New resource: Just Peace: Ecumenical, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Christian theology and ethics have wrestled with the challenge to apply Jesus’s central message of nonviolence to the injustices of this world. Is it not right to defend the persecuted by using violence? Is it unjust if the oppressed defend themselves—if necessary by the use of violence—in order to liberate themselves and to create a more just society? Can we leave the doctrine of the just war behind and shift all our attention toward the way of a just peace?

In 2011 the World Council of Churches brought to a close the Decade to Overcome Violence, to which the churches committed themselves at the beginning of the century. Just peace has evolved as the new ecumenical paradigm for contemporary Christian ethics. Just peace signals a realistic vision of holistic peace, with justice, which in the concept of shalom is central in the Hebrew Bible as well as in the gospel message of the New Testament. Continue reading “New resource: Just Peace: Ecumenical, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives“ →

Catholic News Service on the life and work of Bro. Jeffrey Gros

By Carol Zimmermann, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Christian Brother Jeffrey Gros, a leader in the ecumenical movement and former official with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died Aug. 12 at age 75. For more than a year, he struggled with pancreatic cancer.

For decades, Brother Gros participated in an untold number of dialogues with religious groups, delivered keynote addresses around the world, edited numerous books and wrote hundreds of book reviews. He has been remembered by colleagues for his zealous work in broadening the scope of ecumenism.

An online posting described him as “a public thinker” in theology, ecumenism and catechesis. Continue reading “Catholic News Service on the life and work of Bro. Jeffrey Gros” →

Brother Jeffrey Gros, RIP

Brother Jeffrey Gros, 75, died in Chicago, IL on August 12, 2013. A De La Salle Christian Brother for 58 years, he was born John Jefferson in Memphis, TN, the son of Jeff and Faye (Dickinson) Gros. He graduated from Price College in Amarillo, TX, entered the novitiate of the Brothers in Glencoe, MO, in 1955, and professed his final vows in 1963. He received a BA and a MEd from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.

Brother Jeffrey earned an MA in Theology from Marquette University and a PhD in Theology from Fordham University. During his years as an educator, he taught in Evanston and Romeoville, IL, Glencoe and St. Louis, MO, and Memphis, TN. He was well known in the ecumenical movement for broadening its scope, published widely in theological journals and periodicals, edited numerous books on ecumenism, and spoke to various religious and educational groups throughout the world. Continue reading “Brother Jeffrey Gros, RIP” →

Amen to it all: my first Holy Communion and then what happened

by John Kotre

My first Holy Communion was white. It was back in 1948 and the girls wore little bridal outfits and the boys white shirts and pants. The priest was vested in white and a white cloth covered the communion rail. The bread I received was itself white–a thin, almost transparent wafer. I let it dissolve on my tongue. “You don’t chew Jesus,” Sister Girard had told us. It was her way of saying “transubstantiation.”

I didn’t chew Jesus but I don’t remember talking to him either. My face was buried in my hands, and I was imagining what a softening host looked like in my mouth, far from my teeth. Sister Girard said that communion poured sanctifying grace into our souls, and for years I pictured that grace as milk. After each communion I checked my milk-bottle soul and saw that the level of grace had risen. It must have gone down between communions because I was never able to top off the tank.

In my teens the milk bottle gave way to abstract thinking. Now I could absorb concepts like transubstantiation, and so I did during six years as a Jesuit seminarian. Continue reading “Amen to it all: my first Holy Communion and then what happened” →

News release on 2013 Bridgefolk conference

2013 Bridgefolk conference to focus on reconciliation
News release
June 6, 2013

Collegeville, MN (Bridgefolk) – Bridgefolk, the Mennonite-Catholic ecumenical organization, will hold its 12^th annual conference July 25-28 at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The conference theme, “Reconciliation: A Way to Peace,” is one of a series focusing on key spiritual practices that unite both Mennonites and Roman Catholics. Continue reading “News release on 2013 Bridgefolk conference” →

Register now for Bridgefolk 2013 conference!

Bridgefolk 2013 online registration is now open! Under the theme “Reconciliation: A Way to Peace,” Bridgefolk is holding its 12^th annual conference July 25-28 at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The conference will feature John Rempel (Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre) and Christian McConnell (St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto) as keynote speakers. Conference sessions will include times of worship, instruction, reflection, and fellowship (including agape meal, hymn sing, and ice cream social!). As a grassroots movement of Catholics and Mennonites “proceeding through friendship,” Bridgefolk welcomes all those interested to join us. Day registration options are available for Friday and Saturday. Child care will be provided on request. For registration, schedule, and travel information, go to http://www.bridgefolk.net/conferences/bridgefolk-2013.

Catholic bishop and Mennonite Central Committee partner wins U.N. prize for peace work in South Sudan

Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban, a long-term friend of Mennonite Central Committee, recently won a U.N. award for peace work he did in South Sudan. (Photo courtesy of Håvard Kleppa, the Oslo Center)

AKRON, Pa. (MCC) – The peacebuilding efforts of Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban, a longstanding friend of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), were recognized at a March 1 ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Catholic bishop from South Sudan won the United Nations 2013 Sergio Vieira de Mello Peace Prize for his work with the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron, where he helped to build peace and trust among people in conflict over cattle rustling. Continue reading “Catholic bishop and Mennonite Central Committee partner wins U.N. prize for peace work in South Sudan” →

Pope Francis: “Build bridges, not walls”

(Vatican Radio) Evangelization is not proselytizing. This was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks to faithful gathered for Mass on Wednesday morning in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican. The Pope reiterated that the Christian who wants to proclaim the Gospel must dialogue with everyone, knowing that no one owns the truth, because the truth is received by the encounter with Jesus.

Pope Francis stressed the courageous attitude of Paul St Paul at the Areopagus, when, in speaking to the Athenian crowd, he sought to build bridges to proclaim the Gospel. The Pope called Paul’s attitude one that “seeks dialogue” and is “closer to the heart” of the listener. The Pope said that this is the reason why St Paul was a real pontifex: a “builder of bridges” and not of walls. The Pope went on to say that this makes us think of the attitude that a Christian ought always to have. Continue reading “Pope Francis: “Build bridges, not walls”” →

Ivan Kauffman: Pope Francis and peace

Bridgefolk perspectives on Pope Francis

For the past half-century, ever since John XXIII and Vatican II, the popes have been strong advocates of peace. Since John Paul II they have been non-Italians. And beginning with John Paul they have been increasingly attractive to the evangelical community. If early indications endure, this trend will continue under Pope Francis—and if so it will be strengthened, and likely become permanent. This has profound and long-lasting significance for the Mennonite-Catholic reconciliation in which Bridgefolk has played an important role.

This is very good news, but it also comes with a price. A pope from Argentina inevitably brings the legacy of that nation’s “Dirty War” with him—and with it the Churches’ inaction during the reign of terror and state-sanctioned murder, which impacted all the Americas, including the United States in that period. Along with the gift of this attractive new papacy we must now confront our unwillingness and our inability to deal with this great mass of political evil.

In his final speech before being elected pope and choosing the name Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio told his fellow cardinals he heard Jesus knocking at the door, but that he heard Jesus knocking from inside the Church, asking to be let out into the world. It is widely believed this speech played a major role in his election. Belonging to a Church which goes out with Christ into the world’s evil and suffering will be a very different experience for most of us. It will require not only personal and political change, it will require some new institutions. But this is an opportunity, not a burden, and it is one that both Catholics and Mennonites can enthusiastically embrace. Let us do so.

Ivan J. Kaufman is a co-founder of the Bridgefolk movement.