The Fraternity:

The SFO fraternity, says the Rule, is a group of brothers and sisters that are led by the Holy Spirit to strive for perfect charity in their own secular state. By their Profession they pledge themselves to live the Gospel in the manner of St. Francis. We know that the Fraternity is founded on the fatherhood of God and the fellowship in Jesus Christ witnessed within ourselves by the Holy Spirit, guided and guaranteed by the teachings of the Church. All this is lived by means of the example of St. Francis and through his gift of Fraternity.
The Fraternity is "-a visible sign of the Church, the community of love-". From here comes the duty to show the characteristics of the Church by a marked way of life and building up each other.
The Fraternity "-should be the privileged place for developing a sense of Church and the Franciscan vocation and for enlivening the apostolic life of its members-".
In the Constitutions we read that "-the Fraternity of the SFO finds its origin in the inspiration of Francis of Assisi to whom the Most High revealed the essential gospel quality of life in fraternal communion-" (Testament 14) and that it should promote the "-collaboration among the brothers and sisters and their active and communal presence both in the local and in the universal Church-" (Const. 28).
The members of the Fraternity, "-the brothers and sisters are co-responsible for the life of the Fraternity to which they belong and for the SFO... throughout the world. This requires personal presence, witness, prayer and active collaboration, in accordance with each one's means and possible obligations for the animation of the Fraternity-" (Const. 30).
Our local Fraternity is St. Anthony of Padua.