Franciscans of Divine Providence - Welcome to our Web Site

United States of America

Please Click this link to visit the FDP - Franciscans Online Store at CafePress This site is best viewed on a PC using Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer . MAC users may find that some pages do not display properly. We apologize for this problem. Mozilla Firefox Microsoft IE TRINITARIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH F.D.P. Official Web Site Copyright � 1995 F.D.P., 2005 T.C.C. All Rights Reserved. No part of the electronic, intellectual or proprietary content of this web site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written or expressed permission of the Metropolitan Bishop of the T.C.C. For permission to use copyrighted materials contact us by e-mail. [Franciscans of Divine Providence] 1995-2011		Welcome to the Official Web Site of the Franciscans of Divine Providence *Repairing God's House, One Stone At A Time* *Peace to all who enter!* United States of America Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey and Missouri Costa Rica San Jose Celebrating Sixteen Years as Franciscans Repairing God's House, One Stone at a Time! Founded 1995 in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A. A Message from our Metropolitan Bishop and Founder Our web site contains all of the information an average visitor or inquirer might be seeking related to the mission, ministries and needs of our independent, Franciscan Order. Since our founding in 1995, our Order has done its best to respond to the changing times that we live in without losing the focus or spirit of our mission which motivated us to come into being. When first established, we envisioned a male religious Order whose aim was to reach out to Catholic men who felt called to serve Christ as religious Brothers, but who may have been rejected by the mainline Church due to their age or other life situations and conditions, which we did not view as substantive obstacles. In our original vision for the Order, we concentrated on seeking candidates from the New England (U.S.A.) area only. Desiring to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we soon began to include members from all over the country as well as from other countries. This seemed like the right thing to do at the time, however, we soon realized that we growing in ways that were not much in keeping with our stated vision for the Order. As we move forward, we are learning from experience what works and what does not not. The important thing for me is that we continue to empower people to follow Christ, to consider becoming Franciscans, to develop a meaningful spirituality and prayer life, and to minister to one another and to all of God's people. We are not trying to recreate the first Franciscan Order. They were extraordinary people whom God called to respond to the special needs of their day. We can only humbly aspire to follow their example and do our best to apply what we can learn from them to the world in which we live today. The industrial, technology and Internet Age has made our world smaller and yet vastly more complicated than theirs, therefore we must find new ways to live and share the life and message of Jesus Christ, as well as the Franciscan charism, within an increasingly inhospitable and secular environment. Vocations to all forms of the religious life, especially to the traditional religious Orders, would appear to be in decline in the mainline Church. Despite this, we still hear about many good people who feel called to become Deacons, priests, Sisters or Brothers who are still being turned away from God's service for one reason or another. We are in spiritual union with the whole Church, however, we are not in "perfect" union with the Roman Catholic Church. We are a Canonical, independent, Catholic Order of The Trinitarian Catholic Church, which is an autocephalous Jurisdiction whose clergy have valid Apostolic Succession. The Church is under the episcopal protection of our Metropolitan Bishop. The Order is guided by the stewardship of a Guardian General, with the help of a Provincial Guardian, local Guardians and also our members. The focus of our mission is based upon the request Christ made of St. Francis, to "Repair My House". St. Francis started out by gathering stones in order to rebuild the ruins of a small church called the Chapel of San Damiano. He was not discriminate about the stones he gathered, but rather, he happily accepted every stone he was able to gather, no matter their shape, size, age or color. One way or another, he made a place for each of them, one next to another, until he raised that little chapel back to its original condition and purpose. This is essentially what we do when we accept new members to our Order or when we invite others to join our Church. I like to think that we accept the "stones" that the "builders" rejected. It is, after all, a traditional "Franciscan" practice to reach out to and befriend those whom society rejects. To support this belief, we have a strong belief and policy against discrimination which is meant to be unambiguous. We minister to all of God's people, but especially to those who have traditionally been marginalized or excluded altogether by the Church as a whole and by society. It is our intention to work to repair and restore a real sense of wholeness, integrity, dignity and equality, through the love of Jesus Christ, to those individuals who have thus far not been unconditionally loved, welcomed or affirmed by the Church both in terms of full inclusion and equal access to all of the Sacraments. In our decision to be inclusive, our Order welcomes both men and women as members. Many women have written to us over the years. Many have expressed a sense of unworthiness to become Sisters, Deacons or Priests because of their previous experiences within the mainline Church. We realize that many women, as well as men, wish to remain Catholic and also feel a deep calling to serve Christ and the Church as Franciscans. In many mainline churches, women frequently do much of the work, yet play subordinate roles to men and few are ever allowed to enter into Holy Orders. Our Jurisdiction will not perpetuate this injustice. We include women in every aspect of the life of our Church and our Order and we encourage and empower ministries and apostolates *for* *and* *led* by women. We are not only seeking women who wish to become Religious Sisters, but we also provide opportunities for women to become ordained Deacons and Priests. We encourage women from any Catholic tradition or background to join us and to help form a broader vision for our Order and for the Trinitarian Catholic Church. In 2004, we established our only Mission outside of the United States. In union with our Church, we have established ties and Full Communion with The Reconciliation Old Catholic Church (AZ/USA). We are always willing to establish meaningful and purposeful bonds, ecclesial ties and Full Communion with other open and affirming Jurisdictions, denominations, parishes, church bodies and religious Orders. It would be fair to say that we have grown from our experiences since our founding in 1995. If one of the goals of living a religious life is to *"let go of one's old self"* so as to *"become transformed into a new person, in Jesus Christ", then it would be true to say that our Order is always experiencing a transformation of its own as it grows and faces new challenges. God is certainly not finished with us yet. In fact, we know that we are always at the beginning of a renewal of our faith journey with the dawning of each new day. We invite you to browse our FDP and TCC web pages and visit us often. We welcome your comments and also your prayers and participation! If you feel that God might be pointing you in our direction, we'd like to hear from you. By all means, join us and add your service and talents to grow our Order and our Church! This web site attempts to explain who we are and what we are about. We invite everyone to participate in the spiritual life of our Order by pausing for prayer three times each day: Morning, Noon and Evening. You will find a PDF version of our Franciscan Book of Daily Prayer on this web site. Please download it to your computer so that you can print out a copy for yourself and your friends and pray it along with us. We especially appreciate all of your prayers for our Order and our Church and we will gladly pray for you and your special needs, if you will simply email us and request us to do so. I'd like to mention that our members and our clergy are all self supporting and self sufficient. We are all employed in common labors in order to earn our daily bread, so we would never ask you for monetary donations for ourselves. If, however, you feel inclined to contribute in some way to our ministry and wonder what you can do to help us, please feel free to contact me. We do have a short wish list of things that you might be able help us with in order to extend and to perform our service to God's people. God will most certainly bless you for your generosity. We thank God for guiding you to our website and thank you for visiting with us! Always be strengthened by the blessed assuarnce that no matter who you are, there is no place where God is not, no heart in which God does not choose to dwell, and no hand that God will not reach out to save. No matter what your path in life may be, God's love for you is unconditional and will be with you always! Peace and God's blessings!* Your brother, In Christ, +Bishop Russell Francis +The Most Reverend Russell F. Coates, Jr., FDP, M.Div. Metropolitan Bishop + Trinitarian Catholic Church, Metropolitan Diocese of Hope Founder and Guardian General + Franciscans of Divine Providence "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead Founded 1995 We are a Canonical, Catholic Religious Order of the Metropolitan Diocese of Hope of the TRINITARIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The Missions, Clergy and Lay Religious of our Jurisdiction are represented on this web site. We are neither a Secular nor a Tertiary "Third" Order. We are NOT in union with the Roman Catholic Church. We are also not affiliated with any online "religious Order" or persons who represent themselves as the "Franciscans of Divine Providence" or other entities or religious bodies not represented herein. Our Order does not make religious Habits.