Br. Keith Warner inaugurated president of the Franciscan School of Theology

The Franciscan School of Theology community gathered in September to inaugurate Br. Keith Douglass Warner, OFM, as the school’s 10th president. About 200 benefactors, family members, friars, friends and supporters joined the celebration at Founders Chapel on the University of San Diego campus. The event included a liturgy, followed by a reception and dinner.

Br. Keith, a friar of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, recognized the significance of celebrating the inauguration during the Jubilee Year of St. Francis.

“I am so honored and so pleased to be celebrating this inauguration with you this year, at this time and place,” he said. He also reflected on Pope Leo XIV’s call for Franciscans and others to grow as “artisans of peace.”

Minister General affirms FST’s Franciscan mission

Br. Jim Sabak, OFM, arranged the inauguration liturgy with longtime collaborator Jim Wahl, who composed a song for the event inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s Jubilee Prayer to St. Francis. The two also worked together on the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe synod event in January 2025.

Br. Massimo Fusarelli, OFM, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, offered greetings to Br. Keith and the FST community. In a letter prepared for the inauguration, he reflected on the school’s distinct standing in Franciscan higher education.

“What has been handed you is not an archive to guard, but a workshop still running,” Br. Massimo said. He encouraged FST to stay active in the growing network of Franciscan study centers in the Americas and to keep serving the Order of Friars Minor through theological education and scholarship.

Under Br. Keith’s leadership, FST will continue providing theological education and formation for the Franciscan Order worldwide through programs such as its online Master of Theological Studies in Franciscan Theology.

Forming leaders for the Church and world

Bishop Michael Pham of San Diego congratulated Br. Keith and prayed that the Holy Spirit “guide, protect and strengthen” him in his new ministry.

Diocese of San Diego seminarians study at FST through its Master of Divinity program. The school also offers programs such as an online Master of Theological Studies in Franciscan Theology and a Doctor of Education in Catholic Social Thought in Practice.

Jim Harris, president of the University of San Diego, also recognized the FST partnership with his institution as “a national model among Catholic institutions.”

As Br. Keith’s presidency begins, the inauguration marks a new chapter for FST and continues its mission: forming people rooted in the Franciscan intellectual tradition and prepared to serve the Church and the world as artisans of peace.

Read the original story from the Franciscan School of Theology.

(Photo courtesy of FST