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Brazil|Costa Rica|Jamaica |Zambia|Russia|ebrating Clare of Assisi and the Poor ies
World Missions
The Conventual Franciscans lead many ministries around the world. They work to bring comfort and wellbeing to underprivileged populations. In Tanzania, they have been focusing on providing quality education and pastoral care to the local population for almost 20 years. In India, the Conventual Franciscans assist with a tailoring school and a health clinic amongst other ministries. Travel to any other corner of the planet and you will meet Franciscans dedicated to improving the lives of the disadvantaged.
The Americas are no exception to this. The older North American Conventual Franciscan provinces spread into the Caribbean, Central and South America as the 20th century unfolded. Their growth was based on the need for help in the particular locale.
Below is a selection of Conventual Franciscan missions:
Brazil 
In 1946, a group of Conventual Franciscan friars from Immaculate Conception Province opened their first mission in the fabled city of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is an overwhelmingly Catholic nation and at that time a real need existed for Franciscan care.
After initial settlement, the Conventual Franciscan presence in Brazil expanded to the point that by 1969, the mission morphed into a custody. Currently the Conventual Franciscan friars who first settled in Brazil more than sixty years ago run 5 parishes and 4 formation houses. The custody now also has 33 friars in solemn vows, 16 friars in simple vows and 8 novices. If it continues to grow at its current rate the custody will soon become a province.
Rio de Janeiro
Costa Rica 
The Conventual Franciscans entered Costa Rica in 1946, the same year that they entered Brazil. In 1976 they founded Our Lady of the Angels Custody. By 2003 the custody merged back with Immaculate Conception Province.
The Custody of Mary Mother of the Poor from Honduras has been running a formation house in San Antonio de
Belén (Costa Rice) for more than 20 years. The house has been at its current location since 1989.
Right from the beginning, the Order of Friars Minor Conventual has focused its energies on pastoral care and education, having founded St. Francis College in Moravia. The college has an excellent standard of education that easily measures up to the best schools in Costa Rica.
Besides their educational efforts, the Conventual Franciscan friars run a pastoral center and a novitiate complex with facilities for youth retreats. There they provide care for the mind and soul.
Recreation near St. Francis College
Moravia, Costa Rica
Jamaica 
The mission in Jamaica, called St. Mary's, Above Rocks, and Missions, is a relatively new Conventual Franciscan venture that began about 2 years ago and is run in collaboration with the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. The focus of the mission is as always twofold: 1. to bring the Catholic faith to the local population and 2. to improve the local population's lives. Within this purview the friars and sisters run a number of local parishes and various social programs. These include the Cassava River Infant and Primary School near Holy Family Church, literacy classes, as well as clothing and shoe sales.
To learn more about the day-to-day workings of the Conventual Franciscan mission in Jamaica, please visit
St. Mary's, Above Rocks, and Missions blog.
St. Mary's, Above Rocks, and Missions
![[DSCN1395.JPG]](../images/DSCN1395.jpg)
St. Mary's literacy program
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A shoe sale
Zambia 
In 1947 the Conventual Franciscan friars from Our Lady of Consolation Province in the United States began a mission in Zambia, then known as Rhodesia. The mission grew in numbers until it became a province. Friars from the United States however still work in Zambia. Their involvement in the improvement of people's lives is wide-ranging. The friars run the St. Francis Community School in Intimpi (with facilities for middle-school aged students and plans for a high school), a medical clinic, as well as a vocational centre and a school for the disabled.
Zambia is sadly devastated by AIDS. The friars take in orphans whose parents have died from the disease into the St. Francis Community School. Through generous donations they have also purchased a vehicle with which they transport debilitated patients to the local hospital.
Zambian landscape
Caregivers in Zambia
Russia 
The Conventual Franciscan friars began their ministry in Russia only in 2006 after seeing a hunger for spiritual nourishment. They have thus far held a retreat at a Russian parish and have been feeding the poor in soup kitchens. The friars also work to attract parishioners to the Cursillo movement and care for the elderly.
The need for help in Russia is great
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