[TSSF-studies] PILGRIMAGE ON THE FRANCISCAN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION 7 - 15...

[Avril Landay]

Was grinding poverty any barrier in Francis and Clare's time when Francis set up the Third Order because married people were leaving their homes to follow him. Were they all rich people who left their homes? I don't know what the economic makeup of tssf is but I imagine the Knox Dick Fund is used for Brothers and Sisters who are not well off.  
        In England it was quite simple to follow Francis on the road without any money at all. Just uncomfortable with no tent - I had a sleeping bag, though, thank God!
    The advertised holidays in Assisi for £800 and Courses at the Franciscan study Centre in Canterbury for about £1000 have always been beyond my price bracket although both were advertised in either the Chronicle or the Franciscan, or both (Sorry, I forget which. Someone will know). The adverts raised a rueful smile but I'm glad the opportunity is there for those prepared to spend their savings on them.
    I don't think poverty stops anybody from following Clare or Francis except when it is the sort that kills the mind, body and spirit, like the sort we see in 'Third World' countries and which the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus were warned not to share (by C. De Faucauld (sp?) I think it was). Even so, many being killed by it have shown wonderful Christian faith, so they not only follow but perhaps surpass Francis and Clare.  My father earned £14 per week in 1963, when he died, I earned £16 in 1969.  In 2006 I am extremely grateful for my State Pension but I can also give it away.  In the past, I've been grateful also for the Knox Dick Fund enabling retreats just a 3-hour train journey away. The blessings I have received have been enormous. I'm still trying to follow Francis and Clare but it isn't poverty that hinders me, it never has.  I don't need to study Francis and Clare at a study centre, or go to Assisi. There's the Public Library, my Brothers and Sisters, life, and
 most of all, there's our Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost. But in the Third World?   Gordon, you have a good point.  
  Thanks.
     Sister Avril t.s.s.f.

GPlumb2000 at aol.com wrote:
  Very splendid - but also very expensive. I would love to be able to go. But how does spending the best part of £1,000 on this fit with Day 12 of the Principles?

"Personal spending is limited to what is necessary for the health and well-being of us and of our dependents?"

I think there is a case for a thorough-going discussion of what poverty has meant in the Franciscan tradition and what it might mean today. There has been a great deal written about poverty and the Franciscan tradition in recent years.

An issue that keeps nagging me is that living simply/espousing voluntary poverty is only an option for those who are comfortably off. What of those for whom voluntary poverty is not an option because they are already grindlngly poor? Is the Franciscan way not open to them? (How far does the socio-economic make up of the TO reflect that of our wider society - and if not why not?


Gordon Plumb

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