Durham University’s International Franciscan Studies Conference
From April 14–16, 2026, Durham University in Great Britain welcomed 150 Franciscan friars, sisters, laity, and students from around the world for its International Franciscan Studies Conference. Among those present were four friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province—Cristofer Fernandez, Antonio Moualeu, Michael Lasky, and James McCurry—who took on various roles during the gathering. The conference combined scholarship, fraternity, and a clear sense of mission, while also marking an important institutional milestone for the Franciscan intellectual tradition.
A central focus of the conference was the recent inauguration of the Duns Scotus Chair, a professorial position now first held by Dr. Billy Crozier. The opening of the Chair represents a major development for Franciscan studies at Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies. The first three modules being taught are the Thought of St. Bonaventure, the Female Franciscan Mystics, and a Distance Learning Overview of the theological and spiritual “Stars of the Franciscan Tradition.” Together, they point to the breadth of the Franciscan inheritance and the intention to make it accessible to students and scholars in multiple settings.
The financial commitment behind the Chair was also noteworthy. Our Lady of the Angels Province contributed $250,000 toward the endowment, while even larger gifts—totalling £2.2 million—came from the Capuchins, the OFMs, and several female Franciscan congregations across the English-speaking world. That support helped ensure that the Chair would not be a temporary initiative, but a lasting academic foundation. Within the CCS Trust, the endowment has full legal protection, which means the Chair is secure for centuries to come.
This permanence matters because the Chair is intended to serve a double purpose. First, it is meant to help build up and pass on the Franciscan charism to future generations. Second, it grounds that charism in the 800-year-old intellectual tradition of the Franciscan movement. In this way, the Chair does more than honor the past: it creates a stable place where the Franciscan tradition can continue to grow, be studied, and be transmitted faithfully.
Dr. Crozier noted the strong appeal that the perspectives of St. Bonaventure and Blessed Duns Scotus are currently having among university students, both undergraduate and graduate. He also affirmed St. Bonaventure’s understanding that all learning is an exercise of love. In that spirit, he described the Franciscan intellectual tradition as being “at the service of love, evangelization, and peace-making.” This is a fitting summary of the vision that animated the conference as a whole: Franciscan study is not merely about preserving texts or ideas, but about serving the Gospel and forming minds and hearts for the Church and the world.
Two of the friars from Our Lady of the Angels Province also contributed short papers that gave the conference a concrete theological and pastoral depth.
Friar Cristofer Fernández, presented “Sister Mother Earth, Sister Death & Transfigured Franciscan Ecology.” His paper reimagined Sister Death not simply as a peaceful figure within the present order of the world, but as a grieving witness to the desecration of Sister Mother Earth. He described creation as suffering through the distortion of its natural processes by human sin and structural violence. In his Franciscan reading, the suffering of creation at the frontlines of climate change and environmental degradation forms a shared passion narrative in which Sister Death weeps alongside all creatures.
He also called Franciscans to prophetic witness and creative engagement across many spheres of life—in the Church, at the United Nations, in classrooms, in local communities, and in boardrooms—so that our technocratic age might be transfigured into one of humble kinship and planetary repair. His paper also urged Franciscans, both scholars and ministers, to pay attention to emerging areas of ecotheology, pastoral care, and creation care.
Friar Michael Lasky, who serves as General Delegate for JPIC, presented “Franciscan Mariology in Mosaic: The Apse of Santa Maria Maggiore and The Canticle of Creation.” His short presentation examined how the apse mosaic of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome reflects a profound development in Marian devotion within the Franciscan tradition.
was presented as a visual expression of Franciscan Mariology, deeply rooted in Saint Francis’ Canticle of Creation and in the Franciscan understanding of the relationship between creation, humanity, and the divine. Michael’s paper highlighted the mosaic as a theological statement as well as a work of art—one that presents creation, redemption, and the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary within the cosmic order and invites both medieval and modern pilgrims to respond to divine love with Mary’s own genuine fiat.
The conference also celebrated the broader cultural and spiritual significance of the Franciscan tradition. It showed that Franciscan thought remains alive not only in historical memory, but in current scholarship, teaching, and formation. The inauguration of the Duns Scotus Chair is especially important in this regard: it offers a permanent academic setting in which the Franciscan intellectual tradition can be studied with rigor and passed on with confidence.
The gathering concluded fittingly with prayer, offered by Friar James McCurry. That closing moment captured the spirit of the entire conference. The event was not simply an academic meeting, but a Franciscan act of remembrance, gratitude, and hope
—an affirmation that study, when rooted in charism and prayer, can truly serve love, evangelization, and peace-making.
-friar Michael Lasky OFM Conv.
General Delegate for JPIC
