Franciscans of Primitive Observance

Notable practical aspects of their daily life reflect the following spiritual themes.[21][22]

They do not carry money, and rely on the donations of individuals to pay for their needs.[23] Donors represent a wide range of economic backgrounds. Impoverished families of the economically depressed regions where the FPOs reside frequently provide in-kind donations, upon request, to the FPO community—e.g., food, clothing, building materials, books, transportation, etc. However, Catholics of substantial wealth act as benefactors to the FPOs when they donate property on which the FPOs conduct private hermitage retreats or host elaborate holiday celebrations for the FPO community to enjoy. Per the Capuchin tradition, one FPO brother in each friary is appointed as the Questor, whose responsibility it is to quest for the friary's necessary foodstuffs which do not accumulate to more than two weeks worth of total provisions.[7]

Although they follow St. Francis' example via Capuchin reformers, the FPOs incorporate Marian spirituality gleaned from Conventual Franciscan, St Maximillian Kolbe.

The FPO frequently dispatches two members to pray outside of the Planned Parenthood building on Commonwealth Avenue in Allston, MA, in order to effect behavioral change in the women who use Planned Parenthood's services, for any reason.

In their friaries and on every occasion except Solemnities in the Liturgical Calendar, they eschew many modern appliances. Refrigeration, air conditioning, television, and mechanical laundering are typically prohibited.[7]

Until 2018, the FPO community observed a strict dietary regimen which consisted of bread-and-water-only fasts each Wednesday and Friday throughout the calendar year and which increased in austerity during the Liturgical seasons of Lent and the Franciscan Liturgical season of Epiphany. Because of the bodily stress these fasts exacted upon postulate members of the FPO community, resulting in hospitalization, the FPO ordinary decreed by February 2018 that the fasting seasons be upheld but the prohibition of foods besides bread be abolished.

The FPO wear a habit of brown or black durable fabric that extends on the appendages as far as the wrist and below the calf. The habit is outfitted with a pointed hood, which is the distinguishing physical characteristic of any Capuchin friar. They wear a corded rope around their waist with four knots affixed to the rope, hanging at the hip, signifying the four vows—poverty, chastity, obedience, and Marian consecration. They wear a beard and crop the hair on their scalp to less than 1/2". At work and during recreation, they are permitted to wear an alternative habit, named a work habit, and closed toed footwear.

Of the six founding members, only Rev. Peter Giroux remains an active professed member of the Franciscans of Primitive Observance.[26] Three of the original founders are presently serving as diocesan priests outside of the Boston Archdiocese or priests in a religious community besides the FPOs.[27][28][29] One of the original founders, Rev Francis Kelly, is affiliated with the Boston Archdiocese but does not reside in the FPO community. One of the founding members is legally married.

Founder John Sweeney is now-laicized.[30][31][32][33][34] Sweeney was a charismatic figure who brought a large and dynamic early following to the FPOs[35] during their origins in the Fall River Diocese under Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley's ordinariate of the group. As stipulated in their Constitutions, FPO members are required to attend hermitage and/or retreats on a regular schedule throughout the calendar year. On occasion, these periods are feasible thanks to the benefaction of wealthy donors who host the community for hermitages and retreats on private property. The Tifft family freely donated their Vermont estate to the FPO community for this purpose in 2000. Their 17-year-old daughter attended exorcisms administered at her family's property in 2000 by then-Rev. John Sweeney.[34] Sweeney used these and similar occasions to serially sexually abuse and victimize Tifft and other teenage women.[33]

Under Cardinal Sean O'Malley's direction, John Sweeney was reassigned to Immaculate Conception in New Bedford until 2004, when he was put on leave.[33] Sweeney was not laicized until 2013.[34] Tifft and her attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, discovered that Sweeney is presently lodged by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico and active as a priest in a monastery of that Archdiocese.[34] Tifft and Garabedian have called for Sweeney’s name to be added to a list of names curated by the Office of Cardinal Sean O’Malley detailing substantiated and unsubstantiated sexual offenders who were also Catholic priests of the Archdiocese of Boston at the time of their predation.[36] As of 2021, Sweeney's name does not appear on any such list curated by the Cardinal's Office.

The FPO do not earn money from the execution of their priestly or religious duties, in concert with their established Constitutions. As a pecuniary consequence, their medical care is precarious but for the enrollment of each FPO in medical insurance coverage via MassHealth, whereby all medical bills are covered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.[10] On more than one occasion, and most recently in 2018, a neophyte in the FPO community, while living according to their Constitutions, was hospitalized for a week-long period due to the bodily stress, poor nutrition, poor sanitation and poor medical care inherent to their lifestyle.[10]