Contact: Sr. Julie Ann Sheahan, OSF, 920-682-7728

GREEN BAY, Wis., Oct. 3, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- "St. Francis" is a free download through October at the Franciscanized World, the vocation discernment site of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. www.fscc-calledtobe.org

Gretchen Peters reflected that "I co-wrote this song with Tom Russell after receiving an email with some lyrical fragments from him, among them the opening lines, 'Saint Francis walking on the water/All his lambs have gone to slaughter.' I was sitting in my house on the Gulf of Mexico, trying to write but mostly obsessing about the thousands of gallons of oil an hour that were spewing into the gulf due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. His words reached me like a balm.

"For me the theme of spiritual awakening in the song goes beyond awakening to our own nature, and extends to the natural world of which we're undeniably a part -- the world that Saint Francis called 'the mirror of God.'"

Peters' own voice and guitar playing have been at the core of her music since she started performing in the Boulder, Colorado folk circuit as a teenager. Inspired by Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and a new generation of songwriters rising out of Nashville that included Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell, Peters relocated to Music City in the late 1980s.

Peters also signed her own record deal, yielding her 1996 debut album The Secret of Life. The title track was cut by Faith Hill in 1999 and hit number five on the country charts. The Grammy nominated singer-songwriter from Nashville calls her recent Hello Cruel World her 'most close-to-the-bone work, written at a time when I felt absolutely fearless about telling the truth.'

Challenging us always to preach the Gospel at all times, this poor man of Assisi's spirituality remains vital in today's reality.

Established in 1869, the Roman Catholic Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity serve in Catholic Health Care, Education and Parish-Community Service throughout the United States. From their Motherhouse convent in Wisconsin, mission locations extend across the U. S. From St. Theresa in Kekaha, Hawaii, the westernmost parish in the U.S., to rural Ohio and the dioceses of Columbus and Steubenville from the Mission of San Xavier Du Bac in Tucson, to Catholic College student outreach.

www.fscc-calledtobe.org

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