New2NY: Recruiting Friars

You have to love Subway ads.

If you ride the Subway often, I'm sure you've seen the multi-lingual lawyer and "Save our Schools!" banner ads that ring the ceilings of train cars. If you've ridden the Shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central, I'm sure you've seen how TV Shows like MadMen and Shrek the Musical have decked out entire cars - from the ceilings to the seats, even to the floors. Anybody been lucky to see an ad from Dr. Zizmor, the amazing dermatologist who speaks five languages, can cure anything relating to your epidermis and has several financing options? (hint: you can spot the thing because it uses more than 10 different font families - to clarify graphic design speak, it is a mess).

I thought I'd seen most of the good ones. Until this morning and this is what I saw:

It took me a minute to figure out that this wasn't just an ad for a church, but is was an ad to become a monk! Do people who become monks usually do so because of an ad they saw on the Subway? Isn't there supposed to be some sort of calling that makes someone commit to this sort of life choice? Can you actually picture someone sitting on a rickety cracked orange seat in the Subway thinking, "I hate my job. Maybe I should be a monk?" Is the church really so down on its luck that it has to resort to posting recruiting ads on public transportation like the Army or Americorps?

I frankly don't know the answers to any of these questions, but the whole experience of seeing this ad this morning made me laugh inside, so much so that I had to check out the Website and tell you about it.

So who can be a Franciscan Friar (as they call themselves) you ask? I found out:

between 22 and 38 years of age
in good physical and mental health
a US Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident
open to learning about and living a Franciscan religious life in the 21st century
committed to living the vows of celibate chastity, poverty and obedience
prayerful with a desire to mature in the spiritual life
seeking to live and serve in fraternal communities
a practicing Roman Catholic for at least 3 years
free of significant financial and family obligations
a high school graduate, or, if you wish to minister as a priest, completion of at least two years of college

It seems pretty consistent with what I've heard about monks previously, except the part about only being a Roman Catholic for 3 years. I mean, if you are going to be preaching about Catholicism and living that way of life with other Catholics, don't you think they'd want you to know a bit more about your religion than from what you could learn in 3 years. It's taken me 21.5 years to learn what it is to be Jewish, and I still don't really know what that is. Last thing, anyone notice how none of the qualifications explicitly say that you have to be male? You might think that is inherent, but it is New York you know.

Anyway, that was the morning bit of randomness. And hey, if you're reading this and maybe you do hate your job, you can always be a Franciscan Friar.