Wherever I travel, people speak with fond remembrance of the friars they have known. The website series you’ve been reading for the past 11 months is just that, a fond remembrance of the friars of St. John the Baptist Province — some well-known, others whose names are less familiar. Whether they were artists, heroes, pastors, educators, writers, missionaries or servants to the poor, all of them walked the same path, following the footsteps of St. Francis.

I hope you enjoyed reading the series, and I trust you were able to pick up some of our character and our spirit. We have had great friars who have left us a great history!  But it is not all about the past; it is not over and done by any means! We have entitled our province mission statement “Facing Our Future With Hope,” and that is what we always want to do. We want to live now and into the future with Franciscan vision
and creativity. As times and needs
change, so does our life and ministry.
The Lord is continuing to send us brothers to share the dream of
St. Francis who will continue to write our history. Our Province is strong,
and I am confident
that God will give us
a future as signifi-
cant as our past.
We have asked five
friars to share with
you some of their
personal hopes
and dreams. As St.
Francis said many
times, “Let us begin
again, brothers!”

— Jeff Scheeler, OFM
Provincial Minister,
St. John the Baptist Province
I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio,
and after high school, went off to become a
Franciscan. After ordination I was sent back to Cincinnati. Thirty-four years later in
September 2009, after 17 years at our Franciscan high school and 17 years in provincial administration, I packed my bags and moved to Jamaica to work in our missions.
What was I thinking, leaving family, friends and a job that I loved? I knew that I needed some change in my life and that the province needed friars in our mission. I have never second-guessed that decision, but am still overwhelmed by it. I was content and comfortable. Now my life is radically different.
I often think of those first friars who came from the Tyrol, leaving family and friends to come to the Cincinnati missions, many never to see the Tyrol again. For years after, many friars, content and comfortable in life, responded to a call that radically changed their lives.
As we conclude our 150th anniversary my hope, my dream, my prayer is that friars will continue to be willing to leave their comfort zones in search of new beginnings. The history of our province rests upon such change, and the future
requires it.
Reflecting on my 60 years of life — 40 years as a friar, 33 years as a priest and 29 years as an Air Force chaplain — I see an incredible array of faith lived, lives touched, tragedies suffered and triumphs celebrated across decades, lands and cultures. Years of sacramental ministry in catechizing, baptizing, marrying, anointing and burying our Airmen and family members in the rhythms of military service accumulated faster than my internal clock was capable of logging. They were all just ordinary folks, outstanding citizens, and dedicated patriots serving a cause larger than their own self-interests.
Serving on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon
and striving to provide the right guidance concerning the well-being of our service
personnel, especially those carrying both
the visible and invisible wounds of combat, brought a humbling sense of responsibility and an extraordinary window of opportunity to make a difference for the better writ large. Meeting our 19- and 20-plus year-olds risking their young lives in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan was a sobering reminder of what really matters in life.
Franciscan life and priesthood have so much to offer the millennial generation of Americans that all too often has sprung from broken marriages and dysfunctional families. In search of trustworthy boundaries, values and structures, ministering to them is a
privileged moment to mentor them away from what is false and temporary toward that which is truthful, authentic and eternal. Recently assigned to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, I'm now part of a team of 50-plus chaplains, chaplain assistants and civilian staff providing spiritual formation and character development to the next generation of Air Force leaders. The challenge is both invigorating and
exhausting, exciting and frightening, humbling and rewarding. There are
moments when I feel I have lived 10 lifetimes. And I'd do all of it again in a heartbeat!
I have always been a dreamer! Not just in a manner of speaking, but in actuality. And so it was that this most recent development in my Franciscan journey came about, one which has resulted in both a greater appreciation for my Franciscan heritage and sense of excitement over my future as a friar.
A couple of years ago, while working with some volunteers to transform our Warming Center for the homeless in Detroit into what is now the Canticle Café, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great to have an anthem for this place? Well, that night I fell asleep and the next morning awoke with some of the lyrics of what would become the song I had been musing about just the day before!
Now as part of my job to raise funds for and awareness of our mission in Detroit I travel to different places singing that and other story-songs I’ve since written. I have the joy of communicating what some 21st century Franciscans are doing in a way similar to how many of my Franciscan ancestors of old ministered when they went about as ioculatores Domini, or minstrels of God! In this way I feel wonderfully connected to an ancient spiritual narrative that strengthens, equips and inspires me for ministry in a post-modern world.
If you ask me, the future of Franciscan life has a lot to do with its past. Our heritage is a veritable treasure trove of poetic, rich, imaginative and lyrical ways of preaching and living the Gospel just waiting to be mined and dreamt anew for the present age.
As I look back over my Franciscan past, it is marked by itinerancy...I have moved seven times in four years. I have lived and ministered on two continents and on an island in the Caribbean. And I can brag that I am great at packing a suitcase! Through these experiences I am grounded even further in the importance of my relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as well as my brothers, family and friends.
These experiences have also turned my attention to our sister and brother immigrants. We are a pilgrim people and a pilgrim church constantly moving. As our early brothers traveled from Europe to assist the needs of the new immigrants, our future ministry must respond to the needs of emerging immigrant communities within the United States. And while we may not have the flying cars once promised us by the scientists, our use of technology will help share the Good News and the Franciscan charism with all peoples.
And so, I do not fear what the future may bring; I embrace the unknown and welcome new possibilities. If we are unable now to think of what the future might hold, trust that when it does, we will have the faith and courage to respond with a resounding YES. One thing is for certain...the 150 years of Franciscans of St. John the Baptist Province and the eighth centenary of the Franciscan Order is merely the beginning of the good things that God has in store for us.
It began when a novice called me at our post-
novitiate house of St. Joseph in Chicago, asking
whether he and a few classmates could do a
“different” kind of study summer than
the one prescribed at St. Bonaventure
University. “Like what?” I wondered.
Out poured the idea to
actually live as St.
Francis and the early
brothers did: as
walking, poor,
begging brothers
who preached by
our lives the Good
News of Jesus.
What developed was a seven-week pilgrimage that began the very day this group made profession in June and extended until the end of July. Our band of brothers — three newly professed, one who had just renewed his vows and two formators — walked from Salem, Va., to Washington, D.C., on a circuitous route that wound its way through the Appalachian Mountains along the Shenandoah Valley and then shot across Virginia to Washington, D.C.
We took nothing but the habits we wore, a backpack of essential toiletries and a wool blanket. Sometimes we slept outdoors; our beds ranged from picnic tables to a trampoline. Many times good Samaritans took this ragtag group into their homes. We prayed as we walked and we prayed when we rested. When churches were available, we celebrated the Eucharist with others; sometimes we celebrated Mass out in the wild. Day by day we learned to trust the Lord for our food, lodging and the emotional needs that each friar turned over to God. And God provided us with good weather, camaraderie and generous people.
This impulse to rediscover the charism of St. Francis for our time is what our future will necessarily look like. I suspect that given the idealism of the newest friars, we will continue to experiment, trying to meet the needs of the world and living our own charism as poor, itinerant, begging friars trying to preach the Good News of Jesus with our lives.
In 1209, Pope Innocent III approved a plan by Francis of Assisi for a new way of religious life. This year, Franciscans around the world are marking the Eighth Centenary of the founding of their Order. In 1859, the entity that became St. John the Baptist Province in Cincinnati was formally erected as a “custody.” This 12-part series, commemorating
the 150th anniversary of the province, celebrates the lives and contributions of the friars.

Contributing to this series were:

Toni Cashnelli, writing (Parts 1-11)
Connie Wolfer, graphic design
Franciscan Archives, research
Dan Anderson, OFM, editorial assistance