The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World's Poor
The title refers to missionaries called to help the least fortunate, and they don't come from any particular denomination or faith. They include a Christian MIT graduate who moved to a Bangkok slum, a New Zealander who settled in a Manila squatter community, and an elite Zimbabwe woman who lived in a Mexico City slum. These new friars preach from the soiled earth as they dwell among the people and assume the mantle of poverty. Most are idealistic Western youths committed to living holily in the worst conditions imaginable, and Bessenecker believes that places them in the tradition of the historic, mission-driven monks of centuries past. To Bessenecker, their commitment is heroic, comparable to that of their predecessors in the Franciscan, Jesuit, Poor Claretian, and Celtic traditions. As he limns his heroes, Bessenecker wears his sincerity--and his rage at the inequities of the world--on his sleeve, which, in a cynical age, can be a most refreshing thing, indeed.June SawyersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved