Order of Ecumenical Franciscans
Following Francis & Clare · The General Rule
The Order
OEF is an ecumenical Franciscan order following Jesus through the example of Francis and Clare. Membership can come from any Christian church or faith community. Clergy and lay members may be married, partnered, or single; the Order explicitly includes all gender identities and sexual orientations.
Its account embraces active service, contemplation, eremitical life, and combinations of these. It includes both radical expressions of the evangelical counsels and secular lives of simplicity, with daily conversion, discipline, and lifelong vows as its stated horizon. OEF is distinct from the Catholic Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).
The General Rule
The official page dates adoption to 1983 and revisions to 2016 and 2022. Its prelude acknowledges Franciscan involvement in colonial oppression and commits to confronting white supremacy, patriarchy, and exploitation. The following numbered summaries map all seventeen principles; they are not quotations.
- Read the Gospel and practice it through Francis’s example.
- Encounter Christ in people, Scripture, Church, and liturgy.
- Witness to Christ with accountability to one’s denomination.
- Practice continual inner conversion.
- Center life on prayer, contemplation, Eucharist, and liturgical worship.
- Follow Mary’s self-giving and confident prayer.
- Fulfil ordinary duties and remain faithful amid suffering.
- Simplify needs; relinquish attachments to power, possessions, and privilege.
- Receive everyone with equal dignity.
- Act courageously for justice.
- Value work as participation in God’s service.
- Cultivate peace, fidelity, and respect within family life.
- Replace exploitation with kinship toward creation.
- Resolve conflict nonviolently through love and forgiveness.
- Meet death in resurrection hope.
- Develop an advisor-supervised personal rule: worship, prayer, penitence, work, lifestyle, mission, obedience, community.
- Discern communal decisions through prayerful listening and agreed governance.
Formation & Accountability
OEF’s vocation guidance describes dispersed members, regional fellowships, and an annual week of Chapter/Convocation for worship, learning, business, meals, and recognition of formation stages. Ask the formation director which gatherings are currently accessible.
Candidates work with an assigned formation counselor, submitting monthly rule reports and reflecting on their developing personal rule. Professed members continue with quarterly reports to a chaplain. Spiritual direction outside the Order is expected during formation and continues in professed life, providing a confidential setting for prayer and discernment.
Members remain accountable within their own denominations; formation should involve an appropriate local spiritual caregiver. The process takes multiple years and includes decisions concerning postulancy, novice vows, and lifetime profession. Each stage allows discernment about continuing, waiting, or stepping back.
The published invitation recommends reading the Order’s resources, praying, talking with people who know you well, and contacting the community. Attraction to Francis and Clare is a beginning to test through relationships and lived practice.
Questions for Discernment
These are this study’s questions: Is my attraction specifically Franciscan? Can I affirm this Order’s stated inclusion and social commitments? Would regular reports and outside spiritual direction help me live honestly? How would its dispersed fellowship connect with my local church and household?