Frequently Asked Questions

Is being a Franciscan Friar for "holy" people only?
Are there any academic entrance standards?
At what age do you accept people?
Do you have to become a priest to be a Friar?
How long is the training?
Will I be spending a lot of time in the church praying?
How do I go about joining?
Other questions???

 Is being a Franciscan Friar for "holy" people only?

Certainly not - or many of us would not have been eligible! The Friars are ordinary people who have to struggle like everyone else to do good and avoid evil. Like everyone they sometimes make mistakes. You will recall the life of St Francis, especially his early years; even after his conversion, he continued to be aware of his frailty and sinfulness.  A good friar is not someone who is holy but rather someone who strives to be holy.

 Are there any academic entrance standards?

The short answer is "no". There are no preset academic requirements to join the Friars. Francis taught us simply to look for someone who "wished to live our way of life".

However, we would advise anyone who is still at school to complete their secondary schooling or if they are currently at TAFE or University, to complete their courses. We do not however require that a candidate have a tertiary or TAFE qualification prior to joining. We have found that candidates are more secure if they have some academic or trade qualifications behind them; moreover, these can be very useful in future ministry.

Once a candidate joins, the Friars in charge of his formation will assist him in furthering his education. Ours is a world of increasingly high expectations and people rightly expect a certain level of professional competency from us. For this reason, if a person is capable, he would do some study at Tertiary level. All Friars have to have some level of formal study. In this area, we consider each application on its own merit.  We try and make the studies fit your skills and needs and not the other way around.

If a candidate wished to be ordained as a priest, then obviously he must meet the academic standards laid down by the bishops.  These require a fair amount of tertiary level study and generally speaking, you would need to have completed Year 12 or its equivalent if you were seeking to become a friar-priest.

 At what age do you accept people?

There is no set age. Obviously, we would not consider anyone under 18! Nor would we take a candidate straight from school. We advise such young enquirers that they should spend some time at their various endeavours after school so that in the normal course of events, our youngest candidates would be in their early 20's when they join.

At the other end of the spectrum, we do not have a "cut-off" date in terms of age.
In recent years we have candidates join in the 30's and 40's. There is a clear pattern in terms of the age of those joining Religious Orders and Seminaries in more recent years; they are older and tend to be in their late 20's and 30's.  As a general rule of thumb, we advise applicants over 35 that sometimes older people find the adaptation to a very different way of life more awkward and difficult to achieve.  There are plenty of exceptions to this but it is something worth thinking about.

 Do you have to become a priest to be a Friar?

St Francis was not a priest. About one in three Friars are not ordained as priests. The very term "friar" means "brother". The Order of Friars Minor is a Brotherhood in which some are ordained and others not. There is no "class distinction" amongst the Friars; one is no better than another. Some believe they are called to the ordained ministry; others feel called to be Friars but not within the clerical state. All Friars take the same Vows and are bound by the same Rule of St Francis.  So the answer is no, you do not have to be a priest.

 How long is the training?

We call "training" formation. The Initial Formation programme is the same for all our candidates, whether they are preparing for priesthood or not. This programme takes about five to six years in preparation for Final or Solemn Vows. If a candidate is preparing for priestly ordination then he will continue with study and pastoral ministry for about another two years after Final Profession. Not all that time is spent in study alone and your time of studies will be mixed with work and ministry experiences and opportunities for personal growth and development.

 Will I be spending a lot of time in the church praying?

Spending time with God together in prayer is an important part of our life. We pray together each day in our communities. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours (the Prayer of the Church) in the morning and evening. We also celebrate daily Eucharist together. Each friar also makes time daily for his own personal time with God.

How do I go about joining?

It is not a simple matter of just filling out a form! Nor is it like a job interview. We like to get to know you first and think it is a good idea for you to get to know us. We would encourage you to make contact with the Friars if you can or you can contact the Franciscan Vocation Office. Once you contact us, a Friar will meet with you and you can talk about your interest in more detail. That Friar, or another, will be assigned to accompany you. He will maintain contact with you, give you advice, reading matter and guide you through the process of applying to join.

 Other questions???

There may be some other questions you wish to ask. Feel free to use our contact information to send in your questions and be assured, they will be answered.