The focus of a recent Catholic New World article by Dolores Madlener is Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Brother Paschal Kolodziej, OFM Conv. The Chicago Archdiocesan Newspaper features “Conversations with the Consecrated.”
Although Br. Paschal has worked in many capacities, including nursing, and began serving his Call with a different Religious Order, he currently works in Formation, with those in our Postulancy in Chicago. As he states in the article, “I never felt called to priesthood … I wanted to be a religious who swept the floor.”
Br. Paschal knows and understands the importance of all of the ministries of our Order. “We don’t do any one thing in our [O]rder. Our charism is to profess the Gospel, and we practice that in community life and prayer life, and from that flows ministry. Franciscans in the USA [North America] have parishes, shrines, retreat houses, outreaches for the poor, a home for runaway kids, two high schools. There’s also a myriad of other things our friars do with peace and justice works, and missions. We used to be called the Black Franciscans because of our habit. But since Vatican II, our American provinces have gone back to our original color, which is grey. We’re known as the Grey Franciscans now. (We have to wear out our black habits before we get a grey one, of course.)”
Please follow the link to read his whole story.