Franciscans plan to open Yorkshire friary

BY ANNA ARCO
THE FRANCISCAN Friars of the Renewal plan to establish a second friary in Yorkshire. The community founded its first friary in London in 2000 and it plans to move into St Patrick’s parish convent, in Bradford, this September.
The new friary will be opened on September 23, the feast day of St Pio, after whom it is also named. Fr Fidelis Moscinski, who will be the local servant, or leader, of the friars at St Pio Friary, said that “undoubtedly the greatest Capuchin saint of the last century was St Pio. By naming our friary after him we especially want to call upon his powerful intercession and seek inspiration from his holy life and love for our Divine Saviour.” The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal were started in the Bronx in 1987 by eight Capuchin friars, led by Fr Benedict Groeschel. The English branch has eight friars in London, four of whom will move to Bradford, but they hope for an increase in numbers.
“I’ve often had this question put to me, ‘What do friars do?’” Br John Paul, local servant at the St Fidelis Friary in London, said. “We are following the footsteps of our father Francis in repairing the Temple or the Body of Christ and begging the Master to send labourers, otherwise known as stones.”