Franciscans of Divine Providence - Mission of St. Francis Seraph

United States of America

TRINITARIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH F.D.P. Official Web Site Copyright © 1995 F.D.P., 2009 T.C.C. All Rights Reserved. No part of the electronic, intellectual or proprietary content of this web site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written or expressed permission of the Presiding Bishop of the T.C.C. For permission to use copyrighted materials contact us by e-mail. [Franciscans of Divine Providence] 1995-2010		The Mission of Saint Francis Seraph Rocky Hill, Connecticut USA (L) +Bishop Russell F. Coates, Jr., FDP, Guardian General (R) Very Rev. Father Timothy W. Biskupiak, FDP, Provincial Guardian, Diocesan Director of Vocations (Shown wearing our earlier Habit upon a visit to Weston Priory in Vermont-1995) The Mission of Saint Francis Seraph has the distinction of being the first Mission established for the Order. It is the residence for our Guardian General, The Most Reverend Russell F. Coates, Jr., FDP and the Very Rev. Father Timothy W. Biskupiak, FDP. The Mission residence contains the Episcopal Chapel of St. Francis and also serves as the Provincial Center for the Franciscans of Divine Providence as well as the Headquarters of the Trinitarian Catholic Church (USA). Within our Friary, the small Episcopal Chapel of St. Francis offers us a quiet space where we may pray and meditate, as also celebrate the Mass. One of the goals of our Mission, is to increase the membership of our Order in Connecticut and throughout New England. We are especially interested in finding new members to our Order from the Greater Hartford, Connecticut area to participate in our prayer life and our ministries. Besides growing our Order on a regional level, we are seeking for people from Connecticut and New England who are interested in taking part in a bi-monthly or monthly prayer group which would include a Eucharistic Liturgy. We can accommodate a small group for prayer and would generally gather in the evening at 7:00pm for members of the Order and anyone else who might like to join us for prayer and fellowship. One aspect of a prayer group is to provide an opportunity for fellowship and friendship and to plan social and liturgical activities together. We are also seeking local people who have a desire to work with us to grow a diverse, open and affirming faith and worship community whose goal would be to create an inclusive, open and welcoming independent Catholic parish. We know this is a challenging concept for many Catholics who are accustomed to going to a church building where they have all the "trappings" of a church readily available and in place. We can't offer you a "Crystal Cathedral" or stained glass windows or church pews. Our goal is to gather dedicated people who want to plant the "seeds of faith" and have the desire to find others who are willing to help us grow them. We are not seeking to lead people away from their present Church. While anyone is welcome to pray and worship with us, we are mainly seeking those Catholics and others who have become estranged from the Church, who have not been to Church in years, or who feel alienated and disenfranchised by the mainline Church for one reason or another and who desire to renew their relationship with God within an emerging Catholic family of faith that is open, inclusive and Spirit-led. So, whether you're interested in joining our Order, or a prayer group, or becoming an active member of a mission or a parish in our Jurisdiction, please contact us. We'd love to hear from you. We are also interested in meeting people from other open and affirming Independent Catholic communities in Connecticut and elsewhere. We belong to a new Independent Catholic Jurisdiction called the Diocese of Rocky Hill of the TRINITARIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. We feel obliged to remind people that we are not the Roman Catholic Church. We are a Canonical Religious Order with valid Apostolic Succession through the Trinitarian Catholic Church. Information about the T.C.C. can be found on our website. Our Order celebrated its tenth year anniversary on March 15, 2005. We held our first General Chapter Meeting at Wisdom House in Litchfield, Connecticut in May 0f 2005 for all the members and candidates to our Order. In addition, the FDP adopted a beautiful, new Rule which is available on this website. Beginning in 2008, we started discussions aimed at restructuring our Order so as to create autonomous FDP Mission communities, with greater local leadership. This is a departure from our original model for the Order whereby we tried to have a more traditional structure. We came to the conclusion that the best way for us to grow as individuals and as an Order was to borrow from the Benedictine model of autonomous communities. In doing so, the FDP will now be a Union of autonomous FDP communities, united by a common Rule and Constitution. The Order will maintain its canonical status with the Trinitarian Catholic Church and will continue to have a Guardian General and local Guardians who will work collegially to administer and grow the Order. We hope that this new approach will provide local Mission communities a greater say in the direction and development of their local jurisdictions. Pax et Bonum! TRINITARIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Metropolitan Diocese of Rocky Hill Franciscans of Divine Providence Mission of Saint Francis Seraph Res: 967 Elms Common Drive, #212 Rocky Hill, Connecticut 06067-1816 RevTimFDP @ hotmail.com