anglican focus

The news site of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland: nourishing and connecting our faith community

St Francis of Assisi

Reflections Red bird brooding on rusted pipe Reflections

Australia's Overshoot Day in 2025 is 19 March

“One of the gifts that we can offer as the human family struggles to get itself out of the bind that has been created over centuries of living in a particular way, is to help the people of the west to recapture a sense of their place within the earth system. St Francis and St Clare of Assisi, for example, invite us to see the other creatures of the earth as kin, sisters and brothers, as part of a common family. They invite us to explore a form of relational spirituality that might just change our hearts, and then our minds,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

The Rev'd Robert Paget blessing Bodie during a Season of Creation service on 1 October 2023 at The Parish of Samford, pictured with parishioner Jake
Homilies & Addresses

Season of Creation sermon: “Today we give thanks for our animals”

“Francis challenged the idea that the world and all living things were just commodities to be exploited. He saw them as inheritors, along with us of the kingdom of heaven. It’s not always easy to see the same kinship with nature that Francis saw, especially when you’re being pursued along the footpath by an aggressive magpie,” says The Rev’d Robert Paget from St Paul’s, Samford
People & History

Who was St Francis of Assisi?

“Although poverty was Francis’ cornerstone, he was also passionate about recognising the  sanctity of all God’s creatures. He was often seen in conversation with animals of all kinds, and in his famous ‘Canticle of the Creatures’ his habit of calling elements of nature ‘brother and sister’ is clearly documented,” says The Rev’d Dr Gemma Dashwood OAM TSSF

Reflections

Possibly the most life-changing words I ever heard: Sandra Beck

“After hearing the woman’s remark, I started worshipping with one of the largely black congregations, which was closer to the university, along with a few white academics and students. My new parish was then administered by some Brothers from the Society of St Francis. I loved the parish’s atmosphere from the get-go,” says Sandra Beck from the Third Order of The Society of St Francis

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