80YearsonStatenIsland

Conventual Franciscans Celebrate 80 Years

on Staten Island

St. Francis Friary and Center for Spirituality

When most people think of New York City they are really thinking of Manhattan. The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the United Nations, and Central Park are all located on Manhattan. But New York City is a far more varied place than just that one island. Five different boroughs constitute the city. One of these – Staten Island – is at the very south of the city and closer New Jersey than to New York State.

Friar Philip Blaine is the director of the St. Francis Center for Spirituality

Last fall the Conventual Franciscan Friars celebrated 80 years on Staten Island. Largely a residential community of leafy streets and waterside parks, Staten Island has a sizable Catholic population that continues to need pastoral care. And after 80 years of such care, the island's population has become very close to the friars. During the eightieth anniversary celebrations, 260 people attended a banquet at the Hilton Garden Inn – hosted by local television personality Monica Morales - to honor the friars' presence in their borough. They also noted the tenth anniversary of the St. Francis Center for Spirituality, which is located in the St. Francis Friary on Staten Island's Todt Hill. The purpose of the center is to help keep life in perspective by emphasizing Catholic spirituality. Busy New Yorkers know that if one is not careful the spiritual part of one's life can very quickly fade away.

To prevent this from happening the St. Francis Center for Spirituality provides a number of retreats where through reading, conversation, and prayer individuals reenergize their spiritual lives. The center's natural surroundings are also conducive in helping a person relax. Please see the photographs below to get a sense of nature's prevalence around the center: