stfranman Compassionate Living, Ecology/Environment, FSF News/Events, Spirituality/Religion

The Legacy of St Francis

Yes, it is St Francis of Assisi who was chosen to be front-and-center for this new ministry.

Yes, that St Francis.

There are two great urgencies that are at the heart of what the FSF is about.

The first is to make compassion the foundation for all that we do, for all our interactions with our fellows.

And the second is use to treat the Earth, our common home, with wisdom and that same compassion. And to extend this compassion to all of Earth’s inhabitants, not just to the Human species.

With these two urgent priorities in mind, Saint Francis was a most suitable choice as the icon and a wise, compassionate patron for the Fellowship. He was a much-beloved figure in his time.

Francis’ love for animals and for the Earth were noted by his contemporaries and by the leadership of the Church in the 13th Century and are the reasons that he is considered to be a special patron for animals and for the environment.

So it is very fitting to have this well-loved and venerated figure to lead the way, so to speak, for our fledgling Fellowship.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

The Fellowship of St Francis is a new and completely independent ministry and is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

stfranman Compassionate Living, Humane Treatment of Animals

Co-existing with Wildlife

If you’re wondering how to co-exist with wildlife in a humane way, getting some tips from professionals would most certainly be a good thing.

The information found on this site could be very helpful. Especially if you live in a rural area or even if you have more than a few trees around your home in a mostly suburban location.

There are so many helpful tips on the site for small-ish critters, up to and including deer.

In the part of Florida where I live, bears love to raid trash cans and climb trees in sometimes large and up-scale neighborhoods. It’s become a pretty common thing.

Many people believe that this situation is one reason why the State of Florida green-lighted bear hunting again back in 2015. The hunting resumed the following year.

I am against bear hunting under any conditions but the article accessible from the above link shows that the new regulations here in Florida are very seriously flawed even if you were in favor of the resumption.

If people who live near bear habitats were more bear-savvy, this unfortunate situation could possibly be improved. For tips on co-existing with bears specifically, follow this link.


Brother Ben

stfranman Compassionate Living

Something we must do

It’s an ill wind that blows from Washington these days. If you believe it’s important to live in a compassionate way, or to care for and protect the Earth, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a good role model among our elected officials.

Sometimes it seems as though they’re trying to turn the natural order of things on its head. It seems as though someone in charge is giving a lot of thought to how one could live in a kind, sane and loving manner and then telling the whole team to do the exact opposite!

Do you ever get that feeling?

I do. A lot. Way more than I should.

So we must do all we can to model compassion and to practice compassion in everything we do while so many of our elected officials and decision makers are modeling anger, greed and indifference!

The actions of one individual can make a difference.

Acting compassionately is something we must do.

Brother Ben
© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc. All Rights Reserved

stfranman Compassionate Living, Ecology/Environment, Humane Treatment of Animals

Some Love for our four-legged Friends

A major emphasis for our movement is to show love and compassion for all the inhabitants of Earth. Not only for those who walk upright, wearing funny clothes and staring blankly into dimly-lit devices that keep getting bigger and bigger.

A big part of this commitment to animals is to support groups who are engaged full-time in the struggle to treat wildlife and pets with wisdom and compassion.

This is something I’m going to do regularly. For the first post, I want to highlight the excellent work that the Wildlife Conservation Society is doing.

The W.C.S. is active all over God’s Green Earth and focuses on policies and actions that help to save and nurture wildlife and wild places.

You can visit their excellent site on the world-wide web by following this link.

There are so many organizations doing this kind of work, that I’ll only be able to scratch the proverbial surface even by featuring an org each week.

But that’s not such a bad thing.

If you take the time to see what those folks are up to and want to get involved, the sites make it easy to do that.

If your objective is to learn and know more about what the organization is doing, following/liking on Facebook and/or Twitter is certainly a good way to go.

This will take you to the official Twitter page of the WCS.

Blessings on you today. Keep advocating for pets and wildlife. That’s what compassionate people do.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

stfranman Compassionate Living, Spirituality/Religion

The Journey Begins

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

The cusp of Spring, 2019

Thank you for joining me!

This journey is about people uniting around two common purposes. The first  being to recover the practice of living compassionately, as Jesus did and as he plainly instructed his followers to.

The second purpose is to care for the Earth, the common home of all humanity, and to care for all the Earth’s creatures as well. Our good will and our commitment to care for all doesn’t stop with our own species.

Some might characterize this merry band of do-gooders as a bunch bleeding hearts, tree-huggers and animal extremists.

And we’d say: “Gee, thanks for the compliment!”

I simply say: “thank you for stopping by to see what the FSF is all about!”

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.