The new executive director at Franciscan Works, a Chicago-based nonprofit that supports Liberia Mission using the model of St. Francis of Assisi and three pillars: God, Education, and Work.
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Franciscan Works is an organization of Catholic laity seeking to follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi. After the civil war in Liberia during the late 1990s, members of Franciscan Works and saw a need for missionaries to address the poverty so they founded the Liberia Mission. The mission now provides a home for 30 orphaned children and a school for 450 local children. Using the three pillars of “God, Education, and Work,” missionaries have helped children recognize their human dignity, gain life skills, and build a strong relationship with God.
John Young spent eight years as a missionary in Liberia before returning to the United States as Executive Director of Franciscan Works. Having joined the Cenacolo Community in his twenties, he first served for three years at their mission house in Monrovia before returning home to the United States. Franciscan Works sent him to Liberia Mission as their communications and operations officer. He became Director of the Liberia Mission in 2020 and guided it through the COVID-19 pandemic before accepting his present position as Executive Director of Franciscan Works.