Our 53 professed friars of the Mid-America Province serve God's people especially in the Archdioceses of Denver, Kansas City in Kansas City 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.

Presently, only one is retired, and even he participates in the Province's special ministry of prayerf for the Order, its benefactors, and the Church in general.

Two serve the Church as bishops, shepherding dioceses in Denver and Mendi in Papua New Guinea. Another friar is diocesan chancellor in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

Thirteen labor as pastors, associate pastors, and pastoral workers in parishes committed to the care of the Order in Denver and Colorado Springs in Colorado — Lawrence, Hays, Victoria, Antonino, Schoenchen, Catherine, Vincent and Walker in Kansas — St. Louis in Missouri — Puebla and Tres Ojitos in Mexico — Utuado, Puerto Rico - and Pangia and Pureni in Papua New Guinea. Four other friars are associate pastors in parishes shepherded by diocesan clergy in Colorado Springs, Aurora CO, St. Louis and Lemay MO.

Friars also provide Eucharistic ministry at shrines in Denver and St. Louis. Two serve daily as confessors in a parish in St. Louis, and several make a confesssional ministry available throughout the Archdiocese of Denver.

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

Three friars work primarily as college professors in, Denver, Conception MO, and St. Louis; another is chaplain at a secondary school in Hays, two provide chaplaincy services at a university in Lawrence, and eight direct religious formation programs in St. Louis, Allison Park PA, Colorado Springs, Denver, Victoria, Tres Ojitos, Puebla, and Madang in Papua New Guinea. There are also several friars who engage in research and writing.

Two Mid-American Capuchins are health care chaplains of hospitals in Hays and Topeka, one an army reserve military chaplain at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., and two chaplains of nursing homes in Hays, Victoria, and Colorado Springs. Two others 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. Two others direct the Capuchin Center for Spiritual Life in Victoria, and one directs spiritual services at a retreat center in Colorado Springs. Another helped start and continues spiritually directing ecumenical  spiritual enrichment programs for Christian men and women. 

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 also a friar who manages the Order's international web site, and two friars who plan and maintain this web site. One also does communications work aimed at assisting the resurrected Church in Siberia and maintains an in-house e-mail directory of over 2,000 Capuchins friars on-line in 89 countries.

Two friars engage in post-novitiate formation, and one is preparing for future ministry by college studies.

Indeed there are very few ministries in the Church that do not engage one or more of Mid-America's 53 professed friars.

Websites of ministries involving Mid-American Capuchins

Dioceses
Archdiocese of  Denver CO — www.archden.org
Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas — www.archkck.org
Archdiocese of  St. Louis MO — www..archstl.org
Diocese of Arecibo PR – www.diocesisdearecibo.org
Diocese of Mendi PNG — www.catholicpng.org.pg/dioc/mendi.html
Diocese of Salina KS — www.salinadiocese.org
Diocese of Colorado Springs CO — www.diocs.org

Parishes and Shrines
Annunciation parish, Denver CO — www.archden/parishes/index.php
Our Lady, Queen of Peace parish, Aurora CO — www.queenofpeace.net
St. Fidelis parish, Victoria KS — www.dailynews.net/org/StFidelis
St. John the Evangelist parish, Lawrence KS — www.saint-johns.net
St. Joseph parish, Hays KS — www.stj-church.com
St. Patrick parish, St. Louis MO — www.archstl.org/parishes/172a.shtm
Shrine of St. Joseph, St. Louis MO — www.shrineofstjoseph.org

(Information accurate as of 22 Aug. 2005)