Lay Franciscans explain their service, path to serving in the Secular Franciscans
Leaders of the Immaculata Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order (NTC/Scott Wagner)
COLLEYVILLE — Brad and Sharon Toups traveled to Patriot House in Fort Worth on a recent Saturday to join some of their fellow Secular Franciscans in serving a meal at the shelter for homeless veterans.
“We may be there serving food, but that’s an incidental,” Brad Toups said. “Our real reason for being there is to encounter those people and give them evidence of the love of God by virtue of being present with them.”
It’s a means for the Toups to put their faith in action, guided by the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order set forth by St. Francis of Assisi in the 1200s. They’ve followed it ever since 1983, when the couple made their Rite of Profession into what is the third, or lay, order of the Franciscans.
Today, the Toups head the Immaculata Fraternity of the Secular Franciscans, which celebrated its 35th anniversary in the diocese recently with a working meeting and recognition at a Mass at Good Shepherd Parish in Colleyville. Brad Toups is minister, or president, of the local community, which currently meets monthly at Good Shepherd and has about 35 members. Sharon is vice minister.
“Probably the most important work that the Immaculata Fraternity does is to continue to make present in the world the charism of St. Francis as lived out by lay people, in their secular way of lives,” he said.
Most members of the Immaculata Fraternity serve in various ministries within their parishes. They also support seminarians and retired Franciscans.
Father John Mark Klaus, a Franciscan priest at Good Shepherd and the spiritual assistant for the Immaculata Fraternity, said there are over 10,000 members of the Secular Franciscans in the United States.
“They’re trying to live like St. Francis,” he said.
A flourishing fraternity
Mark Lukowiak is in his fifth year as Director of Formation for the Immaculata Fraternity and said membership is experiencing significant growth. Six candidates are on pace to make their final profession in the spring of 2026.
“I’ve been a Secular Franciscan since 2003 and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “Six is a big group. We probably have more new people than we do people who have been professed for a long time.
“The church itself is real receptive. They’re Franciscan Friars. They support us. And, as people joined, they went out and got more people and that’s why this kept growing.”
There are two types of formation within the fraternity.
“The first type is when someone wants to become a Secular Franciscan,” Lukowiak said. Steps include a discernment period and totals about three years. “And then we have what’s called the ongoing formation, which we do once a month.”
The Immaculata Fraternity members also commit to daily prayer through the Liturgy of the Hours.
A place for couples
Klaus said there are four couples within the Immaculata Fraternity. They include Chuck and Carol Lieser, who both served on the regional council for the state of Texas.
Carol, a past minister within the fraternity, said involvement has had a meaningful impact on the couple’s 50-year marriage.
“It has strengthened our ability to love one another and to be patient with one another. When you’re in the mindset of being of service to another you begin to realize that’s what love is about,” she said.
“It’s wanting the best for the other individual and with the help of being a Franciscan and the prayer life and the Rule that we follow, it’s enabled us to have a system of gratitude and respect for the individuality each of us have and also, for what we can do together.”
New faces
Amy Crissey is one of the newest members of the Immaculata Fraternity, having made her Rite of Profession on March 5, 2022. The 45-year-old’s interest was unknowingly cultivated years earlier.
“At the time I was a parishioner at St. Maria Goretti in Arlington, and we had the TOR Friars. One of them I got to know pretty well,” Crissey said. “I just found there was something special about him that was so peaceful and so joyful that it almost seemed unworldly. When he moved away, I found myself wondering, ‘What was it? Was it his Franciscan charism that made him different?’”
During that time, she was reading about the life of St. Margaret of Cortona and learned she was a Secular Franciscan, which led Crissey to look into the order and attend a meeting at Good Shepherd.
“I just knew from day one that these were my people,” she said.