Author: gws

Pope Benedict: The Kingdom of Christ cannot be built by force

VATICAN CITY, 26 OCT 2011 (VIS) – Because of the rain, the Holy Father presided over this morning’s celebration of the Word in the Paul VI Hall, rather than in St. Peter’s Square as had been scheduled. The celebration of the Word took the place of the usual general audience, in view of the event due to take place tomorrow in the Italian town of Assisi: “Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World: Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace”. Before the celebration this morning, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims gathered in the Vatican Basilica who had been unable to find space in the Paul VI Hall.

Following a greeting from Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope’s vicar general for the diocese of Rome, and the readings from the Bible, the Holy Father pronounced his homily.

“As Christians”, he said, “we are convinced that prayer is the most precious contribution we can make to the cause of peace. For this reason we, the Church of Rome and pilgrims from elsewhere, are gathered here today to listen to the Word of God and to invoke the gift of peace”. Continue reading “Pope Benedict: The Kingdom of Christ cannot be built by force” →

Margaret Pfeil finalist, Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement

Margaret Pfeil

Dr. Margaret Pfeil, assistant professor of moral theology at the University of Notre Dame and a leader in Bridgefolk, was recently honored as one of seven finalists for the Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement for Early Career Faculty in the United States.  The award “recognizes a faculty member who connects his or her teaching, research, and service to community engagement.”   Continue reading “Margaret Pfeil finalist, Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement” →

Nobel Prize winner connected to peace-church tradition

Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee

Harrisonburg, VA (EMU) — One of the three women receiving the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Leymah Gbowee, is closely connected with the “peace-church tradition” of the Mennonites.

Gbowee, who shares the prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and women’s rights activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She attended CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2004 and completed its Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (known as “STAR”) program in 2005.

EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) was one of the first university graduate programs in conflict and peacebuilding field. CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, the first of its kind, has become a model for other peacebuilding institutions around the world.

Gbowee led a nationwide women’s movement that was instrumental in halting Liberia’s second civil war in 2003.

“Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections,” noted the Norwegian Nobel Committee in making the award. “She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.” Continue reading “Nobel Prize winner connected to peace-church tradition” →

Latest issue of Vision on theme of baptism

The latest issue of Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology is dedicated to the theme of baptism.  Vision is published at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Indiana and Canadian Mennonite University in Manitoba, and is edited by Bridgefolk board member Mary Schertz.

The theme of baptism is timely given that representatives of worldwide bodies of Mennonites, Catholics and Lutherans will soon be launching a trilateral dialogue on the theme.

Information and two sample articles from the issue are available at http://www.mennovision.org/Volume12-2.htm.   One of the two sample articles, “Cultivating a congregational climate of discernment,”  is by Bridgefolk co-chair Marlene Kropf.

Blessed are the merciful

by Dora Dueck
Borrowing Bones blog

I belong to a Mennonite-Catholic dialogue group which meets several times a year. Our assignment for this week’s meeting was a personal reflection on the Beatitudes, broadly, and then more specifically, in choosing one beatitude we were particularly “attracted” to at this point — in not more than seven minutes each! The contributions were varied, and all interesting. This was mine:

I memorized many parts of the Sermon on the Mount as a child, to get a reduction on Bible camp fees. So it seems the Beatitudes have been with me forever, like old markers, like a fence around my life. They’ve been markers for my (Mennonite) understanding of discipleship.

In this reflection, however, I was struck by something else. The opening beatitudes [blessed are the poor, mourning, meek, hungry], at least, seem an expression of holes in the soul. I see need, grief, poverty of whatever kind, hunger. Yes, there’s a happiness expressed, but next to gaping wounds. Continue reading “Blessed are the merciful” →

Mennonite interchurch leader analyzes shift away from just war theory

Writing in the Sept. 12 issue of the Mennonite Weekly Review, Andre Gingerich Stoner observes that leaders of Christian churches from around the world are increasingly concluding that the just war theory is obsolete.  Stoner is director of holistic witness and interchurch relations for Mennonite Church USA.  Here is his commentary:
André Gingerich Stoner

Just war concept obsolete
by André Gingerich Stoner
Mennonite Weekly Review

In a remarkable shift, a key World Council of Churches statement describes the concept of a just war as obsolete. It calls for a fundamental shift in ethical practice to what it calls “just peace.”

The Ecumenical Call to Just Peace repeatedly lifts up the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus as the model for Christian peacemaking.

The 13-page document is peppered with sentences like, “Jesus told us to love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, and not to use deadly weapons … Despite persecution, he remains steadfast in his active nonviolence, even to death.”

Continue reading “Mennonite interchurch leader analyzes shift away from just war theory” →

Catholic theologians in the U.S. speak out against the death penalty

A Catholic Call to Abolish the Death Penalty

There were two state-sanctioned executions in the United States on September 21, 2011. In Georgia, Troy Anthony Davis, an African American man, was put to death for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. In Texas, Lawrence Brewer, a white supremacist, was executed for his participation in the racist hate crime dragging murder of James Byrd in Jasper in 1998. As theologians, scholars, and social justice advocates who participate in the public discussion of Catholic theology, we protest the state-sanctioned killings of both of these men, and we call for the abolition of the death penalty in the US. Continue reading “Catholic theologians in the U.S. speak out against the death penalty” →

Susan Harrison insists: Interfaith dialogue must include those “you can’t talk to”

Susan Kennel Harrison

Drawing especially on her experience with Iranian Shiites, former Bridgefolk Board member Susan Kennel Harrison recently spoke at Eastern Mennonite University’s Interfaith Forum recently.  Her forum presentation, “You Can’t Talk to Them – Peacemaking and Dialogue,” focused on the importance of building relationships with persons of other religious affiliations, particularly fundamentalists, in order to promote understanding and respect.  The talk is available as a podcast at http://emu.edu/now/podcast/2011/09/14/cie-interfaith-forum-susan-kennel-harrison.

Sant’Egidio convenes 9-11 peace reflection in Germany, emphasizes solidarity with the poor

Geneva (WCC) — A call for solidarity with the poor was delivered to a gathering of religious and political and civil society leaders from all over the world by one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The meeting on the topic “Bound to Live Together: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue” is taking place from 11-13 September in Munich, Germany.

The Roman Catholic lay community of Sant’Egidio has convened the gathering in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York. Continue reading “Sant’Egidio convenes 9-11 peace reflection in Germany, emphasizes solidarity with the poor” →