On the Assisi Pilgrimage in October of 2019, I was struck by the below statue of St. Francis encircled by the symbols of various religions. Admittedly, the Christian tradition has not frequently embraced nor emphasized the goodness inherent in other religious traditions. However, within contemporary Franciscanism, particularly at St. Francis College, we are fully committed to the capacity of all spiritual traditions to inspire divine goodness in their adherents. In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, he writes that “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Certainly, Christianity is not singular in its ability to produce these fruits in its observers. One of the benefits of life in New York City is that we frequently encounter a wide variety of religious observances, and I’m very pleased to say that the same is true at St. Francis College. At SFC, I have been encouraged and challenged by the movement of the spirit in students, staff, and faculty from religious traditions different than my own. The spirit of god does what it wants. It is not constrained by the boundaries of a particular tradition, but it works in and through every tradition. At SFC, we are committed to the proposition that god is love (1 John 4:8), all humans enter the divine life when they love, and all religions are true when they lead to love.

John Edwards
St. Francis College