Our Ministries

Our 55 professed friars of the Mid-America Province serve God's people especially in the Archdioceses of Denver, Kansas City in Kansas and St. Louis and the Dioceses of Salina, Kansas and Colorado Springs and also Capuchin Missions in Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico and Mexico and in many other places. They serve in a rich variety of ways.

Two serve the Church by shepherding dioceses in Denver and Mendi in Papua New Guinea. Another friar is bishop emeritus of Mendi. Like each of our retired friars, he participates in the Province's special ministry of prayer for the Order, its benefactors, and the Church in general.

One friar is diocesan chancellor in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

Nine labor as pastors or associate pastors in parishes committed to the care of the Order in Denver in Colorado — Lawrence, Hays, Victoria, Antonino, Schoenchen, Catherine, Vincent and Walker in Kansas — and St. Louis in Missouri — Tres Ojitos in Mexico — and Erave and Burani in Papua New Guinea. Friars also provide Eucharistic ministry at shrines in Denver and St. Louis. Several are making a confesssional ministry available throughout the Archdiocese of Denver.

Five other friars are associate pastors in parishes shepherded by diocesan clergy in Colorado Springs and Aurora CO and St. Louis and Lemay MO, and two daily serve as confessors in such a parish in St. Louis.

Additionally, most of the ordained friars who are not full-time parish priests assist in various other parishes throughout the province, especially on weekends. Five of these weekend parish ministers spend the rest of the week at the Catholic Center in a Colorado Springs shopping mall.

Another group of friars work primarily with students—three as college professors in St. Paul MN, Conception MO and St. Louis; one as a university campus minister in Lawrence; one as a seminary teacher at Kap in Papua New Guinea. There are also friars who engage in research and writing.

Two Mid-American Capuchins are health care chaplains of hospitals in Hays and Topeka, and another two minister as pastoral and clinical psychologists.

In Colorado, one friar administers a shelter for the homeless, another is chaplain there, one ministers to prisoners, and a fourth works with migrant field workers. Another friar is helping build low-cost housing in East St. Louis, IL.

One of the friars travels around the country and even goes abroad conducting retreats and parish missions. Another directs the Capuchin Center for Spiritual Life in Victoria.

In many of these apostolates, the friars work with minority groups — Hispanics, Native Americans and Afro-American.

Several of the friars work full- or part-time in fraternal service. They cook and maintain the local friaries and their grounds. They serve as provincial administrators, local facilitators, fund-raisers and ministers to our benefactors, vocational recruiters, and formation directors. They also serve other orders of the Franciscan family — the Poor Clares and Secular Franciscans — as spiritual assistants.

There is even a friar who planned this website and tries to regularly update it. He also manages two websites aimed at assisting the resurrected Church in Siberia and maintains an in-house e-mail directory of over 1,800 Capuchins on-line in 89 countries.

Another friar is preparing for future ministry by university studies in Monterrey, Mexico.

Indeed there are very few ministries in the Church that do not engage one or more of Mid-America's 55 professed friars.

For more information on any of these ministries, contact our webPorter or the webLinks highlighted above.