Joint statement by Mennonites and Catholics to WCC Decade to Overcome Violence now available

Following up on their 1998-2003 dialogue and ground-breaking document, Called Together to Be Peacemakers Mennonite and Catholic leaders met together for a brief conference October 23-25, 2007 in order to offer joint suggestions for the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). The DOV will culminate in an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in 2011. In preparation, representatives from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Mennonite World Conference met at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome with the goal of submitting theological reflections that Mennonites and Catholics, committed to overcoming violence, might affirm together as a witness to peace in the ecumenical context. Read more

Toronto dialogue group releases report

New on our website is the report of a dialogue group at the Toronto School of Theology. Ten graduate students in theology, half of whom are Roman Catholic and half Mennonite, met together regularly for two years to analyze and discuss Called Together to be Peacemakers, the final report from the international dialogue between Mennonites and Roman Catholics, 1998-2003. Their final report is entitled “Responding to the Call: Reflections on Called Together to be Peacemakers.” It gives particular attention to five themes — authority and the reception of teaching in each tradition, religious liberty, baptism, Eucharist, and peace. The report is available at http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/dialogue.

Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue Report Going to Churches

NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference

For Immediate Release
April 7, 2004

At first thought, a small group of Mennonites and a Vatican delegation seem to be unlikely conversation partners. But maybe not. Five-plus years after they first met for a formal Dialogue, seven representatives from Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and seven from the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity have issued a Report of their conversations. Its title hints at the intention of the meetings, as well as their tone–“Called Together to Be Peacemakers.”

But the conversations and the Report are only one part of the process for MWC. Another part is just beginning. Mennonite World Conference is forwarding copies of the Report to all of its member churches for their “study and reaction.” The English document has been translated into French; a Spanish translation is underway.

“On the MWC side, we are now entering a broadening stage in the process,” explained MWC Executive Secretary Larry Miller, who was one of the participants in the conversations. “This Report is not a kind of Encyclical handed down from the MWC office. Instead, it is intended to be reviewed and explored by Mennonites and Brethren in Christ around the world–from the point of view of their own contexts and convictions.” Read more

Mennonite-Catholic dialogue featured in Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano

International Contacts Between Mennonites and Catholics

by John A. Radano

For its relationship with Mennonites, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is in touch with the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) whose central office is in Strasbourg, France. Those communities from different parts of the world adhering to the MWC consist altogether of about one million persons.

There were two important contacts in this past year. First, the President of the MWC, Dr. Mesach Kristeya accepted the invitation of Pope John Paul II to participate in the “Day of Prayer for Peace in the World” January 24, 2002, in Assisi, and read one of the ten statements of commitment in the third part of that day. Second, another session took place of the international dialogue organized by the MWC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Read more

Joint news release: Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
November 14, 2002

AKRON, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. – The fifth meeting of the Mennonite-Catholic international dialogue took place at the headquarters of the Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pennsylvania, October 25-31, 2002. Co-sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference (Strasbourg, France) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City), the dialogue began in 1998, has met annually since then and is working toward issuing a final report in 2003. Dr. Helmut Harder (Mennonite, Winnipeg, Canada) and Bishop Joseph Martino (Catholic, Philadelphia PA, USA) are co-chairmen. Read more

Joint News Release: Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue

JOINT NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference and
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
January 28, 2002

ASSISI, Italy – The fourth meeting of the Mennonite-Catholic international dialogue took place at St. Anthony’s Guest House of the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement, in Assisi, Italy, November 27th-December 3rd, 2001. Co-sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference (Strasbourg) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City), the dialogue began in 1998 and is anticipated to run for at least five annual sessions after which it will issue a report. Dr. Helmut Harder (Mennonite, Winnipeg, Canada) and Bishop Joseph Martino (Catholic, Philadelphia PA, USA) are co-chairmen.

The presentations given in this session of the dialogue focused especially on two themes. On one theme concerning the sacraments, papers were presented on the Mennonite side by Dr. Helmut Harder (“What Anabaptists-Mennonite Confessions of Faith Say About Baptism and the Lord’s Supper”) and on the Catholic side by Rev. Dr. James F. Puglisi, SA, Rome (“Contemporary Theology of the Sacraments with Particular Attention to the Christian Initiation [Baptism and Eucharist]“). On a second theme concerning relations between church and state in the Middle Ages, papers were presented from the Mennonite perspective by Dr. Neal Blough, Paris, France (“From the Edict of Milan to Vatican II, via Theodosius, Clovis, Charlemagne and the Fourth Lateran Council”) and from the Catholic perspective by Dr. Peter Nissen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (“Church and Secular Power[s] in the Middle Ages”). Read more

Walter Cardinal Kaspar’s letter on Mennonite-Catholic dialogue

Greeting to the Mennonite Delegation
November 26, 2001
Walter Cardinal Kasper

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to welcome you to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

We are very happy that a dialogue between the Mennonite World Conference and the Catholic Church has been underway since 1998. Be assured of my best wishes and prayers for a fruitful meeting in Assisi in the days ahead, and in due time, for a report of the round of dialogues that will be useful for both of our communities.

I know that from the start this dialogue has had as one of its aims the hope of contributing to a healing of memories between our two communions. Read more

Joint News Release: Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue

JOINT NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
December 13, 2000

THOMASHOF, Germany–The third meeting of the Mennonite-Roman Catholic international dialogue took place at the Thomashof Tagungsstatte, a Mennonite conference centre near Karlsruhe, Germany, November 24-30, 2000. Co-sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference (Strasbourg) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City), the dialogue began in 1998 and is anticipated to run for five annual sessions after which it will issue a report. Dr. Helmut Harder (Mennonite, Winnipeg, Canada) and Bishop Joseph Martino (Roman Catholic, Philadelphia, PA, USA) are co-chairmen.

This session of the dialogue focused on two themes, one of a contemporary nature formulated under the question, “What is a Peace Church?” The interest in the question of peace arises anew in light of the fact that Mennonites are identified as one of the Historic Peace Churches, and Catholics have addressed the issue of peace in recent times in a new way, in a variety of texts, including Gaudium et Spes (Second Vatican Council) and Papal encyclicals, from Pacem in Terris (John XXIII) to Centesimus Annus (Pope John Paul II). The Mennonite papers were presented by Rev. Andrea Lange (Bolanden-Weierhof, Germany) and Rev. Mario Higueros (Ciudad di Guatemala, Guatemala), and the Catholic paper by Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J. (Washington, D.C., USA). The second theme focused on the impact of the Constantinian shift on the Church. Papers were presented on the Catholic side by Dr. Peter Nissen (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) and on the Mennonite side by Dr. Alan Kreider (Elkhart, Indiana, USA). Read more

Official communique issued jointly by the MWC and the PCPCU

NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference (MWC)
For Immediate Release
November 2, 1998

STRASBOURG/VATICAN CITY – For the first time, Mennonite and Catholic theologians met in international dialogue, October 14-18, to discuss the reasons for the centuries long separation between the two churches, starting in the sixteenth century. The meeting took place in Strasbourg, France.

This international consultation was sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference (Strasbourg) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City). Dr. Helmut Harder (Winnipeg, Canada) and Bishop Joseph Martino (Philadelphia, Pa., USA) were co-chairmen. Dr. Larry Miller (Strasbourg) and Monsignor John A. Radano (Rome) served as co-secretaries.

The purpose of the consultation was to promote better understanding of positions about Christian faith held on each side and to contribute to overcoming prejudices that have long existed between Mennonites and Catholics. Read more