This spring, Friar Joseph Wood, Assistant General for the Conventual Franciscan Federation (CFF), made a canonical visit to the Province of Our Lady of Consolation. Beginning at the San Damiano Friary and Post-novitiate house in San Antonio, Texas, he also visited the local Our Lady of Guadalupe Friary and Parish and its two adjoining parish-missions, Immaculate Conception and St. Alphonsus.
The student friars residing at the formation house attend various area universities, according to their academic needs. Notable among these institutions is the Oblate School of Theology and the Mexican American Catholic College. These schools provide an excellent education and raise cultural awareness of the area’s large Hispanic population. Moreover, they offer the opportunity to form enriching and long-lasting friendships with diocesan seminarians and members of many other religious communities. In fact, our formation program has successfully integrated the inter-obediential aspect, as we now have several Observant Franciscan students residing with us.
The San Damiano formation house had once been a tuberculosis sanatorium. Later, it became a Carmelite monastery. It was purchased and renovated by our friars in 1983. Today, a new wing has been added that features extra bedrooms and a common room. The whole facility, surrounded by a flowering garden, has become a peaceful haven.
During the visitation, Friar Joseph also attended the bi-annual meeting of the leadership of the CFF. Among the many topics that were discussed, formation, finances, missions, etc., the CFF continued to promote the inter-Provincial sharing of personnel resources and discussed the option of uniting Jurisdictions in the future.
– Friar Joseph Wood OFM Conv.
Assistant General for the CFF
