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How can we always stay true to who we are and not be affected by the world around us without the grace of God? How can we dig deep down to the essence of our souls, of ourselves, without the grace of God?

Fr. Jim Gardiner, SA, Director of special projects at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, recently partnered with Venerable Sagarananda Tien to host 30 Buddhist children at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C.

On Ash Wednesday 2016, Pope Francis sent forth more than 1,000 priests, including Fr. Tom Orians, SA, as “missionaries of mercy”. Now, the Holy Father has extended Fr. Tom’s commission from the Year of Mercy to a lifetime appointment.

The Holy Land Committee of the Archdiocese of Washington, chaired by Fr. Jim Gardiner, SA, held its Fourth Annual Holy Land Festival on Saturday, July 15th, on the grounds of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, DC.

Father Mark O’Connor, SA, (nee Lawrence) a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, entered eternal life on Friday, July 14, 2017.

As I sat listening to how Jesus suffered to redeem these men of their addictions to drugs and alcohol, I started to think about my own sins and shortcomings and the times I hadn’t trusted in Jesus, my higher power, to remove my shortcomings...

“Recently the Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi received a new name, which has gotten wide coverage in the media. It is now the Mosque of Maryam (Mary) the Mother of Jesus. This gracious gesture of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zayed al-Nahyan deserves to be gratefully received and properly understood.

The three guys, Father Jim, and I all gathered around the TV set in the second floor of the Waverly Place Friary. The Netflix movie "Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism" caught our eye since we thought that it would be a good preparation for us to learn about the great Pope who influenced much of ecumenism today.

This past Sunday, June 26, the Franciscan Friars of Atonement at Graymoor recognized the anniversaries of six of the Friars. Along with 300 guests, the Friars celebrated the Jubilees with Mass and a luncheon.

For its 2017 Catholic Press Awards program, the Catholic Press Association gave two awards to Ecumenical Trends, a publication of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Ecumenical Trends is a monthly (except August) journal that publishes articles on the ecumenical and inter religious movements. Ecumenical Trends reports on current trends and progress in these movements around the world.