The Catholic tradition places a high premium on community. It teaches that God is not an isolated individual, but a Trinity of persons, a communion of love. It teaches that men and women, made in the divine image, are by their very nature social creatures who only come into their own when they enjoy all the rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities of being full members of a community. Communal worship around the table of the Lord in the Eucharist is the source and summit of life in the Catholic community, and human solidarity and concern for the common good are hallmarks of Catholic social teaching.

St. Francis was committed to fostering life-giving communities and to extending the boundaries of those communities so that no one and no thing were excluded from them. He saw all of creation as one, big extended family. He chose to live in the world as a brother to all. He insisted that the friars were to love and care for each other as a mother loves and cares for her children. He sent his brothers on their missionary journeys not singly, but two by two, so that they might bear more credible witness to the gospel values of community and mutual affection.  He sought to restore lepers, the poor and other  social outcasts to full membership in the human community. And, by word and example, he tried to restore humanity itself to full membership in the cosmic community of “Brother Sun,” “Sister Moon” and “Mother Earth.” (St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures). 

Like St. Francis, the education that bears his name is not only personal; it is profoundly communal. While it encourages individual achievement among its students and prods them to move beyond their comfort zones, it also provides a welcoming and inclusive home, a supportive community in which students are expected to participate in a spirit of mutual respect and to which they are expected to contribute in a spirit of mutual service. Franciscan education is committed to providing ample opportunities for common worship, and it seeks to comprehend, cherish and sustain the profound interrelatedness and integrity of all of creation. It takes place within a community of shared values, and it prepares its students to take their places in a global, indeed, cosmic community as responsible citizens and careful stewards of the world’s resources.