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”).
The general purpose of the dialogue is to promote better understanding of the positions about Christian faith held on each side, and to contribute to overcoming prejudices that have existed since the sixteenth century between Mennonites and Catholics, towards contributing to a healing of memories.
With this objective in mind, some work was also done toward developing an outline of themes for a report of the work of this international dialogue. As envisioned now, this report will describe first the nature and the purpose of the dialogue; secondly the results of the discussion on different interpretations of Church history; thirdly, considerations of more contemporary theological themes such as the nature of the Church, sacraments and ordinances, mutual commitment to peace; and fourth, issues related to the healing of memories. As a contribution to the report, the members had available beforehand, for discussion, some initial drafting on the “Nature of the Church: Convergences and Divergences” prepared by Dr. Helmut Harder and Rev. Dr. Andrew Christiansen, SJ. (Washington D.C., USA).
The dialogue group was welcomed to Assisi on Wednesday, November 28th, by Msgr. Sergio Goretti, the Bishop of Assisi, who encouraged them in their work. Taking advantage of the setting, the participants visited together on Saturday morning, December 1st, important sites related to St. Francis of Assisi including the Carcere, the Churches of St. Damiano and Santa Maria degli Angeli. On Sunday morning, December 2nd, they attended liturgy at the Basilica of St. Francis, after which they visited the tomb of St. Francis and were given a tour of the Basilica. The dialogue took place in a cordial atmosphere which included prayer at the beginning and end of each day.
Other participants on the Mennonite side were Dr. Howard J. Loewen (Pasadena, CA, USA), Dr. Nzash U. Lumeya (Fresno CA, USA/Congo), Rev. Mario Higueros (Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala), Rev. Andrea Lange (Bolanden-Weierhof, Germany) and Dr. Larry Miller (Strasbourg, France) who acted as co-secretary. Other Roman Catholic participants included Dr. Joan Patricia Back (Rome/England), Msgr. John Mutiso-Mbinda (Rome/Kenya) and Msgr. John A. Radano (Rome/USA), also a co-secretary.
Before the meeting, from November 24-26, some of the Mennonites visited the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome where they were greeted by its President Walter Cardinal Kasper. There were also visits to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Other visits were made to the Centro Pro Unione and Centro Uno. They enjoyed tours to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Redemptoris Mater Chapel.
The fifth annual session of the dialogue is scheduled for October 2002.