A flourishing traditional community of Franciscan friars and sisters will be entirely dissolved on May 31, exactly eight years after it was established in the United Kingdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Family of Mary Immaculate and St. Francis, commonly known as the Marian Franciscans, announced the decision on May 27, after the friars themselves voted for dissolution on April 27. Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth, England, issued a decree May 24 confirming the move.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement, the friars said: \u201cIt is not for us to present the motivations of the Bishop of Portsmouth,\u201d but added that they had decided to cease ministering in the U.K. following \u201ca period of discernment\u201d about their long-term future in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite growth in numbers and apostolic activity, it was not possible to secure the practical and canonical support needed for formation, sponsorship, and future priestly ordinations,\u201d they added. They said a \u201crange of options was explored\u201d but none provided a \u201cworkable path\u201d to continue the community \u201cin its present form.\u201d<\/p>\n
The friars stressed the decision was \u201cnot the result of, or a reaction to, any single incident or series of incidents,\u201d adding that their request for dissolution \u201carose from broader questions about the future viability of the community and its mission in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marian Franciscans, a community of around 20 mendicant friars inspired by the Marian spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Maximilian Kolbe, developed a significant apostolate in the U.K. through parish ministry, retreats, preaching, devotional life, publishing and online evangelization.<\/p>\n
Bishop Egan first welcomed them to the Diocese of Portsmouth in November 2014; they assumed pastoral care of St. Mary\u2019s Parish in Gosport, close to Portsmouth harbor. Four years later, Bishop Egan formally erected the public association of the Family of Mary Immaculate and St. Francis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As vocations increased, the friars opened a second house in the diocese in February 2020, and their ministry offered the faithful the traditional Latin Mass, daily vespers and Holy Hour, First Fridays and First Saturdays, men\u2019s groups, retreats and conferences, as well as pastoral work in London, including at Tyburn Convent.<\/p>\n
But following Pope Francis\u2019 2021 apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes, the community said diocesan authorization for celebrations of the traditional liturgy \u201cbecame more restricted.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2022, some friars relocated from Gosport to the Diocese of Dunkeld, Scotland, where they were welcomed by the bishop at that time, Bishop Stephen Robson, along with approximately 20 Marian Franciscan sisters. Plans were being explored for the purchase of a friary, convent, chapel and grounds for their long-term use, but these were halted after the diocese\u2019s new bishop, Bishop Andrew McKenzie, informed them in February 2025 that the previously-agreed-upon property purchase \u201cwould not be ratified and that they would need to leave the diocese.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supporters say the community in the city of Dundee, located within the Dunkeld Diocese, had been flourishing, with attendance \u201cgrowing significantly and many young families participating in the apostolate\u2019s liturgical and devotional life.\u201d The statement also said the Dundee community has been \u201cassociated with large numbers of baptisms, Marian consecrations and wider engagement among the faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marian Franciscans had been attracting vocations from the U.K. and abroad, and the community comprised members from multiple nationalities across four continents. The friars built a significant media presence through Radio Immaculata, a 24-hour online radio station, and a YouTube channel, which were used for homilies, talks and live programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The friars said in their press release that supporters of the community \u201chave expressed gratitude for the friars\u2019 witness, prayer and ministry in the United Kingdom, crediting them with fostering conversions, vocations, Marian devotion and renewed participation in sacramental and devotional life across a range of communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last November, a leading member of the Marian Franciscans was publicly critical<\/a> of the Vatican\u2019s Marian document Mater Populi Fidelis<\/a>, which diminished two historical titles of devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Serafino Lanzetta said the doctrinal note represented \u201ca significant downgrade\u201d not only from the teaching of the Church\u2019s saints, doctors and ordinary magisterium of the popes, but also from the Second Vatican Council\u2019s treatment of Mary\u2019s role in salvation. He also organized a filial appeal<\/a> calling on Pope Leo XIV to reexamine the document.<\/p>\n Following the dissolution of the community, the friars said in their statement that the bishop of Portsmouth will permit the friar-priests incardinated in the diocese to continue their apostolate at the three existing locations within the diocese, which include an ordinariate church.\u00a0<\/p>\n But elsewhere, the Marian Franciscans \u201cwill cease to exist as a canonical community\u201d on May 31, and their \u201capostolates and activities as a community will therefore come to an end.\u201d The friars and sisters will not remain Marian Franciscans. In the meantime, \u201ctransitional arrangements\u201d are being made, including practical support through the community\u2019s charitable trust, the Friends of the Marian Franciscans.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe dissolution of the Marian Franciscans marks the end of a distinctive chapter in contemporary Catholic life in the United Kingdom,\u201d they wrote. \u201cSupporters remain hopeful that the friars\u2019 mission, and the spiritual fruits associated with it, will endure and may one day return to Britain in a new form.\u201d<\/p>\n The Register contacted the Marian Franciscans and the Diocese of Portsmouth for comment, but they had not responded by press time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A flourishing traditional community of Franciscan friars and sisters will be entirely dissolved on May 31, exactly eight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":991070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,275228,393,4884,1144,178743,712,275227,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-991069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-catholicism-in-great-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-northern-ireland","tag-religious-orders","tag-scotland","tag-traditional-catholicism","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116654742427660205","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/991070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}