Welcome to the new webpage of the AFCU Journal: A Franciscan Perspective on Higher Education!

In 2001, the Board of Directors of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities (AFCU) approved a proposal for an annual journal. It was hoped that this journal would encourage faculty and staff members and administrators of Franciscan institutions to explore the connection between the Franciscan intellectual and spiritual tradition and the many dimensions of Catholic higher education. The first issue of the journal appeared in January 2004. Since its inception the journal has featured articles and poems from more than 80 members of the faculty, staff, and administration of 15 AFCU institutions. In many ways the journal has served as a point of contact for scholars and practitioners desiring to deepen their understanding and integration of the Catholic Franciscan tradition into the curriculum and the co-curriculum.

With the inauguration of the revised AFCU website, the journal expands its ability to serve AFCU members. While publication of the paper version of the journal will continue, plans are in process for an on-line “best practices” newsletter. We envision that this newsletter will feature peer-reviewed articles describing “ideas that work” to bring the Franciscan tradition alive in the classroom, board room, and across the campus. We are currently revising manuscript submission guidelines for the paper version of the journal and developing guidelines for the “best practices” on-line newsletter. We hope to share these guidelines early in 2011.

Please feel free to contact me or any member of the AFCU journal board at any time. Your suggestions, questions, and comments are always welcome!

Sr. Patricia Hutchison, OSF, Ph.D.

Faculty, staff, and administrators from AFCU institutions and related organizations are invited to submit scholarly articles related to the Franciscan perspective on higher education. Articles should be approximately 3,000 to 6,000 words in length. Shorter articles describing unique programs and “best practices,” book reviews, and original poems are also welcome. The editorial board conducts a blind review of all articles. If selected for publication, the journal board decides whether the article will be published in the paper version of the AFCU journal which appears annually in January or in conjunction with the AFCU Executive Director’s newsletter which is published periodically through the AFCU website.

Articles should be submitted electronically to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To ensure anonymous review, the manuscript should not contain any information which identifies the author. Author’s name, institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone and e-mail information should be submitted on a contact page.

When citing Franciscan sources, please consult Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. For specific directions for preparation and transmittal of manuscripts, please contact: Editor, The AFCU Journal, Neumann University, One Neumann Drive, Aston, PA 19014 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 January, 2004 - Volume 1, No. 1

 January, 2005 - Volume 2, No. 1

 January, 2006 - Volume 3, No. 1

 January, 2007 - Volume 4, No. 1

 January, 2008 - Volume 5, No. 1

 January, 2009 - Volume 6, No. 1

 January, 2010 - Volume 7, No. 1

 January, 2011 - Volume 8, No. 1 

Dear friends in Franciscan higher education,

It is my honor to introduce the 2011 AFCU Journal. My sincere thanks to all of the authors who have invested their precious time and rich talent to contribute to the contents of this year's issue. It is our hope that the materials shared here will be useful to many and will serve to inspire all of you to further the great work being done at all of the Franciscan colleges and universities across the country. Each one of you, our readers, is needed to bring the Catholic Franciscan tradition to our students and to our world.

The lead article in this issue is by Brother Keith Warner, OFM, Ph.D., entitled "The Incarnation Matters." Those of you who attended the biennial AFCU Symposium last June were privileged to hear Brother Keith speak on this important and timely topic, and we are pleased to have this as the lead article for the 2011 AFCU Journal.

Other articles in this issue cover a variety of topics including the model for today's world that is provided by St. Francis and his relationship with and view of creation; a look at the program, God's Extravagant Love; the model for servant leadership that we find in St. Francis; reflections on the theory and practice of art on the Franciscan campus; the importance of wonder; and an article on the distinctiveness of service in the Franciscan tradition. In addition to these articles, three poems, a book review, and an update on the new AFCU website are included in this issue.

It is my personal hope that you will make good use on your respective campuses of the rich contents of this journal. At the University of Saint Francis we provide copies to various groups including our faculty, administrators, Board of Trustees, and our Sponsor. We encourage our faculty members to not only read and discuss the journal's contents, but to also use it to inform their teaching in their various disciplines. We also make it a point to encourage our faculty members to submit articles for publication, which I trust is also done at other AFCU institutions.

My hope for each of you is that 2011 will be filled with many opportunities for expression of our Catholic Franciscan tradition. Thank you, and God bless.

On October 3, 2001, the Board of Directors of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities approved a proposal for an annual journal to feature the peer reviewed research and writings of faculty and administrators of AFCU institutions. The purposes of the AFCU journal are:

• To strengthen the vision of Catholic higher education in the Franciscan tradition
• To connect all the discrete disciplines to a Franciscan philosophy and heritage
• To encourage an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to research and reflection from the Franciscan school of today
• To provide motivation for reflection on the breadth and depth of scholarship emanating from Franciscan institutions of higher learning.

It is hoped that this publication will offer an incentive for faculty and staff to reflect upon the distinct character of a Franciscan institution of higher education.

The publication of the journal is guided by a small editorial board and assisted by contact persons within each of the AFCU institutions. The views expressed in the articles are attributed to the authors and not to the member institutions. Permission to reprint articles should be directed to: Editor, The AFCU Journal, Neumann University, One Neumann Drive, Aston, PA 19014.