Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Capuchins, or the men who find Christ in the leper

byJoe Higgins
14 October 2019 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 5 mins read
AA
Joy is a habit: “I think it’s very important for young people to see the variety of vocations that exist in the Church so they can really open their hearts to what the Spirit’s inspiring.”

Joy is a habit: “I think it’s very important for young people to see the variety of vocations that exist in the Church so they can really open their hearts to what the Spirit’s inspiring.”

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Joy is a habit: “I think it’s very important for young people to see the variety of vocations that exist in the Church so they can really open their hearts to what the Spirit’s inspiring.”
Joy is a habit: “I think it’s very important for young people to see the variety of vocations that exist in the Church so they can really open their hearts to what the Spirit’s inspiring.”

AS far as vocation stories go, St Francis of Assisi had a wild one.

“Francis was one that was going after everything the world told him and all the young people were dreaming of – wealth, social status, nobility,” Capuchin Father Thomas McFadden said.

“All of a sudden, he realised he’d been heading in the wrong direction … that shook him. 

“He went back to Assisi and started to really ponder; ponder things, ponder life, and pray and then God turned things upside down.”

And Francis did something radical.

“He embraced the leper,” Fr McFadden said.

“He wouldn’t go anywhere near lepers, but he had this encounter with the leper and it transformed him.

“He realised this is where Jesus is … in the ones (who are) discarded and left out.

“He left everything to spend time with the lepers and with the poor and showed the world that it’s about Christ.”

This is the message the Capuchin Franciscan Friars continue to share.

Related Stories

‘I’m literally repairing a building’ – Franciscan following St Francis in saving leaning church

Love of baking and prayer make Capuchin a winner

Parishioners voice opposition to council plan threatening access to West End church

“(We are about) brotherhood with Jesus in the centre, an apostolic life and prayer and mission together,” he said.

Fr McFadden was at Ignite Conference 2019 in Brisbane recently, manning a stall on his order to stoke interest in vocations and inspire young people to live the Gospel.

He was hard to miss; his brown habit was a standout.

“I love the habit,” Fr McFadden said.

He said it reminded him every day to take up the cross.

“If I put my hood on, if I put my arms out, it’s the shape of a cross,” he said.

“It’s every day, it’s taking up the cross to follow Christ. 

“He says, ‘if you wish to be a follower of mine, deny yourself, take up your cross every day and follow Me’.

“Mind you, He wasn’t talking about clothes but this is a good reminder every day this is what I do and if I do it with clothes, I might be able to embrace the cross of my life too.”

The habit was a prophetic sign of things to come and, from experience, Fr McFadden said it was a chance to evangelise too.

He said the habit could change attitudes.

“I particularly like, especially when you see some people, they see me in a habit, their face becomes a little embittered … that’s an opportunity to give a nice smile,” he said.

“Hopefully that shakes a little bit of what their experience of the Church might have been. 

“Everyone’s had a different experience. 

“We want to contribute and try and bring people to love Christ and His Church.”

The friars certainly were a smiling bunch.

Young people from across Queensland and beyond sought out their stall across the four days of Ignite Conference.

Fr McFadden said being at Ignite was a good way for young people to encounter some friars and realise, “‘Hey, while we dress a little funny, we’re pretty down to earth’, is what I hope”.

“They realise we’re joyful and love the Lord,” he said.

“They feel comfortable knowing that religious life’s part of the Church and a viable option for them.”

It was something Fr McFadden had to learn.

He was 14 years old and did not know there was such a thing as male religious.

“I didn’t learn about male religious life until they moved into my parish and all of a sudden, I realised this was an option in the Church,” he said. 

“I think it’s very important for young people to see the variety of vocations that exist in the Church so they can really open their hearts to what the Spirit’s inspiring.”

Many things about the Capuchins drew Fr McFadden, but one of his great loves was their prayer life.

“(I love) the fact that every morning we head to the chapel together as brothers before the Blessed Sacrament and pray the liturgy of the Church, listen to the Word and play music to praise God and from there we go out and do all sorts of things,” he said.

“One thing I like about our way of life is our ministries are various – we do all sorts of things, as long as we do them as lesser brothers, as humble brothers. 

“And so we can do things like preaching, parish stuff, especially ministry of the homeless.”

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Gratitude is the most powerful meditation of a lifetime

Next Post

Top End Bishop says Indigenous are ‘the most traumatised people I’ve ever met’

Joe Higgins

Related Posts

News

‘I’m literally repairing a building’ – Franciscan following St Francis in saving leaning church

27 August 2020
People

Love of baking and prayer make Capuchin a winner

4 February 2020 - Updated on 16 March 2021
News

Parishioners voice opposition to council plan threatening access to West End church

6 November 2019 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Next Post
Bishop Charles Gauci: “My experience tells me many of the Aboriginal people I’ve been meeting with are amongst the most traumatised people I’ve ever met, and maybe even on this planet.”

Top End Bishop says Indigenous are 'the most traumatised people I've ever met'

Thousands march through Brisbane to fight system of death allowing abortion, euthanasia

Brisbane Oratory rejoices over canonisation of St John Henry Newman

Popular News

  • Pregnant woman

    Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

by Joe Higgins
20 May 2022
0

BRISBANE grandmother Gwendoline Grant has clocked up 15,000 hours cuddling and caring for sick and premature babies...

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

19 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping