Some thoughts on Anglican Franciscanism - part eight - Franciscan International

The rest of these two mornings was led by Budi Tjahjono. Budi is the International Advocacy Director for Franciscans International.

I first encountered Franciscan International at IPTOC-JFOC in 2005 in Canterbury. Fr. John Quigley OFM, the then Executive Director spoke and invited any who wanted to visit their office in Geneva. I was going to Geneva, so took him up on his invitation. FI is sponsored by the Catholic Conference of the Franciscan Family (CFF) as its official representation at the United Nations. The Conference of the Franciscan Family is made up of the Ministers General of the First Orders, the Third Order Regular, and the Secular Franciscan Order, and the President of the International Franciscan Conference of the Sisters and Brothers of the Third Order Regular. And the Society of Saint Francis has been invited to be part of the International Board of Directors and to be involved in their work. the current Executive Director is Blair Matheson TSSF (one of us Anglicans).

FI is a Franciscan Voice at the United Nations, standing with and giving voice to some of the world’s most marginalized communities, while advocating for human rights, dignity, peace, and environmental justice. They do astounding work. Budhi used his time to talk about that work, to inspire us about the importance and value of that work, and how SSF has been involved - for example in the advocacy work around the devastating affects of logging in the Solomon Islands. It remains on of the great sources of hope in this world. You can read more of the work of FI and sign up for their newsletter on their website.

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