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October 2011
Dear Friends,
August 5, 1967 was the day I left my family home to enter the Franciscan Order. I had just completed my Sophomore year in college and six years of seminary preparation for my entrance into the novitiate.
That day was also the date that I had been ordered to report for a pre-induction physical. My local Draft Board knew that I didn’t plan on returning to college that Fall and had immediately re-classified me “1-A: eligible for immediate induction.” Those of you who lived those years with me will remember the various penalties attached to non-compliance with the “Draft.” I neither wanted to go to jail nor be known as a “draft dodger,” so I telephoned my local Board, explained my situation and was told in no uncertain terms that, if I wasn’t at the novitiate on August 5th, I’d better be at the examining center.
“Vietnam” has continued to play a role in my life as a Franciscan and a priest throughout these last forty four years; but it was a place that I never thought I would actually see. Then, I was elected Provincial Minister and asked to visit the Franciscans from my Province who live and work there. It would take a much longer letter than this one to even begin to tell you the impact which my visit to Vietnam had on me. It was a blessing.
The Vietnamese Franciscans lost everything in 1975. Those years after the fall of Saigon became a second “novitiate” for them. They prayed and worked their way to a new and, they would say, deeper understanding of what it means to be Franciscan. The Church in Vietnam certainly experiences some difficult days, but the Faith is alive and well in the Vietnamese Catholic community. The number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life is one good indication of that.
The Vietnamese Franciscan Province has sixty aspirants, thirty postulants, twenty four novices and approximately forty friars in temporary vows. Ten of their friars professed Solemn (final) Vows in September, and five were recently ordained to the priesthood. Finding ways to house, feed and prepare these men for lives as Franciscans and priests may be a happy problem to have; but it is, nevertheless, a problem. The Vietnamese community at home and abroad is very generous to our Franciscan brothers there. They believe that the witness and service of the friars’ very simple lives and their ministry is worthy of their support. However, they can’t do all that needs to be done all by themselves. We want to help in whatever way we can, as well.
Three Franciscans from the Sacred Heart Province currently live and work with the aspirants, postulants, novices, and young friars of the Province of St. Francis in Vietnam. They offer instruction in theology, Franciscan spirituality and history, sociology and the English language. Perhaps even more importantly, they add their witness of “seasoned Franciscan life” to the wisdom and example offered the younger Vietnamese friars by their older confreres.
Each year, we appeal to your generosity for one very special need we’re trying to meet. This year, that concern is for the formation of Franciscans and priests in Vietnam. We hope that our presence among the Vietnamese friars honors the sacrifices of so many who went to Vietnam under less happy circumstances; and is a prayer for many of my contemporaries who lost their lives there. We know that our presence in Vietnam enriches us and the service we’re able to offer the Church in the United States. We trust that it is also a blessing in many ways to the Vietnamese Franciscans and that, together, we’re better able to be the instruments of hope and healing that St. Francis asks us to be. Please, be generous.
Thank you for whatever you’re able to do and however you’re able to help,
Fr. William Spencer, O.F.M.
Provincial Minister
