Previous Post – Reflection on Christian Unity
In the past few years of exploring the life of St. Francis of Assisi & the Franciscan tradition, one of the greatest blessings has been meeting others on that journey. Among them have been a few members of the Order of Friars Minor (Ordo Fratrum Minorum). Thanks to the blogosphere, I have most recently come across Brother Dan P. Horan, OFM- @DanHoranOFM on Twitter & Dating God on Facebook (all worthy following). His insights into life, faith and culture are excellent and compelling.
However, rather than trying to tell you about him myself, I thought I would have chat with him and let him tell you about himself. Hope you enjoy!
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Jamie Arpin-Ricci: Briefly Tell us about coming to embrace your vocation as Franciscan friar.
Br. Dan Horan: That is perhaps the most frequent question I receive, yet I never have a really good or concise response. The basic story is that from a very young age I was fascinated with the Church. I came from your basic Irish Roman Catholic family, we went to Mass every Sunday, but we weren’t overtly religious – no praying the Rosary as a family or daily Mass attending for us. I was very active in my parish all the way through elementary and high school and when it came time for college, I felt pretty sure I wanted to study to be a priest for my home diocese. I only looked at Catholic colleges where I could study theology. By some chance, the details of which I don’t recall, I ended deciding to go to St. Bonaventure University in Western New York – A Franciscan college. I loved it.
As the years went by and I got to know the friars more and more, I couldn’t shake this feeling that the Holy Spirit was showing me something important. And I eventually came to believe wholeheartedly that there was really no other way of life, no religious charism that made more sense for me than the Franciscans. The more I read the writings of Francis and studied the tradition, the clearer it became and the more I fell in love with the rich history, example and way of life. I entered the Order right after college and, even though I’m the youngest in the province, I believe it has been a perfect fit for me.
I feel very lucky to have such an opportunity to connect with a community that brings to fruition the expression of Gospel living with which I most closely identify. I like to say sometimes that I may have discovered my vocation to ordained ministry first, in that I felt from an early age that God wanted me to be a priest in some capacity, but that my spiritual DNA is Franciscan and my truest vocation is to be a Franciscan friar above all else.
JAR: Other Franciscan brothers I know talk about the difficulty getting young people into such vocations. As a friar under 30, why do you think this is so? How should the Church respond?
