It's been two weeks since my first post. Life is busy. But, here's what's been shaping up. As I mentioned, becoming Franciscan has seeped into my bones. Since I am a student at the Franciscan School of Theology (FST), I get to hear about Francsican history, spirituality, and theology from the experts. I get to see Franciscanism in action, lived, in my community. What community friends, school friends, and I have noticed is that Franciscan theological concepts have not yet seeped into the common wisdom shared in our parishes. What is shaping up is a project to "do" Franciscan theology transfer from the intellectual to the practical level, to the pastoral setting.
So, I have talked to Fr. Joe Chinnici, OFM, Fr. Franklin Fong, OFM, Sr. Mary Beth Ingham, CSJ, and Sr. Dorothy McCormack, OSF -- all of whom have worked on creating scholarly works in the Franciscan intellectual tradition (see The Franciscan Intellectual Tradition), about creating a project to do a "theology transfer" (an idea in the same vein as a "technology transfer"). They are supportive of such an endeavor. I have enlisted a co-collaborator, Sr. Norberta Villasenor, OSF, who is also an FST alumni, to work on the project. We are in the very, very beginning stages of investigation. Our tactical vision, so far, is to create resources for use at a parish level or community level that point back to the Franciscan intellectual tradition as the underpinnings, the source for the creative action "in the parish" or "in the classroom." We want to provide resources, even lesson plans, for practical use with groups of people. We hope to enlist the help of other Franciscans who might be interested in contributing their experience, expertise, and/or subject matter content to create resources available for use in a parish or classroom (or other Franciscan venue). We see resources as inclusive of recordings, videos, photos, and other media organized in a fashion (read lesson plan, currently, in the mind of this former high school and community college teacher) suitable for a presentation or for a series of discusssions in a faith sharing group.
So, where we are currently in the beginnings of the project is that we have a domain name, a google gmail, a google voicemail, and some affirmations from our teachers that this would be a worthwhile project. We are envisioning (or imagining) how this project might look. We are beginning to create the structures needed for proceeding. We are committed to spending years of time of the project. We think that between the two of us, we have the initial skill set needed to get the project started. I would be interested in hearing from others who might find an interest in such a "theology transfer" project.
