Our Charism
We follow Christ according to the Rule of Life of the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. Our Franciscan Spirit is permeated by the fundamental values of conversion, poverty, humility, and contemplation. Like our founders, we are compelled by the Franciscan spirit of willingness to be poor and vulnerable and be among the poor, serving them joyfully with love and compassion.
We are imbued with unquenchable desire to dedicate ourselves to raising the dignity of the people of God, particularly the women, children and the most vulnerable. We respond to this invitation of God by closely following the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ after the manner of St. Francis of Assisi, our founder Fr. Philip Scheffer and our co-foundresses-the first six Sisters of our Institute.
Our special Charism therefore that of Joy, love and Compassion of God for the people (Mk: 6:34). We are called to witness this in our mission which is to radiate joy, love and compassion to the people of God through the ministries of: prayer; teaching in all levels of Education; care of the orphans, elderly, physically and mentally challenged; and widows; health care; youth ministry; catechism/pastoral work; working with the marginalized communities; living in community and ministering to each other through presence, good example and service as need arises. We are motivated in this by St. Francis of Assisi who embraced the leper, symbolizing the marginalized members of our society.
We value prayer and inner conversion; kindness, gentleness, humility, joy, love, hospitality, compassion for all, and simplicity in all our relationships with those we serve and with each other in our communities.
As Franciscans, we have special concern for the care of mother earth and seek to respect and nurture our environment as our brother and sister.