Franciscan Friars nurture Syracuse’s Catholic faith

The Franciscan Friars of Assumption Church, located at 812 N Salina St, begins each morning with meditation and prayer before dispersing to serve the community. 

“Saint Francis wanted us to do whatever the needs of the people were,” associate pastor Friar Nader Ata said. “As we grew into cities, that became education, healthcare, food pantries and nursing homes.”

The monastic and mendicant Catholic religious orders have survived for hundreds of years with the purpose of teaching and serving their communities. In the modern day, their mission has not changed. 

Friar Nader is a member of the Franciscan Friars Conventual, a branch of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor. The Franciscans differ from other religious orders in their focus on living simplistically and serving the poor. Assumption Church serves this mission through the food pantry and soup kitchen. 

But this isn’t the only way they serve the community. They also run The Franciscan Place, a ministry location at Destiny USA that offers mass and confessions. Father Gerry Waterman, one of the eight friars who in the Assumption Church community, runs the Catholic campus ministry at Syracuse University.

However, in recent years, the number of friars and members of other religious orders has decreased. According to the Annuario Pontificio, a directory and data collection published by the Catholic Church, the number of members of the Franciscan Friars Conventual has decreased from 4,499 in 2000 to 3,930 in 2023 — a nearly 13% drop.

Other religious orders saw an even steeper decline. The larger Franciscan Order of Friars Minor decreased from 17,335 in 2000 to 12,186 in 2023 — a nearly 30% decrease. The Dominican Order saw a 13.6% decrease, the Salesians of St. John Bosco saw a 17.7% decrease and the Jesuit Order, the largest Catholic religious order, saw a 32.8% decrease in the same time span.

“There are a lot of religious communities where they haven’t had someone enter in several decades,” said Friar Nick Romeo, the Vocation director of the Franciscan Friars Conventual province that covers the East Coast and Canada. “The number of religious communities that are down to fewer than 30 people is pretty high, and those 30 people are really old. There will be a lot of religious communities in the next decade that just disappear.”

The Catholic religious orders saw a boost in new members in the 1950s and 1960s following World War II. Since then, the number of new members has slowly declined. As a result, most friars tend to be older and more vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19.

“This was one of the saddest and toughest times of my ministry because I couldn’t interact with the people I got ordained to serve,” Nader said.

During the lockdown, priests were not allowed to bless the sick, perform last rites, hold mass, or interact with their community in person. Additionally, many elderly priests and nuns in religious communities died from the disease. Romeo reported that zero members of the Franciscan Friars Conventual died due to COVID-19.

Following the end of the lockdown, the Friars were glad to return to their duties and serve the community again.

“There was a lot of joy,” Nader said. “If people could have seen the smile on my face underneath my mask when giving out communion, it was huge.”

Despite declining numbers and the danger of a global pandemic, Romeo is not worried about the future of the order, “We’ve been around for 800 years. I’m confident we’ll be around for a while,” he said.

Photo by Malcolm Taylor

Friar Nader speaks to a fellow friar beneath one of the church’s stained glass windows.