Bridgefolk 2011 photos now available
An album of photos from the recent Bridgefolk conference is now available on Facebook at the following site: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10150281106806600.
Woman’s journey from Mennonite to Catholic is a two-way street
Bridgefolk brings 2 churches together for dialog, worship
Dorothy Harnish
Dorothy Harnish is one of the local organizers for this year’s Bridgefolk conference in Akron, Pennsylvania. A local paper in Lancaster did the following feature story on her:
By JOAN KERN
Correspondent
Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal / New Era
Dorothy Harnish was a cradle Mennonite. And a teen Mennonite and a young adult Mennonite and a middle-aged Mennonite.
But now she’s a senior citizen Catholic, a member of Lancaster’s St. Leo the Great Catholic Church.
Harnish, 69, of Landisville, will gather with about 75 other Catholics and Mennonites at the 11th annual Bridgefolk Conference, Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 7. Read more
Basilica website at the University of Notre Dame notes Mennonite visitors
The website for the Basilica at the University of Notre Dame now includes this tidbit:
Mennonites come to pray before the relics of St. Marcellus, whom they honor because he gave his life for refusing to serve in the Roman army.
See http://basilica.nd.edu/museums-and-tours
Receiving grace through countercultural footwashing
By Brian Miller
Mennonite Weekly Review
April 21, 2011
There’s no way around it — washing someone’s feet can be a bit awkward, especially if you are newer to this practice. In a day of vibey church cafes and artsy gathering spaces with sofas and technological whatsits, in a day when every attempt is made to make church appealing to the “spiritual but not religious,” in this day, we gather once again to practice footwashing.
But why? What compels us to continue this practice? Read more
Praying the Bridgefolk prayer – 10 years and counting
Ten years ago this week, a small group of original Bridgefolk participants and leaders met together to talk, pray and discern. How should we follow through on our initial meeting in Pennsylvania in 1999? What kind of community are we becoming? How will participants know if they are “members?” Should we have a common discipline of prayer, the way religious orders do? What will bind our life together when we depart? It would be good to at least have a common prayer that would resonate equally with Mennonites and Catholics, they decided, but what might that be?
In the middle of the night, one of Bridgefolk’s co-founders found the following prayer taking shape, got up, and wrote it down. When he shared it with the others the next day, the group embraced it as a simple answer to many of our questions:
- If someone can pray this prayer with all their heart, he or she is Bridgefolk.
- Our rule would be to pray this prayer daily, and live accordingly.
On this 10th anniversary of the Bridgefolk prayer, therefore, we invite you to pray our common prayer today, to make or renew your commitment to pray it daily, and to live out the groanings we share for a Church of unity, nonviolence, and faithfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ. Read more
Mennonite publication celebrates ministry of Marlene Kropf
Marlene Kropf, Bridgefolk co-chair, retired from her position as denominational minister of worship (Mennonite Church USA) last month. The Mennonite featured an article in celebration of her ministry.
From the article:
Since 1983, Marlene has been a key leader in the creation of Mennonite worship resources and spiritual formation material and has helped lead six spiritual pilgrimages and numerous music and worship retreat weekends. She has introduced a variety of spiritual disciplines across the church. “The main focus of my interest in worship transformation,” Marlene says, ‘has not simply been a conversion from passive to active behavior in worship but rather toward a more active encounter with God.”
Lutherans and Mennonites seek reconciliation, forgiveness
STUTTGART, Germany– In what Bishop Mark S. Hanson, President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), described as possibly “the most significant legacy this Assembly will leave,” the Eleventh Assembly of the LWF today took the historic step of asking the Mennonites for forgiveness for past persecutions. Delegates unanimously approved a statement calling Lutherans to express their regret and sorrow for past wrongdoings towards Anabaptists and asking for forgiveness.
Hanson described the act of repentance and reconciliation as “communion building and communion defining. “We will not just look back; we will also look towards together to God’s promised future.” Read more
Footwashing: one congregation’s story
Bridgefolk participant Pat Shaver from Seattle Mennonite Church offers these reflections on the challenges her congregation encountered while planning a footwashing service:
Hygiene and hospitality
Seattle Mennonite is an urban congregation with a growing homeless ministry. MRSA (virulent type of infection) is frequent among the homeless. The congregation needed a way to protect the health of the participants while being open and welcoming. To meet this challenge, the congregation provided an individual towel for each person and someone at each station to insure people used hand sanitizer after washing someone’s feet.
A local homeless chaplain said that to allow homeless persons to participate without feeling ashamed, the congregation should Read more
Catholic-Mennonite encuentro in Guatemala
COBAN, Guatemala – Local Catholics and Mennonites recently gathered in an unprecedented ecumenical meeting in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Among the participants were Rob and Tara Cahill, former workers with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Coban. Read more
