The Upside-Down World of St Francis

St Francis of Assisi set out to re-make the violent, unequal, greedy community he was born into. He had a vision of a world in which people could live together as equals. He called this new world by the name of ‘fraternity’: he dreamed that all men and women, all creatures were brother or sister to him.
In the new world of St Francis, people would be generous in relationship one with another; they would care for each other making sure none went without and none had so much that their wealth cut them off from people. In this world, the idea of personal property would be so diluted that no energy would be spent in protecting it. Violent domination would be banished. The world of St Francis is our world transformed. St Francis wants to turn the world upside down.
The talks and seminars collected here are Ted Witham’s work. They come from the time that Ted was Provincial Minister for the Third Order, Society of St Francis for Australia, Papua New Guinea and East Asia.