Still more local dialogues in Winnipeg!
In our Bridgefolk Brief last week we provided updates on a number of local dialogues between Mennonites and Roman Catholics that have come to our attention. One of these relayed information from a Canadian magazine concerning a congregation-to-parish dialogue in Winnipeg. As it turns out, this is only the beginning. Dr. Helmut Harder responded with additional information on what’s happening with Catholic-Mennonite dialogue in Winnipeg: Read more
Local dialogues continue to emerge
Bridgefolk Briefs took a break last fall, but Mennonite / Catholic dialogue did not! Read more
Commentary on “Called Together” now available online
As enthusiastic supporters of the international dialogue between Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), Bridgefolk has made a number of resources available for the study of Called Together to be Peacemakers, the final report from its first round. New on our website is a commentary that appeared with the document upon its initial release by the PCPCU.
Written by Professor Emeritus Jos. E. Vercruysse S.J., the commentary can provide a useful summary of the Called Together for those who have not yet had an opportunity to read it in full, along with certain points of critique that will interest those who are studying it closely.
You will find Called Together to be Peacemakers in various languages, along with information about an abridged study version with discussion questions, and commentaries by Prof. Vercruysse as well as others at http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/dialogue.
Thanks to Gerald Stover of Bethelehem PA for helping to make Prof. Vercruysse’s commentary available.
Gerald Schlabach
Bridgefolk Executive Director
info@bridgefolk.net
www.bridgefolk.net
Presentations to Mennonite Catholic Theological Colloquium now available
All of the presenters at the July meeting of the Mennonite Catholic Theological Colloquium have now provided text versions of their presentations. You can find them by going to the newly re-designed section of our website for Theological Dialogue and Reflection: http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/colloquia/2005theology.
The topic of the colloquium was “How Are We ‘Called Together?’” A Mennonite and a Catholic panel was asked to comment on the final report of the international dialogue between Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity by answering the question, “What have we learned and what’s next?” Mennonite panelists were Nancy Heisey and Earl Zimmerman; Catholic panelists were Margaret Pfeil and Drew Christiansen SJ.
The event began with a keynote address by John A. Lapp, church historian and former Executive Secretary of Mennonite Central Committee on “Ecumenical Dialogue as a Ministry of Reconciliation.”
Colombian Mennonites and Catholics Invite Dialogue
NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference
For Immediate Release
August 30, 2005
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA – “Called Together to be Peacemakers,” a document issued after five years of dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity of the Catholic Church and representatives of Mennonite World Conference, was the topic of an ecumenical dialogue at the Colombian Catholic Bishops Conference here on May 20, 2005. Read more
Study edition of Called Together to be Peacemakers now available
In 2003, theological exchange between Mennonites and Roman Catholics marked a historic milestone as delegations to the first international dialogue between representatives of Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Church Unity released a final report summarizing their five years of conversation. “Called Together to be Peacemakers” (available at http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/dialogue) offers a common narrative of watershed events in church history especially during the 16th and 4th centuries. It explores theological perspectives that the two traditions both share and dispute concerning the nature of the Church, sacraments/ordinances, and peacemaking. It closes with mutual confessions of repentance for past violence and recrimination, thus inviting a “healing of memories.”
A group of Bridgefolk volunteers has now collaborated with Pandora Press to publish a study version of this watershed document suitable study in a variety of settings. The text has been abridged. Helmut Harder, co-chair of the international dialogue, provides an introduction. Discussion questions and other tools are designed to give maximum flexibility to different kinds of study groups.
Some groups will commit themselves to in-depth study. Others will want to familiarize themselves with Mennonite / Catholic dialogue, but have limited time. Many will come with specific interests in peacemaking, local Christian cooperation or worship and spirituality. Some will have designated leaders and others will pass around leadership of their discussions. Three features allow study groups to tailor their preparation, reflection and discussion:
- The appendix at the end of the book offers study plans of various length and focus, along with additional suggestions.
- Discussion questions appear throughout the document, near relevant paragraphs.
- Paragraph numbers from the full original document are retained for groups and individuals who wish to study more thoroughly, or for leaders seeking background.
Please consider using this resource in your congregation, parish or classroom. Or better yet, use it as an opportunity to carry on a Mennonite-Catholic dialogue in your local setting. Bulk rates are available.
Click here to order individual copies. Or write to Pandora Press (bookshop@pandorapress.com) for bulk orders.
from the back cover:
Called Together to be Peacemakers, the report of the International Mennonite-Catholic dialogue, is aimed at fostering a healing of memories. We are therefore delighted to see that the report is being used by Mennonites and Catholics in different localities. Although this abridged version has no official status, it will no doubt help to make the Report even more accessible.
This abridged version nicely summarizes perspectives found in the full report, At the same time the readers will be aware that they can get to the original in order to find the fuller expression of Mennonite and Catholic perspectives on the issues treated.
We hope that Called Together to be Peacemakers helps to foster new and closer relations between Catholics and Mennonites, and other Christians as well.
Larry Miller
Mennonite World Conference
John A. Radano
Pontifical Council for Promoting Church Unity
Mennonite, Catholic theologians discuss
“How we are called together”
Press Release:
How Are We “Called Together?”
A Mennonite/Catholic Theological Colloquium
Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA
July 20-21, 2005
By Marilyn Stahl
Harrisonburg VA, August 4, 2005 (BRIDGEFOLK) — Roman Catholics and Mennonites gathered at Eastern Mennonite University on July 20-21 to reflect on “Called Together to Be Peacemakers,” the report of the first international dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Mennonite World Conference. Approximately 30 theologians, historians and ecumenists attended.
Released in 2004, the report includes a common narrative of significant events in church history, focusing on the 4th and 16th centuries. It explores areas of theological convergence and divergence between the two traditions on topics such as the nature of the church, sacraments and peacemaking. It closes with mutual confessions of repentance for past violence and recrimination, as a path to the healing of memories.
The gathering was the first in-person program of the Mennonite/Catholic Theological Colloquium (MCTC) and was held immediately before the annual Bridgefolk conference. Bridgefolk is a movement for grassroots dialogue and unity between Mennonites and Roman Catholics. The MCTC convened to respond to the international dialogue’s report, with the theme “How Are We ‘Called Together’?”
The colloquium opened on Wednesday evening with an address by John A. Lapp, Executive Secretary Emeritus of Mennonite Central Committee, entitled, “Ecumenical Dialogue as a Ministry of Reconciliation.” He noted many signposts of reconciliation between Mennonites and Catholics around the world and stressed that reconciliation is integral to the ministry of the church.
In response, Abbot John Klassen of St. John’s Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., reiterated that ecumenism is never an “add-on,” but is at the very heart of the gospel. As expressed by Jesus in the Johannine tradition: “I have come so that you might be one.” Abbot John also addressed the relationship between forgiveness and reconciliation and the importance of hospitality.
The next day, a Mennonite panel and a Catholic panel responded to the report. The Mennonite respondents were Earl Zimmerman and Nancy Heisey, both of Eastern Mennonite University’s Bible and Religion Department. Heisey is president of Mennonite World Conference. The Catholic respondents were Margaret R. Pfeil of the University of Notre Dame and co-founder of a Catholic Worker House in South Bend, and Drew Christensen, S.J., editor in chief of America. Christensen was a participant in the five-year dialogue and contributed to drafting the report.
In his remarks, Zimmerman contended that re-reading history together is one of the really significant developments in the report. He expressed a desire for a study from a Catholic perspective on the life of the 16th century martyr Michael Sattler, a former Benedictine monk who wrote the Schleitheim Confession, a foundational Anabaptist text.
Zimmerman also noted that, in America, both Mennonites and Roman Catholics have been shaped by our experiences as immigrant churches and religious minorities in a predominately Protestant society, and noted the differing acculturation responses of the two traditions. He encouraged participants to continue the on-going dialogue between our traditions, noting that there is “no great disappointment where there is no great love.”
The second Mennonite respondent, Nancy Heisey, noted that more than half of the world’s Mennonites live in the global South and framed her remarks on the basis of what she hears from Mennonites in that region. While acknowledging the enthusiasm for dialogue with Catholics among Mennonites in North America and parts of Europe, Heisey noted a more hesitant response among Mennonite communities in Latin America and parts of Africa and Asia, due in part to different historical situations. She affirmed the importance of communicating the significance of the international dialogue to Mennonite communities in the global South. She juxtaposed the Mennonite concept of a global koinonia among congregations in the Mennonite World Conference with the term “catholicity.” She also noted that her predecessor as president of MWC, Mesach Krisetya, participated without reservation in the pope’s Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi because, Heisey said, he understood that we need each other.
The Catholic respondents brought additional perspectives. As a Catholic, Margaret Pfeil asserted that the report didn’t go far enough in calling Catholics to deep mourning and real repentance for the persecution of Anabaptists in the 16th century. Remembering the martyrs, and recognizing that Christianity is an incarnational, flesh-and-blood religion, she posed the question of what might be worthy of our blood as a sign of our baptismal commitment today. She suggested that local churches need to cultivate the spiritual weapons for discipleship, and introduced the concept of “liturgical asceticism.” She stated that, springing from the waters of baptism and the eucharist, liturgical asceticism is “the discipline required to become an icon of Christ and make his image visible in our faces.” She asked how our worshipping practices shape our Christian response to the social dimension of sin, challenging both communities to act in greater solidarity with the poor and to name and dismantle unjust structures of power.
Drew Christiansen, a participant in the international dialogue, noted that Mennonites and Catholics share a commitment to live out the call to holiness of life in the postmodern world. Both traditions must discern good and evil in secular developments, or, in the language of Vatican II, “read the signs of the times by light of the gospel.” This call is not limited to nonviolence, but includes love of the poor, and requires personal and communal discernment. Secondly, in a challenge to Mennonites, he posed a question about church and culture. Does God speak to the Church through the world? This question was framed by Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, which “expressed gratitude for what the Church had been taught even by those who had persecuted her.”
Following the presentations, the participants meet in affinity groups around the themes of history, ecclesiology, sacraments and theology, peacemaking, and healing of memories to consider next steps in the dialogue. Among the many suggestions for additional study were (1) exploring connections between spirituality, peace and asceticism; (2) exploring together what prevents Roman Catholics and Mennonites from sharing the bread and wine; (3) exploring the question of how institutions repent; and (4) promoting and developing ways of both deeply understanding of others’ perspectives and respectfully challenging the unstated assumptions or prejudices in the others’ perspectives.
Pandora Press recently published a condensed version of Called Together to Be Peacemakers, with study questions, to help make the scholarly study more accessible to local parishes and congregations. The Bridgefolk Series, published by Pandora Press, was established to share resources, papers, conference talks and other conversations that are contributing to the exchange of gifts between Mennonites and Roman Catholics. Other topics in this series include On Baptism, ed. Gerald W. Schlabach, 2004; and Just Policing, ed. Ivan J. Kauffman, 2004. Books may be ordered from www.pandorapress.com or on the Bridgefolk website at www.bridgefolk.net.
Mennonites and Catholics Share Friendship Through ‘Bridgefolk’
By Chris Edwards
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Andrea Bartoli, U.S. leader of the Catholic Santa Egidio lay fellowship, shared the story of Dirk Willems, the Dutch Mennonite known for saving a drowning pursuer who then killed him. Through his compassionate act, Bartoli said, that martyr gave “a gift of the Spirit that I can experience 500 years later.”
Glen Miller, in turn, shared warm memories of a friend from his years directing the Mennonite Central Committee in India – Mother Teresa. In lovingly serving people of all world faiths, Miller said, “She was a holy person.”
These testimonials were part of the 2005 Bridgefolk Conference, an annual dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics held this year for the first time at Eastern Mennonite University. Bridgefolk began in 1999 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mt. Pleasant, Pa. and continued at Saint John’s Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., in 2002-2004. About 65 people from both traditions, the majority lay members, attended this year’s events on the Harrisonburg, Va., campus. With their children, they worshiped at local Catholic and Mennonite churches together. Read more
Mennonite and Catholic Churches in Colombia meeting this week
Representatives of three Mennonite and Brethren in Christ denominations in Colombia, South America are meeting this week with the Department of Doctrine and Ecumenism of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Colombia, as a follow-up to the international dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics.
This news comes in a letter from Pedro Stucky of Colombia to church members living outside the country, forwarded by Larry Miller of Mennonite World Conference and requesting prayer. The text appears below, in English and Spanish.
Let us joining in prayer that this historic meeting will further “the healing of memories” in Colombia and throughout Latin America. Read more
