By Thea Jarvis

A new ministry team for St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro and its mission of St. Gabriel in Fayetteville, has expanded the spirit of St. Francis in the south metro area.

Conventional Franciscan Fathers Patrick Mendola, Julio Martinez and John Koziol arrived in August to staff the parish and mission. They are part of an effort by the order and its Baltimore province to extend ministry in the Southeastern U.S.

Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, who last spring dialogued with the Conventual Franciscans about coming to the archdiocese, was “warm and down to earth” in his invitation, said Father Mendola, the new pastor. Before accepting the assignment, he spoke to the archbishop by phone, a conversation that “really moved me towards coming here,” he said.

Conventual Franciscans staff one other archdiocesan parish, St. John Vianney Church in Lithia Springs.

The priests have been given a warm welcome by parishioners, who have impressed the Franciscans with their hospitality.

“The people are fantastic down here,” said Father Mendola, a Buffalo, N.Y. native. “I can’t exaggerate their willingness, openness and warmth. They are beautiful to work with.”

The founder and 10-year director of a shelter for oppressed and homeless young adults in Buffalo, Father Mendola believes the community can best be served by the friars’ pastoral support and encouragement.

“We hope to help them help themselves on their journey to the Lord, to deal in a very Christlike fashion with obstacles the world places before them,” he said.

At an informal staff meeting at St. Gabriel, 15 minutes from St. Philip off Highway 85, Father Mendola had the chance to put his theory into practice.

“Gabriel is a church for the next century,” a time of drastic clergy reduction, he explained. “They have prepared quite well for that shortage.”

The four-year-old mission, now grown to over 230 families, has thrived on lay involvement and a core of parish volunteers.

“That’s what made us strong,” said bookkeeper Kate Calcaterra, who runs the parish offices in Commerce Plaza with secretary, Linda Gantert. Currently weekend Masses are celebrated at Fayetteville Elementary School and a school of religion is held at Fayette Presbyterian Church.

Both women have stamped an unequivocal approval on the band of friars.

“The people are amazed” at the listening level of the priests, said Mrs. Calcaterra. She and 30 other parishioners of St. Gabriel recently attended a neighborhood meeting where honest talk was the order of the evening.

Seven more neighborhood meetings with the new Franciscans are planned through October. Twenty-five similar gatherings will be held in St. Philip neighborhoods from October through January.

“Meeting people in their homes helps us understand the needs of the community and helps them reach out to one another,” Father Mendola said. “Personal and community wishes were expressed” at the first of the meetings and he is hopeful such openness will continue.

Another first for the community was the Franciscan rite of transitus, which commemorates St. Francis’ passing from death to life. Both St. Philip and St. Gabriel parishioners read from the writings of St. Francis during the October 3 celebration, held at the Jonesboro church.

“It was a time to get to know each other, to create more unity and peace” among parishioners of both churches, said Father Julio Martinez, OFM, Conv. who coordinated the event. The Thursday night readings were followed by the feast day Mass October 4 and a blessing of animals and creation October 5.

St. Francis was, after all, “the instrument of peace,” Father Martinez said, and transitus is a time “to give thanks for the gift of this man and the meaning his life had for the church.”

Father Martinez, who was born in Cuba and immigrated to the states with his family when he was nine, served with Father Mendola at the Franciscan Center in Buffalo. He now interfaces with the sizable Hispanic community at St. Philip and St. Gabriel and acts as a resource for parish liturgies.

“I hope I can sensitize myself to the needs of the people, especially their spiritual needs,” he said. “I’m working with the Hispanic community, doing everything possible to make this into one community that is rich in its diversity.”

Father Martinez has begun circulation of a questionnaire among those who attend the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass at St. Philip, celebrated in Spanish. The survey targets a group which is becoming “more and more a part of the parish,” he said, and asks them to identify ways in which the parish can better be of service.

“We don’t want to make this a ‘generic’ community, but one where everyone feels welcome and free to share their gifts with one another,” Father Martinez said.

His associate, Father John Koziol, mirrors the light touch of his fellow Franciscans.

“There’s strong lay leadership here. We don’t have to feel the burden of administration,” he said gratefully. The Massachusetts-born priest comes from a family of teachers and is involved in religious education and youth ministry at his new parish and mission.

“I love parish ministry,” Father Koziol said, acknowledging a special affinity for the sick and elderly. He sees his new assignment as “a wonderful opportunity to share our Franciscan way of life,” particularly its joyful spirit and special brand of spirituality.

Another part of the Franciscan life the men bring South is their fraternal commitment to each other and their order.

Father Mendola, a multi-degreed scholar with an eye for detail and organization, said he and his brother friars have “a unified approach to what we do.” They are keenly aware of each other’s talents and genuinely appreciative of the fact that they are expanding Franciscan ministry together.

“I consider myself extremely blessed” to be part of the team, said Father Martinez, an accomplished artist whose works in pen and ink have won him accolades in New York.

“We’re living a community life,” said Father Koziol, in which they realize “our gifts complement one another.”