Come find us.

Not at all. We welcome anyone who is curious about us, whatever their background. If you are still exploring, you are especially welcome, and we would love to share our faith with you, in your own time and at your own pace.

Fraternitas gathers across a few stages of life: Franciscan Youth, Franciscan Young Adults, and Franciscan35, so there is a place for most ages. We know that people of very different ages can find it harder to relate to one another, which is why we group them this way. But if you feel drawn to the fraternity even though your age doesn't fit neatly into any group, do still reach out, and we will point you toward the right one.

It depends on which fraternity fits your season of life. Franciscan Youth (16–21) simply come down to the Fraternitas Office at the Church of St Mary of the Angels and join a gathering, with no form needed. Franciscan Young Adults (18–35) and Franciscan35 (35+) fill in our membership form; the Fraternitas office will then reach out, and an area director will help integrate you into a fraternity.

Three of our groups (Franciscan Youth, Franciscan Young Adults, and Franciscan35) are organised by age. Canticle, our community for young creatives, is not based on age. If you are unsure where you belong, contact us at 80431901 (WhatsApp) or @fraternitasoffice (Telegram) and we will help you find your place.

Monday sessions are held by Franciscan Young Adults and Franciscan35. They usually centre on Lectio Divina and/or spiritual formation, with time to pray, reflect, share, and of course, to catch up with friends!

There is no fee to attend our regular sessions. Some events, such as retreats and pilgrimages, involve some cost, but the gatherings themselves are always free.

Of course. You are welcome to come along before deciding anything. That said, we would still encourage you to reach out to us first, both for safeguarding purposes and so that we can welcome and introduce you to the rest of our fraternity.

Friars do occasionally join our sessions, but the surest way to connect with one is to write to the Custody of St. Anthony at ofmcomms@gmail.com and they will help arrange it.

Fraternity (from the Latin fraternitas) is the word Franciscans have used for themselves since St Francis, who named his followers the Friars Minor, the lesser brothers, and spoke of them in his Rule as a fraternity. Franciscan groups of lay people and young people around the world still gather as fraternities today. For Francis, a fraternity was not something we build but something God gives: “The Lord gave me some brothers,” he wrote in his Testament. Because we share one Father in heaven, he saw every person, and all of creation, as a brother or sister. So the name speaks of a tradition and a way of life: receiving one another as God’s gift, and walking together as brothers and sisters in Christ towards Him.

The Church holds many spiritualities, and they are companions rather than rivals, each a different doorway to the same God, suited to different hearts. Franciscan spirituality is marked by a joyful, almost literal imitation of the poor and humble Christ: God in the crib at Bethlehem and on the cross at Calvary. From this flow its hallmarks: minority and poverty, reverence for all creation as brother and sister, life lived in fraternity, contemplation expressed in action, and a continual turning back to God.