From the beginning of the Franciscan movement 800 years ago, friars have always trusted in divine providence to supply the needs of their fraternities, the Church, and the people they serve. This trust, combined with a humble approach to ministry and a tireless work ethic, has gained the friars the means to continue their mission of proclaiming the Gospel with their lives. 

Providing for the Capuchin mission today in New York, New England, and beyond demands of us a similar trust in God as well as a strategy for inviting others to be agents of God’s generosity.

Works and Needs

The works of the friars are many, and so are the needs.

We friars of the Province of St. Mary have devoted ourselves to the service of God’s people across an array of ministries, from parishes and schools to colleges, hospitals, prisons, and the military. We preach missions and retreats. We offer spiritual direction. Across our parishes we sponsor food pantries, a soup kitchen, and even a shelter for homeless women. Beyond the Church, we are counselors, nurses, and social workers, and we work at nonprofits and NGOs.

In addition, we sponsor two of our own ministries. Capuchin Family Ministries evangelizes youth and young adults through annual service projects and our theater camp. Capuchin Mobile Ministries provides spiritual care to the homeless and brings the welcome of Christ to the streets.

The American economy has become a gig economy, and the friars, too, often take gig assignments, like baptisms, marriages, and funerals. All our clerical friars, including those who do not work at our Capuchin parishes, celebrate Mass on the weekends, helping other parishes who need priests.

As we pursue these good works for the Church and society, we also sustain the welfare of our fraternities by recruiting and training new friars and caring for our senior friars.

Like any household, our fraternities need to make ends meet and provide the basic necessities of food, shelter, education, health care, and transportation. Like any business, we have to pay the bills, pay our employees, and keep our facilities and properties in good condition.

However, as our fraternities grow older and as the number of new vocations decreases, there are fewer friars in active ministry, which means a reduction in the income we receive through salaries and wages. We are eligible for Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security benefits like other citizens, but these benefits only go so far. The friars who work in internal ministries like formation, senior care, and administration generally do not draw salaries from their work.

With the recognition that our work alone will not cover all our needs, we humbly make recourse to “the table of the Lord” and ask for your help to sustain our way of life.

Development

Through the provincial development office, we solicit donations and gifts through various means, and we communicate through print and electronic media how we use the resources you provide us so generously. There are a number of ways we do this.

We use direct mail to send appeals to thousands of people throughout the United States. There are monthly appeals in honor of St. Anthony of Padua and St. Padre Pio purposed for the general needs of the Province. There are also special appeals for the formation of new friars, care for the senior friars, or our sponsored ministries. Through these solicitations we enroll constituents in our Capuchin Mission Association and promise to remember them in our prayers in gratitude for their support of our domestic and international missions. We also send year-end Christmas cards to our most generous benefactors. And of course, we send you The Capuchin Journey four times a year to let you know how we fulfill our mission.

We organize fundraiser events within the Province to celebrate the good works of the friars and to honor our dedicated supporters. In the last two months of 2023, we held four events: two in Boston for the benefit of Capuchin Mobile Ministries, including a dinner at Cathedral of the Holy Cross with Cardinal Sean O’Malley; and two events in Westchester County, an Advent breakfast at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., and a Christmas party in Pelham, N.Y. Collectively, these events drew in over 600 people and raised over $200,000. Thank you, everyone!

We are ramping up our electronic giving options. Credit card donations, both one-time and recurring (monthly) gifts, are just one option. Did you know we have a Venmo account? Did you know you can give through a payroll deduction? We do, and you can!

We establish memorial scholarships for our young friars. Through the Capuchin Burse Program, you can honor a loved one, living or deceased, and fund the recruitment and training of a new generation of friars. You can open a burse with a gift of $100 and add contributions at any time. A burse is complete at $5,000. Your generosity is an investment in the future of the Capuchin mission in New York and New England. Contributions to the burses are thus forever a part of the prayers, Masses, and good works of the friars of the Province.

We help benefactors make planned gifts. The support we receive through planned gifts provides us the resources necessary to continue our pastoral care for God’s people long into the future. Planned gifts include charitable trusts and gifts through estate plans, including wills, trusts, retirement plans, and life insurance. Individuals who make planned gift commitments to the Province become members of our Capuchin Legacy Society. Members are forever remembered in the daily Masses and prayers offered by the friars and have their name inscribed in the Society’s Book of Honor. For additional information on planned giving and the Capuchin Legacy Society, please contact Fr. Michael Greco, our director of development.

We are open to new strategies! From grant writing to corporate sponsorships, we are seeking new ways to go about the work of begging for our daily bread, as our Franciscan family has done for centuries.

Capuchin Giving Societies: Be an Angel!

As a means of inspiring and exhorting our dedicated benefactors to greater heights of generosity, we have rebranded our Capuchin Giving Societies. We have rechristened our tiers of benefactors using the hierarchy of angels. Now, a donor who gives at least $250 in a calendar year is a Member of the Angel Choir; a donor who gives at least $500 is a Guardian Angel; and so on. We publish our honor roll of angel givers in the print edition of The Capuchin Journey every March. We thank you for your unstinting support, and we challenge you to get your angel wings in 2024!

You can contact the development office any time to talk about the ways to give that are best for you. You can reach Fr. Michael Greco at (212) 564-0759 ext. 258 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..