FrancisCorps and its Spiritual Dimension

Kinzie Kiser

Having studied Spanish at the University of Notre Dame, Kinzie Kiser was qualified to become a FrancisCorps volunteer in Costa Rica. The FrancisCorps program, which is run by the Conventual Franciscan Friars out of Syracuse, New York, brings young people who are about to embark into adult life together and allows them to spend a year serving others. Kinzie Kiser has realized that this experience is not only physical but also spiritual.

As a volunteer at the National Foundation in Solidarity Against Breast Cancer (NFISABC) in Costa Rica's San Jose, Kinzie entered a busy world in a place that externally was much different than her native Argonia, Kansas. But was it really that different? Scrambling with her Spanish and learning new duties at the foundation, Kinzie began to connect with people on a level that as she put it has nothing to do with language. The other volunteers at the foundation - all of whom are much older than Kinzie - started taking care of her. Kinzie also began to learn from them and to see how human goodness can overcome all sorts of challenges.

2009-2010 FrancisCorps Costa Rica volunteers

and Brother Jim Moore

Living in community with the rest of the FrancisCorps group and spending time with Costa Rican friars has turned out to be yet another blessing during Kinzie's time away from the US. With her housemates and the friars Kinzie has prayed, talked, sung and felt the joy of human interaction. Kinzie’s prayer life in particular has deepened because of her community life and the volunteer work that she is doing at the NFISABC. Kinzie's prayers have expanded into reflection, meditation, and also action. As a volunteer, Kinzie has been doing everything from clerical work to helping patients to attending educational talks about breast cancer.

Standing up to breast cancer

Recently in San Jose Kinzie admitted the following: "I am closer to God now than I ever have been, which is exactly what I was hoping for in this experience." This is how powerful a year spent with FrancisCorps can be. Community-life, social action and various forms of prayer are all aspects of how Francis and Clare of Assisi lived their lives; and by living their lives that way they experienced the presence of God with a greater intensity much in the same way that Kinzie has done in Costa Rica.

(Source of related photos on webpage and homepage: www.franciscorps.org.)