Our Fraternity, the Pope St. John XXIII Secular Franciscan Fraternity, is named after Pope St. John XXIII, who, in his early life, was a Secular Franciscan in Bergamo, Italy.
Our home is in Holy Family Catholic Church in Davidsonville, Maryland, and we are part of the St. Margaret of Cortona Region of the National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order – USA.
Our Fraternity Monthly Gatherings:
Holy Family Catholic Church
Davidsonville, Maryland
First Wednesday evening of the month
7 PM–9 PM
Our Formation Monthly Gatherings:
Holy Family Catholic Church
Davidsonville, Maryland
Second and Third Wednesday of each month
7:00 PM
Our Fraternity Council Meetings:
Holy Family Catholic Church
Davidsonville, Maryland
Last Tuesday of each month
10:00 AM
Our Liturgy of the Hours Meetings
Prayed daily on Zoom. The zoom link for these
meetings is: 88305033327
Sunday through Friday meetings are at 4:30 PM
Saturday meeting is at 3:30 PM.
Everyone is welcome to attend our daily evening zoom LOTH meetings
Our Fraternity belongs to the FRANCISCAN FAMILY, which is the union of all Catholic fraternities of men and women in the world who, moved by the Holy Spirit, seek to live their daily lives modeled after Christ in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi’s “life to Gospel and Gospel to life”, charism he lived by, in their secular state through prayer, ongoing life-long faith formation, and service in the community. We, as all Secular Franciscans do, follow the SFO Rule approved by the Church (Const. 1,3).
We believe that as Christian human beings, we have a “calling” that we are unable to achieve alone! Thus, in our mutual response to the Gospel, we work together in community toward communion with all people. Building relationships is our way of life!
We are NOT a club or society. We are united in an International ORDER and are known as The Third Order founded by St. Francis of Assisi 800 years ago, who heeded a call from God to “rebuild my Church.” The times then were challenging, and war and greed were rampant. Francis chose the Life of Christ (the Gospels) as his guide. People began to follow him, embracing his values of poverty, joy, simplicity, gratitude, and love of all God’s creatures. This Franciscan community grew to include regular Religious and Secular men and women, known as The Third Order. There are over one thousand Secular Franciscan fraternities in the United States. Secular Franciscan Formation usually lasts three years (Orientation, Inquiry and Candidacy phases) culminating in the Rite of Profession which is a Permanent Commitment to the Gospel Life as written in the Secular Franciscan Order Rule (to read the SFO Rule, please visit our Resources menu). At present there are over four million members of our Franciscan Family worldwide.
Inquiry is open to all Catholic men and women not members of another religious order or secular order, and 18 years or older. Candidates must be practicing Catholics faithful to the teachings of the Church and loyal to the Apostolic See.