Annual dues are $50.00 paid to Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests to the Chicago National Office each year. This entitles the member to the newsletter and enables the promotion of the fraternity here and especially abroad. 

Since many priests in the United States begin or join fraternities out of the need to be with brother priests on a level of spirituality. many consider Brother Charles only after some months in fraternity. Diocesan priests often characterize their spirituality as not being of any particular "school" except the school of discipleship discovered in the Word and Sacrament and lived out with their people. For this reason. a priest can be initially cautious when being introduced to a recent historical figure like Charles and the movement which has grown from his spirit and charisms.

Those who have been in fraternity, however, have found that Charles inspires and challenges us to become more reflective about our own spirituality. Specifically, he manifested his own striving for a contemplative approach to ministerial life, a simplifying of life according to the Gospel mandate, a realization of the constant call to live the Paschal Mystery which he expressed in terms of detachment, an emphasis on Jesus' presence in the poor, and a global consciousness of being a universal brother. These particular aspects were accompanied by his strong religious intuitions about the preference for certain perennial Christian emphases, such as solitude, silence, living in the Word of God. spirit of adoration, and a Eucharistic-centeredness.

While being a universal brother. he never was a member of a fraternity. While longing to establish a community, he never had a member. He was a human being: attractive and enigmatic, a product of his time yet classically mysterious. From the vantage point of our own diocesan life. we could view him as offering some balance through counter-themes, so to speak, to the main themes of our active priesthood. As ministers of the Kerygma. proclaiming God's Word in season and out, he challenges us with the silence out of which the Word must be spoken and the witness of our lives "from the rooftops" in which that Word must be enfleshed. As ordained servant-leaders of God's people, he reminds us of the "hiddenness" of Nazareth, of the ordinary and seemingly uneventful characteristic of Diakonia and the failure of his own aspirations. As builders of Koinonia. he makes us examine the depth of solitude and the breadth of being a universal brother that keep us aware of the source and end of all community life. As presider over the sacred Eucharist of Jesus, he invites us simply to be in the presence of our brother Jesus and to grow in intimate desire for Him and in His passionate love for His people that they may all be one.

From the above reflections, we can see how Brother Charles remains a prophet to the fraternities. He inspires us by his charisms and challenges us by his own commitment to a total abandonment to God's will, to be truly present, as an equal, to our people, especially by our life and love. and to live in faith without constantly seeking results from our work. These inspirations, when reflected upon in Fraternity, challenge us to commit our lives to Jesus, through our brothers, for His people. In so doing. we can grow into a full ministerial spirituality, rooted in our common baptism and ordered to service in the priesthood of Jesus Christ.