Franciscan Works

Franciscan Works is a Chicago-based Catholic non-profit that is led and run by Catholic laity. We serve the poor and vulnerable in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. Since 2003, Franciscan Works has provided financial and operational support to Liberia Mission, a community of love, learning, and prayer for poor, orphaned , and abandoned youth in Liberia, West Africa. 

Working together, Franciscan Works and Liberia Mission empower young Liberians to break the cycle of poverty and become faithful adults of character and integrity who can support themselves, their families, and their community. This challenge is very real in Liberia, a country that experiences intergenerational poverty, poor healthcare, and lack of infrastructure, much of which stems from a military coup d’état, two brutal civil wars, and a deadly Ebola outbreak, all within a 36 year time span. We cultivate the individual potential of children living in poverty so they can live as God intended, making full use of their talents and abilities for the common benefit, in communion with God, nature, and all humankind.

Liberia Mission’s 25-acre campus includes:

● Residential homes for orphaned and abandoned Liberian youth

● St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School that serves over 500 students annually in preschool-high school

● St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Chapel, a church that welcomes and serves the community at large

● St. Isidore farm and student-run piggery that teach animal husbandry, farming, and business skills to beneficiaries