“The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few,” Jesus said as his eyes swept the crowds flocking to him for healing and hope (Mt 9:37). The next thing Christ does in Matthew’s Gospel is to choose 12 apostles to shepherd those lost sheep.

In his last testimony in 1226, St. Francis of Assisi wrote with a tone of surprised joy that, “The Lord gave me brothers!” The saint marveled that God would call so many men to join him in this new, mendicant way of life at the service of the poor. By summer’s end, his modern-day followers, the Capuchin Franciscans of the Province of St. Conrad, will echo that same cry of joy, having celebrated

At the April 22-26 chapter meeting of St. Conrad Province held at St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, Kan., Capuchin Brother Mark Schenk, 61, made history when he became the first lay friar elected to serve as Provincial Minister.