The schedule for our 2009 conference, “Between Memory and Hope: Bridgefolk at Ten Years,” is now available. The conference will be held August 21-24 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Western Pennsylvania where 25 Mennonites and Catholics gathered in 1999 around the question: “How do we bridge the Mennonite and Catholic traditions?” For more information including the schedule and how to register, please visit http://www.bridgefolk.net/conferences/2009bridgefolk.
Author: gws
German Mennonite theologian on short list to lead World Council of Churches
According to a recent news release from Ecumenical News International, German Mennonite theologian Fernando Enns is on the “short list” of church leaders under consideration to become the next General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. He has served on the executive committee of the WCC and has been the visionary behind the Decade to Overcome Violence, an effort by churches around the world to call all the world’s people to engage in violence prevention, the pursuit of justice and peacemaking. “Fernando is a friend for many of us,” notes Bridgefolk board member Weldon Nisly. “Having a Mennonite pacifist as head of the World Council of Churches would be a real milestone.” Click here to read more.
May 15: International Day for Conscientious Objectors
Anticipating an international day to honor conscientious objectors to war and military participation, the World Council of Churches has released results of a study on the current status of legal recognition for COs worldwide. In spite of a global trend to better recognize the right to conscientious objection to military service, those who exercise that right are often discriminated, persecuted, repeatedly punished or sent to prison in many countries. The report cites advocacy by both Anabaptist and Catholic groups. Click here to read more.
Pope Benedict Praises Nonviolence
Pontiff Calls Volunteers Peace Workers
Addresses Youth of Italy’s Civil Service
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 29, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI called the youth volunteers of Italy’s civil service “workers of peace” and congratulated them on their enthusiasm and generosity.
“Peace is never attained once and for all, but must be built up ceaselessly,” he said, quoting the Vatican II pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes. “How real this observation is! Unfortunately, wars and violence never end, and the search for peace is always a toilsome business.”
Quoting the council fathers, the Pontiff explained: “New approaches based on reformed attitudes must be taken to remove this trap and to emancipate the world from its crushing anxiety through the restoration of genuine peace.”
According to Benedict XVI, “the authentic conversion of hearts represents the right way, the only way that can lead each one of us and all humanity to the peace that we hope for.”
“It is the way indicated by Jesus: He — the King of the universe — did not come to bring peace to the world with an army, but through refusing violence,” he added. Continue reading “Pope Benedict Praises Nonviolence”
Summer Ecumenical Institute in Saskatoon, SK
Here is another opportunity for ecumenical conversation in which Mennonites and Catholics have both played a part, in western Canada.
Summer Ecumenical Institute 2009: Telling our story, shaping our future: Christian unity and reconciliation in Canada
June 2-5, 2009 in Saskatoon, SK
The Summer Ecumenical Institute will function as a stock-taking and a vision-building exercise for the grassroots ecumenical community in Canada. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism. It is also the 50th anniversary of the announcement by Pope John XXIII of the Second Vatican Council, one of whose main aims was the advancement of Christian unity. It is 50 years since our founder, Fr. Bernard de Margerie, received his call to the path of ecumenism. There is much to celebrate!
This conference will be the climax of a year of themed events giving thanks for the past achievements of the ecumenical movement and committing ourselves to Christian unity and reconciliation for the future. Continue reading “Summer Ecumenical Institute in Saskatoon, SK”
Duke Summer Reconciliation Institute
The Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School has extended a special invitation to Bridgefolk to participate in a week-long training workshop May 31 – June 5. Three Bridgefolk leaders took part in a conference at the center last year and found it be a meaningful opportunity to explore the challenge of reconciliation at many levels — international, racial, and ecumenical.. Continue reading “Duke Summer Reconciliation Institute”
Mennonites in Congo learn from Catholic experiences of self-reliance and service
The following news article caught our attention this week. Around the world, churches of all traditions find themselves working simultaneously to put down deeper roots in their own cultural locales while maintaining global ties. Here we learn of Mennonites in Congo drawing on Catholic experiences struggling to become more responsive to the needs of the poor in their midst.
Continue reading “Mennonites in Congo learn from Catholic experiences of self-reliance and service”
Fr. Richard Rohr joins Marcellus Day pilgrimage of Mennonites and Catholics
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AMBS)— Richard Rohr, Catholic priest and well-known writer and speaker, joined the annual Marcellus Day pilgrimage of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary on October 30. Each year, AMBS commemorates the martyr death of Marcellus, a third-century Roman soldier, with a walk through the neighborhoods of Mishawaka and South Bend, Ind., ending at the University of Notre Dame, where the relics of Marcellus lie in the university’s basilica. Continue reading “Fr. Richard Rohr joins Marcellus Day pilgrimage of Mennonites and Catholics”
Mennonite & Catholic theologians featured in Forum on Justice & Forgiveness in Colombia
The South American nation of Colombia continues to attract our attention as the place in Latin America where Mennonites and Catholics are cooperating most regularly in peacemaking projects. An event organized by the Colombian Bible Society recently turned to a Mennonite and a Catholic for two of its three major presentations. A news service associated with the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) reports:
Continue reading “Mennonite & Catholic theologians featured in Forum on Justice & Forgiveness in Colombia”