Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception continue their tradition at Savannah’s Social Apostolate

By Michael J. Johnson Sr. Julie Franchi MFIC will serve as the fourth director of the Social Apostolate in Savannah (SSA) beginning in September.

Sr. Julie entered the Franciscan order in the 1960s. Her primary role has been as an educator. She says, “I have worked all over the U.S. I have taught in Chicago, Brooklyn and Boston. I was also in Bolivia where I worked as a teacher.”

Upon returning from Bolivia, Sr. Julie came to work with migrant workers in and around the Statesboro deanery for five years. She says, “I traveled a lot during those five years. Recalling some of the communities she served she named Glennville, Claxton, Metter, Vidalia, and Eastman. Sr. Julie said, “I went wherever they said they needed my help with something or the other.”

Originally from Boston she moved back in 1995 to care for her elderly parents. While in Boston she served as Catholic Campus Minister at Simmons College, she then served on her community’s leadership team for three years. For the past eight years she has been a Spanish language teacher at Mount Alvernia High School in Newton, Massachusetts.

Sr. Pauline O’Brien, MFIC, the current director of the Social Apostolate was active in the search for her replacement. “Sister Pauline and I are friends,” said Sr. Julie, “she called to tell me about the position. I found myself interested after a number of people suggested I apply.”

Sr. Julie arrived in Savannah on the Monday of Holy Week to interview and investigate the position. She says, “Wednesday afternoon Bishop J. Kevin Boland offered me the position.”

The trip was a turning point she said, “Everyone helped to make me feel like I could do this job. Following the Chrism Mass on Tuesday night I felt the affection the bishop had for his priests and his people and the warmth directed at him.”

Sister Julie decided to accept the position and its challenges.

Her primary challenges are financial. She listed a few of her key concerns as “Applying for grants, getting the money that comes in on a regular basis, keeping the mission before peoples’ eyes as a cause worthy of their donation. Keeping the good work that it already does going – in the wonderful way it already does.”

“It will be a steep learning curve,” says Sr. Julie, “but I have had experience working as a volunteer with the homeless. In Boston I volunteered with The Pine Street Inn, Rosie’s Place and the St Francis House. I always tell my students you can’t just study religion you gotta live it.”

Sr. Julie said, “My most notable qualification is that I am an MFIC. We (the MFICs) have a 43 year tradition at SSA. During my interviews Msgr. James Costigan said ‘The fact that you are a MFIC – I want you to have the job.’ It made me proud that that our community is held in such esteem. There is something in our DNA as a community that I think will help me.”

She concluded by saying, “I am proud of the work our Sisters have done. Sr. Catherine Moore began the Apostolate, Sr. Mary Therese Brown carried on the mission and Sister Pauline O’Brien will pass the directorship to me. It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of those women. I hope to continue doing it as well as they have.”