NEWTON — After years of study and discernment, Bernard Taft, a parishioner of St. Aloysius Church in Hickory, took the last steps of entering the Fraternity of Brother Francis, a local Secular Franciscan Order of single or married men and women devoted to faithfully living their daily lives “going from the gospel to life and life to the gospel” and following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi. He professed vows during Mass Feb. 23 at St. Joseph Church in Newton, celebrated by Father James M. Collins.
He vowed, “I promise to live all my days of my life the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Secular Franciscan Order by observing its rule of life. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and holy father St. Francis, and the fraternal bonds of community always be my help, so I may reach the goal of perfect Christian love.”
After Mass Taft said, “I have waited for this day since my first Holy Communion.”
The fraternity was canonically established March 10, 1991, and is part of the Brothers and Sisters of St. Francis region that includes 33 fraternities located in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Members, who come from St. Joseph, St. Aloysius, and St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville, gather once a month for study and prayer at St. Joseph Church.
— Barbara Speers, correspondent