"A rising tide lifts all the boats."
by: friar Rich Rome, OFM Conv. As friars minor, our call to "minority", or being "lesser", brings us to a new way of life through a spirit of prayer and devotion, evangelization, and fraternal life. It also requires us to make preferential options in how we live, where we live, and our associations. St. Francis opted to live in community, without anything of his own, and minister to those on the margins of the society of his day, the lepers. Our JPIC Summer immersion program seeks to reflect on these Franciscan values and Catholic social teaching in our society now. Our trip began with an opening Mass in the Friars' Chapel in Ellicott City on the feast of Our Lady of Consolation. After mass, we traveled to our first destination in Shamokin, PA. Once a bustling coal mining town, it has fallen on hard times. The collapse of the coal and manufacturing industry left the area economically distressed. The abandoned mines have also caused environmental p