Bridgefolk, the grassroots movement of sacramentally-minded Mennonites and peace-minded Catholics, celebrated its 20th anniversary of summer conferences in 2022. That gathering, entitled “Standing At The Crossroads,” offered an opportunity to look both back in gratitude and forward, as we began to discern the future path for Mennonite-Catholic dialogue and peacemaking. We now wish to invite Bridgefolk participants to resume this discernment.
Since 2022, the Bridgefolk board has taken some new initiatives. We have explored partnerships such as the co-sponsorship of the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) Rooted & Grounded conference in 2023 and a partner relationship with AMBS in 2025. We have also made greater use of on-line opportunities to connect Bridgefolk participants through webinars and evening prayer.
At the same time, we have witnessed the Spirit at work in Mennonite-Catholic reconciliation beyond the bounds of Bridgefolk. In 2025, conversations between Catholics and plain Mennonites began in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. At the celebration of 500 years of Anabaptism in Zurich, Switzerland in May 2025, Cardinal Koch of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity read a letter from the newly elected Pope Leo XIV during the worship service that celebrated reconciliation with Lutheran, Reformed and Catholic believers.
While we have much to celebrate, much has changed in the broader society and ecclesial world in the past 25 years. A younger generation no longer has the strong institutional commitments of prior generations and is more open to exploring other religious expressions and to marry persons of other faith traditions. Meanwhile, some of the founders and early participants in Bridgefolk have become less active due to the limitations of health and aging, and some have departed from us. Saint John’s Abbey, which offered hospitality and leadership to Bridgefolk since its founding, and the Saint Benedict’s Monastery community, are both in a time of discernment as their communities age and are diminishing in size. Current board members have raised concerns about the efficacy of in-person conferences given the financial expense, as well as the environmental considerations of travel.
As Joetta and Gerald Schlabach – current executive director and webmaster, respectively – anticipate concluding these responsibilities in mid-2027, the board is asking the hard questions:
- Is there sufficient interest and energy/capacity to continue Bridgefolk in its current structure into the future?
- How does an organization know when its mission is accomplished?
- If Bridgefolk continues, what shape might it take? Do we have a critical mass of people to give leadership, time, and energy to a next expression of Bridgefolk?
The board would like to expand the circle of this conversation to include persons for whom Bridgefolk has been a home during these past 25 years. To that end, we are scheduling several regional, in-person conversations as well as on-line opportunities. If you would like to join the conversation …