What would St. Francis do? How to rebuild the Church today

One late summer Saturday morning, when I was ten years old, my chore was to help my dad wash our minivan. We were scrubbing the silver door, but the sticky sap from the trees in the driveway just wouldn’t come off. Frustrated, my dad turned to me and said, “We need to use some elbow grease to get this sap off.” 

Not wanting to seem clueless, I nodded seriously and dashed inside to our cleaning supplies closet, fully intending to find this magical “elbow grease” I’d never heard of. I rummaged through bottles and sprays, searching high and low. After a few minutes, I stood there, puzzled.

I muttered to myself, “Elbow grease…” Then it dawned on me: My dad wasn’t talking about a cleaning product. He meant we needed to scrub harder! 

Feeling a little embarrassed, I slunk back outside and pretended I had just needed to use the bathroom. Trying to act cool, I grabbed the sponge and got back to work, hoping my dad hadn’t noticed my little adventure. 

This recollection reminds me of how St. Francis of Assisi also misunderstood a call at first, though in a much more profound way. Like me, he heard a message and took it literally. While kneeling in front of a large wooden crucifix in the dilapidated church of San Damiano, Francis—still recovering from a stint as a prisoner of war and searching for direction in life—pleaded with God to reveal his will. God spoke clearly: “Francis, go and rebuild my Church, which as you can see, is falling down.” Francis initially believed this referred to the physical building he was in, but over time, he realized God was calling him to a much bigger mission: to rebuild the Church spiritually. 

Our Church today needs to be rebuilt, just as it did in Francis’ time. The signs of decline are evident–low Mass attendance, fewer baptisms and marriages, and a lack of clarity and conviction in the messages preached from the pulpit. But the steps of the rebuild don’t seem clear to those of us who want to rebuild. How do we, like Francis, respond to the call to rebuild?

I propose four steps we can take, following the example of the Seraphic Father:

1. Think as God does, not as humans do.

In Mark 8:33, Jesus rebukes Peter, saying, “You are thinking not as God does, but as humans do.” Like Peter and Francis, we may hear what the Lord wants to share with us, but we interpret God’s words with our limited understanding. To counter this, we must pray for the grace to see as God does. This also means doing his will even if it takes us in surprising or challenging directions that don’t fit our plans or expectations.

2. Revitalize the arts in the Church.

In the last 60 years, the Church has faced challenges in evangelizing through its art and music. While the grandeur of the past, seen in towering cathedrals and intricate frescoes, captured the imagination and devotion of the faithful, many modern church buildings seem to lack that same sense of transcendence. Some contemporary churches, with their minimalist designs, can feel more functional than inspiring. Similarly, in many parishes, hymnals often sit unused, while organists and cantors struggle to inspire the congregation. These shifts have contributed to a sense that the Church’s artistic and musical traditions are not as central to its evangelizing mission as they once were. However, there is still the potential to reclaim these powerful tools.

If we look back to Francis’ time, we see how he revitalized the Church by bringing the Gospel stories to life. The problem he encountered was that the average Catholic saw Jesus primarily in his glorified divinity and felt disconnected from his humanity. To counter this, Francis introduced the first live nativity scene and reenacted the Stations of the Cross. We, too, need to use our talents in art, music, writing, and video production to stir hearts and draw people closer to God.

3. Be peacemakers.

In the 1200s, one of the reasons the Church was in shambles was because of the Crusades. Francis, however, sought peace and the opportunity to evangelize to the Muslims. He boldly traveled to the Holy Land and met Sultan Al-Malik al-Kamil, the Muslim ruler of Palestine, Egypt, and Syria. The Sultan welcomed Francis with respect, and the two exchanged ideas in peace, despite the hostility between their faiths. In our time, we face our own divisions—political, racial, and even within the Church itself. We need to be bold like Francis and cross these divides, seeking peace and unity wherever possible. Whether it’s in our communities, on social media, or in our families, we are called to be instruments of God’s peace. And like Francis, we don’t leave the Gospel behind when we cross the aisle. We bring it with us.

4. Embrace Humility

We need to obtain the mindset Francis exemplified through his poverty and radical service to others. When we evangelize today, we need to ask ourselves: Do we evangelize the world because we want them to know we are right, or because we want to make the world right? The Church today needs humble, servant-hearted leaders who are more concerned with loving others than with winning debates. Francis brought clarity to the Church, which badly needed it. If we begin to rebuild our Church with love, truth, and humility, we also, by God’s grace, can bring clarity and hope to our broken world.

Like Francis, we are being called to rebuild the Church. And just as he eventually realized that this rebuilding was not about bricks and mortar, but about renewing the hearts of people, we too must look beyond the surface to the deeper work God is calling us to do. Whether it’s through fostering beauty in our churches, making peace in a divided world, or sharing the Gospel with humility and love, each of us has a part to play. 

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us as we take up this mission which you lived so well.

Joseph Peach is a Catholic author, freelance writer, and speaker. He works for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Cleveland and has published six books.

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