Teresa and her husband, Jeff, were professed into the Secular Franciscan Order in November 1992. She became the regional minister of the St. Katharine Drexel Secular Franciscan Order on May 6, 2023. Her roots trace back to a life enriched by compassion, simplicity, and a love for all creation. Growing up, she experienced firsthand the values of service and humility, observing them in her family and community. 

Teresa Redder’s vocational journey began long before she officially embraced her Franciscan calling. “When I was growing up in Camden, New Jersey, my paternal grandmother, a Polish immigrant, influenced my spiritual life greatly,” Teresa recalls. “The first prayer that I remember learning was the Guardian Angel prayer—in Polish! It was a blessing to say that prayer with her every night and to be with her at the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in 1966, when Poland celebrated 1,000 years of Christianity.” 

Teresa’s mother, a refugee from Poland, suffered greatly during World War II after being deported to Siberia in February 1940. She was 9 years old and lived as a refugee for eight years. The words her mother spoke often (“People can be so cruel”) still resonate with Teresa. “My mom always hated the term ‘displaced person’ because of its negative connotations,” she says. “Last year, the United Nations reported 122.6 million displaced people in our world. Franciscans need a passion for social justice that promotes true and fraternal solidarity in which every person has a place.” 

Her mother had an extraordinary devotion to St. Anthony and faithfully read St. Anthony Messenger. Teresa discovered a Reflection page (formerly called Words to Remember) featuring St. Francis with a seagull. She loved the page so much that she printed it out and hung it in her office, where it remained for 28 years. This printout led her on a journey to find a Third Order Secular fraternity. A quote from St. Francis of Assisi also offered comfort to many of her coworkers throughout the years: “You have great reason to praise your creator. He gave you feathers for your clothing and wings to fly. He looks after you without any effort on your part.” 

After graduating from Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and management marketing, Teresa joined the US Air Force as an aircraft maintenance officer (captain) and served for almost 11 years. She then served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force Reserve for nearly 12 years. 

Gentle Leaders 

Teresa’s story is one of dedication and gentle leadership. Long before she took on the role of regional minister, she had earned the respect of her community through humble acts of service. Service as a Third Order Secular in her local fraternity, the Holy Assumption Fraternity in Roebling, New Jersey, preceded her election as regional minister for 24 fraternities in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. She strives to lead by example and shows others what it means to truly embody the spirit of St. Francis. Whether she is organizing local charity efforts or simply being a caring listener to those in need, Teresa approaches tasks with an open heart and a genuine desire to serve. 

Her path to becoming regional minister was not one she walked alone. It was shaped by the guidance of mentors, the support of her local fraternity, and her unwavering faith. Her vision is rooted in the understanding that everyone brings unique gifts, and she has always sought to uplift others by creating opportunities for growth, fellowship, and spiritual development. 

With a spirit of inclusiveness, Teresa leads with grace, never losing sight of the Franciscan values of peace, humility, and love for all of God’s creation. Under her guidance, the region has flourished—fostering deeper connections not only within the community but also with the broader world. Her tireless efforts have ensured that the Franciscan message of love, respect for creation, and service to others remains alive and vibrant in every corner of her region. 

A More Just World 

Central to Teresa’s leadership is her commitment to Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). Whether advocating for the marginalized, promoting ecological stewardship, or being a prison minister, Teresa embodies the Franciscan call to action. Her initiatives, which include outreach programs, address social inequality and peace. She is active in the Franciscan Action Network (FranciscanAction.org)  and other efforts to care for the environment—which reflect her dedication to the JPIC values at the heart of the Franciscan tradition. 

“I love the traditions that Pope Francis has reminded the Church to treasure, especially the intergenerational relationships of grandparents and the elderly with young people,” says Teresa. “In the wisdom that we share across generations, we find the transformative power of love to shape peace and good in our world. My encounters with young adults through Franciscan Action Network’s leadership conferences give me great hope for the Church—today and tomorrow!” 

Her vision for the region is one of collaboration and empowerment. She places a priority on reaching out to young people and listening to their hopes for our world. Teresa says she actively seeks out collaboration to shape prayerful communities that are true guardians of God’s creation and that live with a fraternal spirit of human dignity (inspired by Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti encyclicals). 

Teresa’s roots are not only in her past; they are living, growing parts of her present and future. She reminds us that our connection to the Franciscan charism is not static. It is a journey that continues to deepen, branch out, and bear fruit in unexpected ways. And, for Teresa, this year is particularly charged with potential. “The 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope shapes my vision of servant leadership: God’s goodness is in us, with us, and all around us,” she says. “It is hope that enables us to be joyful, even when the times appear to be dark and fearful. As pilgrims on this journey of hope, I have many companions who choose love over fear.”

Father Dan, 75, grew up in a Catholic family in Walpole, Massachusetts, about 20 miles outside of Boston. “My family wasn’t overly involved in the parish, and we never had a priest or nun ever come to our home,” he says. “However, we were religious in daily prayer and never missed Sunday Mass. And my mom always made sure my dad had his rosary with him going to work; he was a cop. My dad belonged to the Knights of Columbus, but it was mostly for the social aspect.” 

Father Dan, the oldest of six children, attended public school, where a vocation was not emphasized. Nevertheless, God was at work in his family as he and his younger brother, Michael, who is now deceased, both became priests, with his brother becoming a diocesan priest. 

The family lived in a rural area with no Catholic schools in the vicinity, but Father Dan was able to tag along with a friend to attend altar boy classes. 

Father Dan decided to enter the Franciscans’ minor seminary when he was 13. “My mother thought I was crazy,” he says, “but my dad said: ‘See if you like it. If you don’t, you can always come home.’” 

A Good Mix 

While attending St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, New York, he noticed that the more academic friars who taught the seminarians would easily mix with the ones who did manual labor. “The seminary had a German background and valued work. So, the friars who worked the farm and the ones who were caretakers of the local cemetery mixed with the teachers, and I liked that about them,” Father Dan recalls. 

“Although I don’t think I ever read a book on St. Francis until much later, the friars that I met at the seminary made an impression on me. They worked in parishes, went on missions, worked on experimental farms, and taught in universities. I thought, These guys are great,” says Father Dan. After five years at the minor seminary, he moved on to Siena College in Albany, New York. “I then spent my novitiate in Brookline, Massachusetts, studied theology in Washington, DC, and was ordained on May 8, 1976, at the age of 27,” says Father Dan, who requested his first assignment be the St. Anthony Shrine in Boston. 

“My dad had Alzheimer’s disease, and I asked to be assigned close to my home,” says Father Dan. Within a year, he accepted an offer by the archdiocese to serve its campus ministry. “The ministry was located in the Back Bay area of Boston and served a wide range of students from the universities there, such as the Boston Conservatory, Berklee School of Jazz, [and] MIT,” he says. 

“After I was there for a while, I was walking with another friar one day, who stunned me by saying that I was wasting my time and that I should go back to school. I was ticked, to be honest,” says Father Dan, “but I completed a master’s at Boston College in 1981, and then I went to Notre Dame and earned a doctorate in history in 1985.” 

Father Dan went on to teach at Christ the King Seminary in Buffalo, direct friars in the post-novitiate in Washington, DC, and eventually serve as the president of the Washington Theological Union until 2005. “A friar-member of the union’s board of trustees and also pastor of a parish in Durham, North Carolina, told me he was retiring and that I should look into succeeding him,” says Father Dan. “They needed a pastor, and I took the assignment. 

“It was a wonderful parish with a large Latino population with a parish school. I served there for nine years, but while I could celebrate sacraments in Spanish, I couldn’t converse with the parishioners very well, so I thought it best that they have a priest who was fluent in Spanish, and I moved over to St. Andrew [Parish] in Clemson, South Carolina.” 

Switching Gears 

Father Dan’s decision to seek retirement was reached after accompanying students on a mission trip to Lima, Peru. “They were so enthusiastic, but I discovered how out of touch I was with their jargon and music!” he says. “And at the end of the day, they were still raring to go, but I was fatigued. It was then that I realized that they deserved more. So, I retired in the fall of 2024, which, after 48 years, was the first fall that I was not teaching or running a school.” 

But Father Dan is not idle. “As this area is strapped for priests, I’m still staying in Pendleton, South Carolina, at a farmhouse that a parishioner offered for me to live in. I’m only 20 minutes from the church and have told the parish and the campus ministry that I’ll help out wherever needed,” he said. “In my old age, I’ve come to learn that the Gospel is not what we are required to do for Jesus, but more about the wonderful things God has done for us. 

“It isn’t rules and rituals that attract others to God; it’s love in action. And not ‘love the emotion,’ but ‘love in action,’ which, as Dostoevsky said, ‘is a harsh and dreadful thing,’ requiring sacrifice for one another. It was the love in action of the friars in the seminary that attracted me. Love rolls up its sleeves and goes to work for people, and I think by focusing on flesh and blood, meeting people and letting them know that they matter is when they encounter Christ. Everyone wants to matter, and I’ve tried to express that throughout my vocation.” 

Sister M. Karolyn, of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George (FSGM), in Alton, Illinois, took the name “Mary Karolyn” to reflect her admiration of and devotion to Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II. 

“Originally, I thought I would take the name ‘Mary Xavier’ because St. Francis Xavier was a zealous, missionary, set-the-world-afire kind of saint, but after prayer and conversation, I recognized that Pope John Paul II encompassed those same qualities,” says Sister M. Karolyn, 43, who serves as her community’s vocation director. “When we take our names, we write a paper about it, and each year I reread the paper as a reminder of why God invited me to take this name. It becomes more pertinent each time I review it, and I see the significance that I am Sister M. Karolyn, not Sister John Paul. It was as Karol that his profound understanding of young people, women, sexuality, and suffering were formed, and those are all things that are important to me in my relationship with the Lord.” 

Not a Recruiter for Women Religious 

“Everyone thinks my job is to recruit women to our community, but I’m not out to get someone to sign on the dotted line,” she explains. “I look upon what I do as teaching people to pray and discern what they are to do with their lives. God, who is love, creates us in love and calls us to love, and I help women to determine how to respond in love to him.” 

Sister M. Karolyn knows that discerning a vocation takes time, reflection, prayer, and patience, as it took her some time to realize that she was called to religious life. “I grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the oldest of three children—my sister and brother, who are twins, are three-and-a-half years younger,” she says. “We were born and raised Catholic, but we attended public schools; I was a CCD kid.” Mass attendance was nonnegotiable with her parents, but they didn’t pray the rosary together every day or engage in any other family devotions. 

It was while she was attending Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, that the seed for her vocation was planted. “We had a summer seminarian at our parish who was familiar with the university, and I began to research Franciscan [material] online,” Sister M. Karolyn recalls. “It was also at that time that I took an aptitude test that said I was suited to religious ministry, theater/drama, and education, and that was probably true, but I didn’t like being profiled like that.” Still, she decided to attend to study theology and religious education. 

“I met the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George at Steubenville, and their joy was attractive,” she says. “I’d only known old and angry nuns, but these were different. 

“Our community has a variety of apostolates where we make merciful love visible, including working in health care in positions such as nurses, X-ray technicians, and hospital administration. Another large percentage of sisters serve in education, from teaching in day cares to colleges. We also work in parishes, administration, and care for retired priests,” says Sister M. Karolyn, who noted that there are 110 members in their community in the United States, and that she lives with half of them at their provincial house in Alton, a town located about 25 miles north of St. Louis, Missouri. 

A Stirring of the Heart 

Upon graduation in 2003 from Franciscan University, she took a job in Tennessee serving as a youth minister and working in religious education. “In retrospect,” she says, “it was a stepping stone to my vocation. 

“At this time, I was only going home one to two times a year because I lived so far away,” she recalls. “I loved my job, dated some, but I was restless. Once, when I was in class in Steubenville, my professor read this line of Scripture from John 19:37, ‘They will look upon him whom they have pierced,’ and something popped in my heart, but I tucked it away.” 

In September 2004, Sister M. Karolyn made her first visit to the FSGM provincial house, and she knew she belonged there. She applied in November 2004, entered the community in September 2005, and professed her first vows later that year. 

She then worked for seven years teaching in New Jersey and Kansas, and, in January 2016, she was asked to become the vocation director for her order. Currently, there are two postulants, four novices, and three women in the application process for next year. Sister M. Karolyn says that, on average, it’s a three- to four-year accompaniment until a woman gives her yes. 

“I tell women that God works in the concrete, not in the abstract,” says Sister M. Karolyn. “There are so many options now, and we have so many expectations, and [we] are grasping. If you are interested in a vocation, I advise women to pay attention to their heart. Investigate what you know. If it feels like work trying to be something you’re not, it’s not a fit. I always ask: What does it feel like when you visit the convent? Do you feel like your true self?” 

She also tells women that their humanity doesn’t go away when they enter the convent. “Things like the way some people annoy you or the temptations for certain things don’t disappear. This life is not magical,” says Sister M. Karolyn. 

“I help women discern where they fit,” she says. “If you take a square and try to force it into the circle slot, you may have to manipulate it, or you may have to break the toy to make it work. Discernment shouldn’t be forced. I help women to find out where they fit in a place that suits how they are made.” 

Sister M. Karolyn knows that she is a good fit in her vocation. “God has fulfilled me in so many ways that I couldn’t have dreamed possible,” she says. “I wanted kids, and I have tons of them through teaching. I have been able to love so many people. I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, and it becomes clearer every day.” 

Father Mark first began serving the parish when he was ordained a deacon in April 2021. After his ordination as a member of the Order of Friars Minor that December, he was assigned to the parish as a priest in June 2022. 

Formed in the Faith 

Cebu City has a population of nearly 800,000 and is the capital of the Province of Cebu, which has 168 islands and islets. Father Mark grew up in the island-province of Siquijor, located near Cebu. 

He describes his family as “very challenged.” His father was a bus driver; his mother was a teacher by profession but stayed home to care for their children. Mark Anthony was the oldest; he had a younger sister, and their younger brother died when he was 2 days old. 

“Life in Siquijor is very tough,” he says. “Our family had to learn how to maximize the salary of my father.” Father Mark says he was raised “in a very Catholic family in a very Catholic neighborhood.” His mother was devoted to St. Anthony of Padua, which is why Father Mark’s middle name is Anthony. Their home had a small altar to St. Anthony, and they celebrated his feast every June 13. 

Although his parents were not active in the local parish, their neighbors took young Mark to weekly Mass, Holy Week, and Christmas liturgies. 

“That formed my faith when I was younger,” he says. 

Learning the Franciscan Way of Life 

Father Mark attended a public elementary school but went to a diocesan Catholic high school. Nearby was a Poor Clare monastery, where he was introduced to the international organization Franciscan Youth. 

“That was the start of the enticement to enter into religious life,” he says. 

The youth group often joined in the liturgical celebrations at the Poor Clare monastery, and it was there that he encountered members of the Order of Friars Minor. Sometimes, he says with a laugh, he used to wonder, “Is there another organization called the Order of Friars Major?” 

The Poor Clares introduced him to the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare, and, at age 16, he entered the seminary. When he was assigned to San Vicente Ferrer Parish, in an urban work community near hospitals, universities, and shopping malls, “I tried my best to implement in the parish what I learned in my theology days,” he says. 

Like many large parishes, San Vicente was subdivided into chapels, where people would attend Mass. But, over the years, some of the chapels were demolished because of development or road-widening projects, and people lost some of their Catholic identity. They would say, “We cannot celebrate Mass anymore because we don’t have a chapel.” 

But using the model of a basic ecclesial community—smaller groups of Catholics who come together for prayer, reflection, and action—Father Mark suggested the parish begin offering Masses in open spaces, an idea he learned from Franciscans stationed in missions. He said the idea was that, as long as an area had space for a Mass, the friars would celebrate it. “Usually we celebrate on the sidewalks,” he says. 

Small Communities Within the Parish 

Mass is the starting point for the opening of the basic ecclesial community. Then come the weekly Bible sharing, services such as feeding programs, or monthly cleanup drives in response to Pope Francis’ call to action in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. 

When the parish began the Masses, the friars formed teams with laypeople, who were able to lay the groundwork in their neighborhoods. After the Masses and base communities were established, local parishioners elected a leader, and that person became a member of the parish pastoral council. 

“I can say that it’s working because, for example, there are places here in our parish where people thought they belonged to another parish” until outdoor Masses were held in their areas, says Father Mark. “We have new volunteers helping us in running the parish church,” and people have joined the pastoral council from about 35 different places. “We are many now.” 

In addition, Father Mark has collaborated to help with renovations to the main parish church. The church now has a new sanctuary, new sound system, and a new tile floor. “But we kept the pews, because the pews are still good,” he says. Many in the parish are young. Most are renters who work or study in the area for most of the year, then return home for several months. 

Father Mark got the chance to return to his home last August for the feast of St. Clare. He was able to celebrate a novena Mass at the monastery and visit with his family, calling it “a time to recharge, a time to revisit my roots.” 

He says he hopes St. Francis is happy with the work being done at San Vicente Ferrer. As much as St. Francis was a man of the poor, says Father Mark, “we are trying our very best to be with those who are considered existentially poor in our context.” 

However, candle-making isn’t always a person’s sole career path, and many who practice the craft do so as a side job or passion project. Brother Brian, for example, arrived at Franciscan Soy Candles (FranciscanSoyCandles.org) after a number of twists and turns in his life and vocation as a friar. 

Finding the Franciscans

Raised in a Catholic home in Tonawanda, New York—a suburb north of Buffalo—Brother Brian recalls the importance of faith in his upbringing. “Mom and Dad were very strong Catholics, and Dad attended Mass almost every day after he retired,” he says. “Dad was very involved in the Knights of Columbus and Holy Name Society, and they were very supportive of many worthy charities, especially the missions.” 

While attending Cardinal O’Hara High School in Tonawanda, Brother Brian remembers “a strong presence of friars teaching in the school, along with the Sisters of [Notre Dame de] Namur and, of course, a lot of lay teachers. It was in my senior year while on a two-day retreat with some of my classmates that I suddenly felt the call to join the friars.” It’s often said that God laughs when we share our plans. In Brother Brian’s case, it was a friar. “When I returned to school, I met Father Leon, who was our guidance counselor, while he was watching a basketball game and told him of my plans,” he says. “He laughed at me, but the next day he called me into his office to begin the process. I guess what attracted me to the friars was their simple way of life, the way that they seemed to interact with each other, and their dedication to teaching.” 

After graduating from high school in 1969, Brother Brian entered the novitiate. Before long, he realized that not all friars are called to the priesthood. “I originally entered the novitiate with the expectation of being ordained, but after a few months and living with the friar brothers (whom I did not know existed in the community because all the friars in high school were ordained priests), I felt the call to switch over,” he says. “But I had to wait until my first year at our college seminary until it became official.” Brother Brian’s final vows took place in 1974 in Ellicott City, Maryland, headquarters of the Conventual Franciscans’ Our Lady of the Angels Province. 

During formation, Brother Brian discovered and developed skills in maintenance and became involved in numerous renovation projects, something he continues to do to this day. As his life as a Franciscan friar took shape, Brother Brian brought his skills in maintenance with him as he lived and worked in various parts of the Northeast. Not long before taking his final vows, Brother Brian also started to work in emergency medical services (EMS), beginning his journey in 1973 as a volunteer in Maryland with a local fire department. “I am currently employed as a paramedic in Harford County, Maryland, where I work two 24-hour shifts per week,” he says. 

In 2020, Brother Brian returned to Ellicott City, where he lives and works today. With his background in maintenance and EMS, it’s a wonder he has time for anything else, let alone something as involved as candle-making. Like many surprise changes in life’s course, it was a case of “one thing led to another” and a bit of God’s grace that led Brother Brian to a new endeavor. 

A Rewarding Ministry 

When Brother Andre Picotte, OFM Conv, was shopping for Christmas gifts for friends and family one year, he decided to try something different: making candles and giving them out during the holidays. “One thing led to another, and before too long, he was selling the candles through a website and phone calls,” says Brother Brian. Since 2012, Franciscan Soy Candles has been a sponsored ministry of Our Lady of the Angels Province, and demand continues to grow. When Brother Andre began dealing with some health issues, he reached out to the province to see who might be able to carry it on. Brother Brian happened to be in contact with the same person in the province, who connected the two friars. Brother Brian assisted Brother Andre until the friar’s death this past May. 

The ministry offers 12 distinct categories of candles—including candles dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Franciscan saints and holy people, Advent/Christmas, and Lent/Easter—as well as over 45 fragrances. The candles feature wood wicks, and each candle is hand-poured into 12-ounce Libbey Status glass jars. In keeping with the Franciscan tradition of caring for creation, all candles come in an eco-friendly gift box. For Brother Brian, working in this ministry has proven to be deeply rewarding and often a bit surprising. “I enjoy the alone and quiet time when making the candles, and I especially enjoy the phone calls from our customers who call to make specific requests for custom candles,” says Brother Brian. 

“I find it heartwarming to know that a customer is so appreciative when we can generate a custom label, especially when it’s a memorial candle for a family member or friend who has died.” The ministry has also had a major impact on Brother Brian’s faith. “In working with the candle ministry, I have learned new things about our Catholic heritage, especially when it comes to the multiple devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the various saints.” 

Brother David says he was a typical “cradle Catholic”—raised in the faith by his devout mother and father—along with his nine younger siblings, and he attended a Catholic grade school. “I was baptized within two weeks of my birth and confirmed at the age of 2 ½ (an interesting detail, but that was done in those days),” he recalls. It was also in his early years that he encountered the Franciscans.

“I knew of the Franciscans since I was a child, since Franciscans from Mexico had moved their house of philosophy up to Las Cruces during the persecution [there]. My grandmother, since she was from Mexico, befriended them, and she herself was one of the founders of the Spanish-speaking fraternity of Secular Franciscans in my hometown.” His father even tried to get a 6-year-old David interested in a junior Secular Franciscan group. The young David attended one meeting but didn’t continue going after that. His life as a Franciscan, it seems, would have to wait. 

A Spiritual Rebirth 

“Growing up and even in early adulthood, my desire and intention was to get married and have a family, and I just assumed this is what would be,” says Brother David. “Religious life was not on my radar at that time.” Working as an installer and repairman for a telephone company, he found himself feeling a gnawing dissatisfaction with life, as if something were missing. Attending a Catholic retreat led to a profound spiritual awakening for Brother David. “I had been a lifelong Catholic because that’s just what we did as a family,” he says. “As I was overwhelmed with that realization, I desired to not only say yes to my Baptism but take it as far as I could,” he remembers. 

Taking things “as far as I could” eventually translated into entering religious life. “I entered the novitiate in September 1978 in Oakland, California,” he says. “I worked for three years in the St. Barbara Province infirmary in Santa Barbara, California, during temporary vows, and I made [my] solemn profession on August 6, 1982, at Old Mission Santa Barbara.” 

It’s fair to say that a large part of Brother David’s life as a Franciscan has been spent in mission work. “I was interested in the missions since childhood, seeing the stories in Catholic newspapers and hearing about them in Catholic school,” he says. “But in actuality it was somewhat accidental, or providential.” 

A friend in the novitiate wanted to minister to the people of a Native American reservation. Their formation directors didn’t think it was a good idea for his friend to go alone, so they asked Brother David to join him. “[My friend] returned to studies after six months, but I remained [at the reservation] for about nine months,” he recalls. “Later, after I made my solemn profession, another friar was ordained close to the same time, and he also desired to minister among Native Americans. The two of us were sent to the Tohono O’odham Nation village of Topawa, Arizona, for our first assignment as Franciscan friars.” 

After nearly a decade serving that community, Brother David volunteered to help the Apostolic Vicariate of Requena, Peru, located in the country’s Amazon region. “This was in 1992, mind you, when Sendero Luminoso, at the time one of the most violent terrorist groups in the world, was seeking to overthrow the government,” he says. “There was also an epidemic of cholera in Peru happening at the time. It was not a place where people were going to visit!” Above the noise of these challenges, Brother David could still hear God’s call to this troubled part of the world. “When I arrived at the vicariate, the bishop gave me permission to baptize, preach, and administer charitable works, similar to what a deacon would do,” he says. 

Brother David remembers a Peruvian girl who was about 9 years old and preparing for first Communion when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was called to the girl’s deathbed to administer her first Communion, a memory that has stuck with Brother David as one of the most poignant and powerful from his time in the South American country. 

From there, Brother David’s life as a missionary has taken him to Guatemala, Mexico, and parts of the Southwest. Now, although he is considered “actively retired,” he volunteers at the San Xavier del Bac Mission in Tucson, Arizona. “I jokingly tell people that means I still work, but I just don’t get paid for it,” he says. He occasionally is the lector at Mass at San Xavier, and sometimes serves as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. Thinking back on his life as a Franciscan brother, wherever he served as a missionary, what stands out to him are the people. 

“As you may have heard from other missionaries, and I agree, I always feel in the end that I have received more than I’ve given,” Brother David says. “Each mission situation is always in some ways unique, and there isn’t a playbook to follow exactly. This means being deeply rooted in prayer and open to being guided by the Holy Spirit.”