Confraternity of Penitents Newsletter
November 2025
.NOVEMBER DATES TO REMEMBER
November 1: All Saints Day (Solemnity)
2. All Souls Day.
9. Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.
10. Saint Leo the Great.
11. Saint Martin of Tours.
12. Fast of Saint Martin begins, extending until Christmas
15. Saint Albert the Great.
16. Saint Gertrude the Great.
18. Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul.
19. Saint Mechtilde.
21. Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
22. Saint Cecilia.
23. Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe.
30. First Sunday of Advent. Start of Liturgical Year.
Compiled by Bryan LaHaise, CFP Affiliate
FAST OF SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS
Our CFP Rule and Constitutions state:
RULE: Section 9
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9. They are to fast daily, except on account of infirmity or any other need, throughout the fast of St. Martin from after said day until Christmas, and throughout the greater fast from Carnival Sunday until Easter.
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CONSTITUTIONS: SECTION 9
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a. Penitents are to observe a pre-Christmas fast from November 12, the day after the Feast of St. Martin, until Christmas and a pre-Easter fast from Ash Wednesday until Easter.
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WHO IS TO OBSERVE THIS PART OF THE RULE?
Those who have completed their tenth lesson of their second Novice year are to observe this part of the CFP Rule unless dispensed from doing so by their spiritual directors. The fast is to be followed according to the guidelines in the CFP Rule, enumerated in Chapters II and III of the CFP Rule and Constitutions and in Appendix A of the Constitutions.
All other penitents, who have not yet completed Lesson 10 of their second Novice year, could also embrace some sort of penance during the Fast of Saint Martin, to keep the spirit of the Pre-Christmas Fast. Some suggestions might be to give up sweets during the Fast of Saint Martin or to pray a decade of the Rosary daily for the intentions of the Holy Father. Those wishing to observe the Fast, yet not yet obligated to do so, could discuss possible penances with their spiritual directors and/or their Regional Ministers.
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WHO WAS SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS?
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Saint Martin of Tours was a popular medieval French saint who, as a military man, gave half of his cloak to a shivering beggar. Later, in a dream, Christ appeared to Saint Martin wearing the cloak. Martin became a Christian and eventually a bishop known for his justice, courage, and charity. See this link for a longer biography.
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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE FAST OF SAINT MARTIN?
The Fast of Saint Martin is meant to prepare the penitent to celebrate the Solemnity of Christmas. The fast reminds the penitent of several truths:
a. Our lives must be centered on God, not on self.
b. Our self denial is a prayer of the body to Our Lord Who came as an Infant to teach us and to redeem us.
c. Martin's act of cutting his cloak in two was both penitential and loving. All penances, if they are to have any merit spiritually, must be done in love.
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d. We must be willing to give up anything and everything which keeps us from full union with God.
e. As soldiers of Christ, our struggle is to be against evil, not against others. We are always to be peacemakers as Martin was.
QUESTION ON OUR WAY OF LIFE:
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Why is the Confraternity focused on Penance rather than St. Francis per se?
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Good question.
The answer is that the call was to live this rule as close as possible to its original intent.
Saint Francis himself lived this way of life when he began as a penitent. He never wanted anyone to copy him. He told his followers to follow Jesus and walk in HIS footsteps (not in Francis' footsteps). At the end of his life, as he lay dying, Francis told the friars, "I have done what was mine to do. May you do what is yours to do." Always Francis wanted to follow the Holy Spirit's guidance in his imitation of Christ.
Francis is not the end of our spirituality. He's the one who lived it most perfectly. His whole life was one of penance. He called everyone to penance and love and praise of God. We are trying to do what Francis called us to do--not look at him but look at the Lord.
JOURNEY TO BECOMING A PENITENT
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Greetings. As an incarcerated life pledged member of the CfP who cannot be with you physically, our Minister General asked if I would be willing to briefly share my story about how i came to be a penitent and live the Rule in prison. Thank you for receiving this testimony.
Raised in a nominally Catholic home as a child, I first came to know Jesus when I received my first Holy Communion at age eight. Yet despite coming to know that he was my Savior and God, the desire to follow the ways of the world that I observed around me grew to be greater than my desire to follow him. As an introvert who had difficulty expressing myself verbally to others, I was passive at times. While preparing for my confirmation at age 13, I was intrigued by the saint who also inspired my patron, St. Anthony of Padua - our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi. His radical love for following Jesus, particularly his stripping himself bare in the public square, left an indelible mark on me.
My teens and college years were typical of many nominal Catholic young people who went to Mass on Sundays and holy days, but not much else. Yet the faith was active in my heart and mind, enough that when I was alone after college, searching for meaning and purpose, I became active in my parish, looking to rediscover the Jesus that I met at my first Holy Communion and heard about in the Gospels for more than 15 years of going to Mass.
At age 23, my life in the Church became more active, and people saw how much I was outwardly living for Christ in the parish, so much so that someone asked if I'd consider the priesthood. Having a desire to serve others and praying that if I entered formation, God would help me become chaste, I applied and was accepted.
Unfortunately I was exposed to pornography in my childhood and was raised with the toleration of sex before marriage by my family and peers. I would continue to confess this sin, but had no plan to overcome it. I didn't have the courage to share my struggle outside the confessional. I knew this was a problem, yet I also knew that God could help me overcome this issue, however my attitude was much like Augustine who said, "Lord, make me holy, but not yet." Unfortunately, I could never surrender this part of me to him, and this inability to confront this issue continued during my time in seminary. Thinking that I couldn't live as a celibate, and following the apostle Paul's advice to the Corinthians for one who couldn't tame his unruly sexual passions, I left seminary and got married.
Unable to address the root cause of my sexual compulsion, this issue plagued my marriage. My fornication before marriage became adultery. When this behavior surfaced, it resulted in much guilt and shame that I tried taking my own life on four separate occasions in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2006. Life had become unmanageable for me and after the first attempt, I started moving farther and farther away from the Lord, and toward psychologists and medications for answers. Guilt and shame turned into despair, helplessness, hopelessness, and anger at myself and the world. Eventually I turned my back on my wife, my family, my friends, my psychologist, my support group, my employer, the Church, and most importantly, my God. Overwhelmed by the darkness, I allowed suicidal and homicidal thoughts to become a reality. In 2007, I committed a horrible murder with the plan to kill myself that day. Somehow a spark of life remained in me, and on the way to kill myself, a still small voice said "Anthony, surrender" and so I did.
Much like the wayward son in the parable, our heavenly Father was there to welcome me back in the county jail in the sacrament of reconciliation when my local priest friend here in Michigan visited me.
In late 2007, while in the county jail contemplating my life without parole sentence in prison, wondering what was next, another priest friend from my pre-seminary days in Pennsylvania sent me information about the Confraternity of Penitents, a group of Catholics dedicated to living a life of penance inspired by St. Francis of Assisi. As I was in the process of rededicating my life to Christ, I was curious and became an inquirer at that time.
Over the next few years, God continue to heal me as I gave myself more and more to him each day. Nourished by the sacrament of the Eucharist, daily Scripture reading, meditation and the Rosary, as well as rediscovering the Liturgy of the Hours, I found myself overcoming the guilt and the shame of my crime and prior bad acts as one of the few people I knew that had literally broken every one of the Ten Commandments in a grievous way. Psalm 51 become one of my favorite prayers. In 2009 I sponsored Jason for the sacraments of initiation in prison. We would meet again in 2013 at another facility. At the time, he was hungry for the faith, and became interested in the CfP after I introduced it to him. He entered formation and asked why I hadn't done so. At the time, I was still struggling to let go of my sexual compulsion. The CfP became the spiritual discipline I needed that would help me detach from worldly pursuits, and I finally entered formation shortly after. The evil one certainly attempted to derail me along the way, with transfers to different facilities, difficult bunkies, lack of understanding from others, communication difficulties, the death and loss of spiritual directors, and not having the support of an online or local chapter or circle as potential obstacles to my formation.RE: Journey to Being a Penitent - cont'd
Thanks be to God for the CfP members who have corresponded with me at times during my inquirer period and during formation over the years, particularly Terri K., Paul P. (Affiliate, deceased), Karen H., Jim N., Joel W., Karen S. (sr. Naaman), and most especially our Minister General Madeline (sr. Margaret), who with her husband Jim visited me back in 2013 while in Coldwater, Michigan, a short drive from CfP headquarters in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.
Our Rule has given me the spiritual discipline to be able to serve him and my neighbor with more detachment from the desires of this world. Much like Paul, I have experienced many trials and tribulations durng my 18 years of incarceration, including persecutions, gossip, slander, assaults, loneliness, harsh conditions, and lack of access to the sacraments. Yet, like the letter of James tells us, I count it all joy to encounter various trials for the sake of Christ. Despite these consequences of my sinful choices, he has blessed me more than I deserve over this time, including receiving forgiveness from one of the surviving victims of my crime at sentencing in 2008, from one of my murder victim's children in 2013, and of the debt of more than $20,000 of court-ordered costs and restitution in 2024.
Over the past 18 years, the Lord has been able to use my natural and spiritual gifts for his greater glory during my incarceration in a variety of ways, including work as a Horticulture tutor/worker and gardener (growing and harvesting produce for local food banks), serving as leader (cantor/catechist) for Catholic religious service community, helped organize a peer-to-peer post-secondary education program, work as primary dog handler for the Paws with a Cause (PAWS) service dog program, coordinated the peer-to-peer Reading Works tutor program for the lifers organization, served as facilitator for small faith study groups in Restoring Broken Walls Prison Ministry program, served as a leader in the Keryx Prison Ministry program, participated as co-mentor in the Good Neighbor Project, sponsored by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), organized and completed Intro to Debate class with Central Michigan University through the lifer organization, and served as a worker with outside volunteers for the One Day with God Program for prisoners and their children (sponsored by Harvest Ministries).
I currently participate as a student in The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) Christian Leadership program (sponsored by Prison Fellowship), work as unit clerk/pre-release tutor for the Prison Fellowship programs in the faith dorm of 160 men, serve as Catholic religious services leader/liaison to the prison chaplain and outside volunteers of the diocese of Grand Rapids, (sponsoring catechumens and candidates for the sacraments of initiation, facilitating Liturgy of the Word/Communion Services/Mass, Rosary, music ministry, etc.), serve as co-leader of a restorative justice group, and legislative committee chairman of the lifer group.
Praise God for all these opportunities he has given me to serve him and my neighbor to build the Kingdom of God and cultivate relationships with others, both inside and outside of prison, over the past 18 years. It is his grace that has opened me up to develop and use the gifts he has given me to work for his greater glory, to be able to share the life of Christ that has been given to me.
There is much that our Lord is continuing to do to sanctify me, to shape me, and to mold me into the man he created me to be. Living as a life pledged member with the CfP has provided me with a way and a community to share the life of Christ in me with others. Please pray that my life of penance may continue to be a fruitful witness to the overwhelming mercy of our great God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Please pray for me, like Paul, one of the greatest sinners, for the faithfulness to live the Rule of love with all of you. Be assured of my daily prayers for all of you in the CfP and for the intentions of our Confraternity. I would welcome anyone who wishes to correspond with me to do so. May God bless you abundantly this day and always, Peace and all good, Anthony LaCalamita, CfP
HUMOR: ONE LINERS
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I am starting to think that I will never be old enough to know better.
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Always check the height of nearby ceiling fans before giving a toddler a ride on your shoulders. How I came to learn this is not important.
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I love bacon. Sometimes I eat it twice a day. It takes my mind off my terrible chest pains.
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People who ask me what I’m doing tomorrow probably assume that I know what day is today.
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A car’s weakest part is the nut holding the wheel.
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“I hear that the inventor of the throat lozenge died.” “I bet there will be coffin at the funeral”
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You wanna see social distancing? Loan someone some money.
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I got myself a senior GPS. Not only does it tell me how to get to my destination, it also tells me why I wanted to go there.
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I made a huge to-do list for today. I just can’t figure out who’s going to do it.
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I shouldn’t have driven home from the bar last night. Especially since I walked there.
NO GREATER LOVE: WORD AND EVENT
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The New Testament relates a historical event. God comes to earth as a Baby, born of a Virgin, has a public ministry, is crucified, rises from the dead, and ascends into Heaven. Jesus can be thought of as an event in human history. Of course, the question arises as to whether this really happened in the way it is related and interpreted in the New Testament. As with many other events, the meaning of the event is not always immediately clear. This especially applies to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
In His Life on earth, Jesus is presented by the Gospels as One who is in command of events. He heals the sick and even raises from the dead when He wants to do that. He can calm a storm or walk on water when He chooses to do so. When His teachings angered people and they wanted to kill Him, He easily escaped. (Lk 4:30) In the Garden of Gethsemane, soldiers and officers came asking for Jesus of Nazareth and the Lord answered “I am he.” However, when He said that, those who came to arrest Jesus “drew back and fell to the ground.” (Jn 18:4-11) When someone cut off the ear of the slave of the high priest, Jesus immediately heals the slave. (Lk 22:50-52) Jesus commands that the violence be ended and says “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so.” (Mt 26:53-54) Again, Jesus says to the crowds “Have you come out as against robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Mt 26: 55-56)
At this point, the Lord’s command of events seems to end, and now He is under the power of His enemies. Why did this happen? Jesus gives us the answer: “that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled”. The Word of the Father commanded that it should happen in this way. The Lord was not losing control, He was obeying the Word of God.
Scripture explains the profound discontinuity between the Lord’s commanding presence during His ministry and His utter submission to evil during his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Pope Benedict, in Jesus of Nazareth, tells us more about the relationship between Word and Event. All four Gospels tell of the hours that Jesus spent hanging on the Cross and of his death-they agree on the broad outlines of what happened, but there are differences of emphasis in the detail. What is remarkable about these accounts is the multitude of Old Testament allusions and quotations they contain: word of God and event are deeply interwoven. The facts are, so to speak, permeated with the word-with meaning; and the converse is also true: what previously had been merely word-often beyond our capacity to understand-now becomes reality, its meaning unlocked.
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Underpinning this particular way of recounting events is the learning process that the infant Church had to undergo as she came into being. At first, Jesus' death on the Cross had simply been an inexplicable fact that placed his entire message and his whole figure in question. The story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35) presents this journeying, talking and searching together as the process by which the soul's darkness is gradually illumined by walking with Jesus (v. 15). It becomes clear that Moses and the Prophets-"all the Scriptures"-had spoken of the events of Christ's Passion (vv. 26-27): the "absurd" now yields its profound meaning. In the apparently senseless event, the real sense of human journeying is truly opened up: meaning triumphs over the power of destruction and evil.
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Pope Benedict has emphasized that Scripture – the Word of God - must be read as a whole. The interpretation of passages of Scripture comes from the rest of Scripture and not from private opinion or the “needs of the times”. Of course, there were and still are passages of Scripture whose meaning is quite unclear. Right before His arrest, trial and crucifixion, Jesus gives us his Olivet Discourse (Mt 24-25, Mk 13, Lk 21:5-36) where He speaks of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple which occurred in 70 AD. However, He also speaks of His Second Coming at the end of the world which has not yet occurred. With regard to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the Word of Jesus explains the event, and the event of the Temple destruction explains the meaning of the Lord’s Word. Yet the Second Coming has not yet occurred so we have to wait for the event which goes with the Word.
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To see the meaning of the event of the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of the Lord, we need to look to the Word of God (Scripture). That is exactly what the disciples of Jesus did. The early disciples of the Lord certainly wondered “Who was Jesus of Nazareth?” They found answers in Isaiah’s servant songs. (Is 42:1-9, 49:1-7, 50:4-11, 52:13-53:12) “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” (Is 42:1-3) St. Matthew quoted these verses (Mt 12:18-21) referring to the Baptism of the Lord. (Mt 3:16-17, Mk 1:9-11, Lk 3:21-22, Jn 1:32)
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When the disciples saw the Lord, who seemed to be in total command of events, thoroughly mistreated, they could again look to the servant songs. “I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know I shall not be put to shame. (Is 49:6-7) The disciples could see that the Passion of the Lord was not a random event which had no meaning. It was part of the Plan of God revealed many centuries before the time of Christ.
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Why did Jesus have to undergo such sufferings? The servant songs provide the answer. “Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Is 53:4-6) Considering what Jesus did for us, why would the disciples not die for Him?
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The Lord’s last words from the Cross were a loud cry, translated into English, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34) However, this was not the desperate random lament of a man who was about to die. He was quoting scripture, the opening line of Psalm 22. This psalm is the cry of distress of a man of Israel who is under extreme attack. “But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people.” (Ps 22:6) “Yes, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet-I can count all my bones-they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” (Ps 22:16-18)
The Lord was relating what was happening to Him to the Word of God, in this case one of the Psalms of David.
Despair, however, is not the last word of Psalm 22. “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried out.” (Ps 22:24) The next verse hints at the Lord’s Resurrection. “From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.” (Ps 22:25) The Eucharistic Sacrifice celebrated at every Mass is foreshadowed next. “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord!” (Ps 22:26) The worldwide nature of the Church which the Lord founded is foreshadowed in verse 27, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of nations shall worship before him.” That the Church has existed for almost two thousand years is foreshadowed in the last verse of Psalm 22. “Posterity shall serve him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generations, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it." (Ps 22:30-31)
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There are many other passages in the Old Testament which refer to the crucifixion or other events in the life of Jesus Christ. This relating of the Word of God to the Event of Jesus Christ began with Jesus Himself as He explained, to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Scripture passages which referred to Him. (Lk 24:27) This was the first task of the Church. The book of Acts is full of passages where St. Paul, St. Peter, or other disciples relate the event of Jesus Christ to the Old Testament. This is an instance of the principle, which Pope Benedict often refers to, that scripture must be read as a whole and not in isolated bits. In other words, Scripture interprets Scripture. Unfortunately, many modern teachers and theologians preach and teach on Jesus Christ as if the Old Testament has been “superseded” by Jesus. However, when Jesus claims to “fulfill” the Old Covenant (Mt 5:17), we need to know what He fulfilled. – Jim Nugent, CfP
CONFRATERNITY OF PENITENTS PHOTO ALBUM: YEAR PROFESSION OF ERIC LIPSCOMB, CFP
On Friday, October 17, 2025, at the Confraternity of Penitents’ Retreat in Huntington, Indiana, Eric Lipscomb (center) pledged to live the Confraternity of Penitents Rule of Life for the next year. Fr. Jospeh Tuscan, OFM Cap, who is the Spiritual Guardian of the Confraternity of Penitents, accepted Eric’s pledge. Joel Whitaker, CfP, who was Eric’s formation director, witnessed the pledge. Eric is the technician behind all the retreat videos and photos. God bless you, Eric. May God grant you every grace!
CONFRATERNITY OF PENITENTS RETREAT 2025
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Left to Right: First row: Eric, Karen, Sandi, Mariah, Marianna, Lynn, Karen.
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Second row: Fr. Joseph Tuscan, Lucy, Joy, Lisa, Harry, David, Joel, Margart. Joe, Jim, Madeline, Jackie, Donna, Sharon, Valerie
INSIGHTS FROM THE SPIRITUAL GUARDIAN: PENANCE LEADS TO PEACE
This way of penance begins, not in shame, but in wonder. Francis was not ashamed of penance. He was running toward the wonder of God, the mystery of God, when he realized that the God Who made us stooped down to meet us in our misery like God did for him. St Francis discovered that divine poverty is the doorway to peace, and that peace comes, not from avoiding suffering, but from embracing it with love.
In the earliest documents of the Franciscan family, doing penance did not mean simply punishment or self denial. It meant conversion of heart. Metanoia, to do penance was to turn back to God with one's whole being. That is rooted in the founder, in St Francis. Francis described his turning in the opening of his testament, when he wrote. “When I was in sin, it seemed too bitter to me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them, and I showed them mercy.”
It is God who initiates conversion. We respond. The Lord leads us, as he led Francis, to the place of discomfort, the people we fear, the parts of ourselves we would rather avoid. He draws us toward humility so that we can find joy. Joshua Benson notes that Francis's penance was “an ongoing participation in the kenosis of Christ, that is in the self emptying love of God. His poverty,” Benson writes,” was not moralistic but relational. It was a poverty that opened him to Communion.” The penitential life is a life of reconciliation: reconciliation with God, with others and with creation itself. The penitent is not a self Punisher, but a reconciler. Through conversion, we become instruments of peace. –Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM Cap, Spiritual Guardian
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God bless you and thanks for your support!