National Work Commission - Secular Franciscan Order U.S.A.

360 Beard Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14214 Phone: (716) 838-4178 E-mail:zablocki@acsu.buffalo.edu

"Let them esteem work both as a gift and a sharing in the creation, redemption and service of the human family" (Art. 16, SFO Rule)

The National Work Commission is one of four Apostolic Commissions established by the National Fraternity of Secular Franciscan Order in the U.S.A. The other three Commissions are Ecology, Family, and Peace and Justice. All four Commissions emerge from the 1978 Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order which updated the Order to be consonant with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The present Rule embodies the "secular spirituality" which the Vatican II developed for the laity; one which placed the growth in holiness and the carrying out of mission within the context of a layperson's ordinary life. This secular spirituality is an incarnational spirituality that has Franciscan roots - for it was St. Francis who brought the Church a renewed reverence for the goodness and wonder of God's magnificent creation and humankind's participation in it. Work is God's way of allowing us to participate in his on-going activities of creating, sustaining and redeeming the world. Work is a principal means by which God intends for us to serve our brothers and sisters and our world. In so doing, we ourselves are blessed as we cultivate our gifts and talents and become better persons more fully revealing the divine image in which we were created.

Secular Franciscan Sources

• The Rule and Constitutions with Citations
• "Secularity as a Characteristic Element of Secular Franciscan Identity" - Conclusions of the SFO General Chapter, Mexico City, October, 1993
• Mission Statement of the Work Commission of the National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order - USA
• Membership of the Work Commission

Early Franciscan Sources- St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Bonaventure and Thomas of Celano provide a Franciscan perspective on work.

• Early Franciscan Sources

• Early Church Fathers prepared by Ann Devine, SFO
• Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudiam Et Spes)
• On Human Work (Laborem Exercens)
• Guardian of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Custos) a chapter entitled "Work as an Expression of Human Love"
• Labor Day Statement, 1995; U.S. Catholic Conference - Domestic Policy Committee

The following articles develop both the Franciscan and the secular dimensions of work:

• Work in the Writings of Saint Francis by Sr. Joan Schwacke, O.S.F
• Integrating a Franciscan Spirituality of Work Into the Leadership of the Workplace by Mr. Richard Morton, S.F.O., current National Minister of the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States
• To Evangelize American Culture: A Franciscan Approach by Fr. Daniel McLellan, O.F.M.
• Spirituality of Work (a chapter from Confident and Competent - A Challenge for the Lay Church by William L. Droel and Gregory F. Augustine Pierce
• Work Reflection by Fr. Hermann Doerr, O.F.M

Reflections on Article 16 of the Secular Franciscan Rule - articles with dialogue starters by Edward Zablocki, SFO

• Returning to the Sources
• The Absence of Work from Previous SFO Rules
• Why Work is Now Part of The Secular Franciscan Way of Life
• The Franciscan Contribution to Our Understanding of Work
• Work as Gift Given
• Work Brings Us a Great Gift
• Work as Sharing in Creation
• Work as Sharing in God's Redemptive Activity
• Work as Service to the Human Community
• A Theology of Work for Changing Times

In the Trenches Personal reflections on faith and work by Mary Zablocki, SFO

• Vol. 1.1
• Vol .1.2
• Vol. 2.1
• Vol. 2.2
• Vol. 3.1
• Vol. 3.2
• Vol. 3.3

Work and the Social Teachings of the Church - reflections by Terry McCarthy, Sr. SFO

• Excerpts from Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XII
• Excerpts from Reconstructing the Social Order by Pope Pius XI
• On the 105th Anniversary of Rerum Novarum
• The Transcendent Dignity of the Human Person

• Vol. 1.1
• Vol .1.2
• Vol. 2.1
• Vol. 2.2
• Vol. 3.1
• Vol. 3.2
• Vol. 3.3