referred to as a blog roll. On the right hand menu you will find a blog roll, or series of links, to blogs authored by members of the Third Order, First Order and SSF Companions. Why not check them out and participate in topics which interest you. If you find a topic (post) which interests you simply click on the comments link at the top of the post and add your two cents worth.
An extension of this method of content management has been used on this web site to allow visitors to not only view information on the Third Order, but to participate in discussions on St Francis, St Clare, Franciscan Spirituality and religious life. Feel free to explore this site and participate in discussions.
Dr Robert Bela Wilhelm’s Talks May 15, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Resources, Story Telling , add a commentThe talks given by Dr Robert Bela Wilhem can now be downloaded from the Patch on a Hurting World resource page. These files are large MP3 files. It is advisable to down load them to your computer before playing them.
Francis sure knew how to communicate May 9, 2007
Posted by Ted Witham in : Franciscan , add a commentI am attached in a most unFranciscan way to a battered copy of The Francis Book. You can see a picture of it here. I bought this 800th Anniversary collection in the early 80s from the Episcopal Book Club. The Francis Book is a collection of poems, short stories, photos and line-drawings about the saint of Assisi. Its cover is a still from the Zeffirelli hippie movie, Brother Sun and Sister Moon. The Francis Book was a post-modern book before its time, illustrating in the pieces chosen its central thesis that Franciscans use every means possible to communicate.
The star witness of The Francis Book is Gene Pelc’s Marvel Comics version of the life of St Francis. Pelc writes how Fr Roy M. Gasnick ofm approached him after the success of The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man. Gasnick prompted Gene Pelc to take the risk of making a superhero out of Francis in the belief that a comic book approach would broaden the audience. Some were outraged by a comic and others loved it.
Gasnick was building on the example of World War 2 martyr Maximilien Kolbe. In the 1930s, Kolbe used a radio station and a magazine printed on early roneo machines as his podium. Like Gasnick, he also knew how much importance Franciscans place on communication.
This instinct for the widest possible audience goes back to St Francis himself. Francis preached wherever he could get a pulpit. He composed prayers and songs and was one of the first to use Italian as a language for poetry. Francis was influenced by Sufi poets from the Muslim world and Idres Shah suggests that his travel to Egypt and Spain and his plans to go to Syria and Morocco, all centres of Sufism, were to investigate more deeply the songs of the Sufis to learn more effective ways of communicating the love of Jesus using popular songs.
If we look back over this aspect of our Franciscan heritage it seems entirely appropriate for Franciscans to explore the Web as a means of communication. Uploading to a web-site or a blog is a simple way of reaching a potential global audience. It’s as easy to read this is Albany, Western Australia as it is in Albany NY. If one writes with search engines in mind, it’s not hard to construct Web pages or blog entries which can be easily found by anyone interested in Franciscanism.
Secondly, the Web offers opportunities for conversation. Readers can place comments on blogs. Web-sites can link to other web-sites. Film or comics, however attuned to mass markets, are a one-way communication. They represent a ‘power-over’ style of communication. The web, on the other hand, is much more democratic. Knowledge can genuinely be shared, unsound opinions can be challenged, and all in a matters of hours and days – not the months or years and millions of dollars it takes another powerful communicator to respond to print or film.
I hope that Franciscans and others will be prepared to use this website as it is intended: to provide information about the Third Order and also – and probably in the end more influentially – to make available a space where lovers of Francis can discuss a wide range of topics and so deepen our understanding of and attachment to the Christian faith, because despite my intense attachment to books, deep down I know that what will save me is another attachment: not so much my attachment to Jesus Christ, but his to me.
Archbishop Philip Freier tssf Talks on Being a Franciscan April 20, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Franciscan, News , add a commentThe Most Reverend Philip Freier tssf, Archbishop of Melbourne, was recently interviewed by the ABC Radio National’s Religion Report. In the interview he was asked about his active interaction with the public by being ‘out and about’ on the streets of Melbourne. The interviewer then asked him if this new approach had anything to do with him being a member of the Third Order Society of St Francis. + Freier was very open in his response about how St Francis had been an infuence in his life and what it meant to be a tertiary. Â
Powerpoint Presentation; Franciscan Spirituality by Rev Ted Witham tssf April 12, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Franciscan, Presentation Resources, Spirituality , 1 comment so farRev Ted Witham is the present Minister Provincial of the Third Order Society of St Francis. He has produced a Powerpoint resource on Franciscan Spirituality. Members who deliver talks on Franciscan Spirituality may find this a valuable resource. The file can be downloaded from the resources page or here Franciscan Spirituality
Dr. Robert Bela Wilhelm’s Talks given at 2006 TSSF Conference April 12, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : News, Resources , add a commentStory Teller Dr Bob Wilhelm was the keynote speaker at the Third Order Society of St Francis Conference held in Perth WA. Bob delivered a fascinating series of talks on storytelling; using familiar Franciscan stories. Conference attendees marvelled as Bob used these familiar stories to not only bring them alive for us, but to show us how story telling can be a means of helping others to explore Franciscan Spirituality in a real and meaningful way.
His series of talks can be downloaded from his conference web site www.patchonahurtingworld.info/
Welcome April 11, 2007
Posted by brnathan in : Welcome , add a commentWelcome from the Minister Provincial
We are an Independent Order within the Anglican Church of Australia but are also part of the Society of St. Francis, within which there are three Orders: The Brothers and Sisters of the First Order live a community life under vows and express their dedication to Christ by outward service to others. The Second Order of Sisters is an enclosed contemplative Order in the UK. and US. The Third Order of Sisters and Brothers consists of women and men both lay and ordained who are vowed to a lifelong commitment to Christ and bear witness to the Gospel life in their homes and in the occupations in which they believe God has called them. We are drawn to the examples of St. Francis and St Clare who took to heart the Gospel and followed Christ. Our aim as a Society is to make our Lord known and loved everywhere, to promote the spirit of love and harmony, and to live simply. This is the obedience which the Gospel lays upon us and which shapes our lives and attitudes.
The Rev Ted Witham tssf.