Author: gws

MWC magazine on Mennonite-Catholic dialogue

The fourth quarter issue of the Mennonite World Conference Courier is now available online.  The issue includes a major feature “Toward the Healing of Memories” that interviews delegates to the international dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics, along with an eloquent and historic sermon by MWC Executive Secretary Larry Miller on the importance of relating to other Christian communions.

English: http://www.mwc-cmm.org/Courier/2004/2004Courier4.pdf
Spanish: http://www.mwc-cmm.org/Correo/2004/2004Correo4.pdf
French: http://www.mwc-cmm.org/Courrier/2004/2004Courrier4.pdf

 

New resources for theological reflection

As part of a new effort by Bridgefolk to revitalize something called the “Mennonite Catholic Theological Colloquium” (MCTC) we have now put up a new page on our website, http://bridgefolk.net.  You can find it by looking for the new “Theology” link on the yellow bar at the top of every page, or you can go directly to http://bridgefolk.net/theology.

Many of the links on this page have come elsewhere on our website and been reorganized.  But a number of new articles are available too, marked by our usual yellow “New!” star.

Of special importance is an article by Darrin Belousek that urges Mennonites to strengthen their peace tradition by drawing on what Catholics call a “Consistent Ethic of Life.”  The article appears with permission of The Mennonite Quarterly Review, where it is slated for formal publication.  Editor John D. Roth invites responses to Belousek, possibly for publication.  We hope this encourages the sort of conversation that the MCTC initiated a few years ago, and that we are looking to promote in new ways in the future.

Finally, an apology and a request:  The resources we provide at http://bridgefolk.net/theology have simply come together as they have come to our attention.  Unfortunately that results in a disproportionate number of pieces from two resources — myself and The Mennonite Quarterly Review, thanks its growing interest in ecumenical themes in the last few years.  The request, then, is that you let me know whenever you become aware of significant pieces on themes of interest to both Mennonites and Catholics.  I look forward to correcting any imbalance.

Gerald W. Schlabach
Bridgefolk Executive Director

Announcing change in location for 2005 conference

On behalf of the Bridgefolk Board, we are pleased to announce that we will be holding our 2005 conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at Eastern Mennonite University.  Dates for the conference remain the same:  Thursday evening July 21 through Sunday noon July 24.

Why the change?

The idea came from several participants–some Catholic, some Mennonite–not from anyone on the board.  These persons felt that after three years of Mennonites experiencing Catholic community at Saint John’s it was time for Catholics to have the opportunity to experience Mennonite life in a Mennonite community. Continue reading “Announcing change in location for 2005 conference” →

Mennonites receive award from Catholic voluntary service organization

Network accepts on behalf of Mennonites in world service

(Editor’s note: This a joint release by Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite Central Committee.)

TAKOMA PARK, Md. — On Nov. 13, Catholic Network of Volunteer Service

(CNVS) presented its Father George Mader Award to a group outside of the Catholic tradition for the first time in its 15-year history. Mennonite Mission Network accepted the award at the CNVS National Conference on behalf of Mennonites in mission across the world, including Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).

The Mission Network and MCC serve the church in more than 60 countries through direct relief, peacemaking and community development with resources of around $73 million U.S., engaging close to 2,000 personnel committed to terms of one year or more.

Del Hershberger, Mission Network director of Christian Service, accepted the award, which honors organizations and individuals that encourage Christian men and women to serve others in the U.S. and abroad. CNVS representatives singled out Mennonite Voluntary Service, a Mission Network program, for special acclaim.

“For six decades, Mennonite Voluntary Service of the Mennonite Mission Network has been a powerful influence serving the poor and marginalized in hundreds of communities throughout North America,” said Jim Lindsay, CNVS executive director. “MVS has been a powerful influence on the church.

Thousands of Mennonites (and increasingly people from other denominations) have served the marginalized people of North America in the past six decades. In the process, they themselves were served and transformed by the oppressed and hurting people among whom they lived and worked.”

Hershberger agreed that MVS, and service in general, has transformed the church over the last century. “We have become engaged with the needs and brokenness of the world. We have gone from being a rural people in close-knit communities, to being more urban and integrated into mainstream society. We have also become engaged in more ecumenical conversations and have built bridges to other Christian groups who are seeking to follow Jesus daily in life, and to be vessels of healing and hope in this broken world,” Hershberger said.

CNVS created the Father George Mader Award in 1989 to honor organizations and individuals that encourage lay men and women to serve others in the United States and abroad. The award is named after Father George Mader, of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., who, together with his sister, Patricia Mader Stalker, in 1963 founded the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service, a non-profit association of more than 200 domestic and international volunteer and lay mission programs which currently has more than 12,000 volunteers and lay missioners serving in its member programs throughout the U.S. and in 115 countries worldwide.

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Reprinting this article is encouraged.
Please send clippings to
MCC Communications
P.O. Box 500
Akron, PA  17501-0500

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Mennonite Mission Network receives prestigious Mader Award on behalf of all Mennonites in service

TAKOMA PARK, Md. (Mennonite Mission Network/Mennonite Central Committee/CNVS) — On Nov. 13, Catholic Network of Volunteer Service (CNVS) presented its Father George Mader Award to a group outside of the Catholic tradition for the first time in its 15-year history. Mennonite Mission Network accepted the award at the CNVS National Conference on behalf of Mennonites in mission across the world, including Mennonite Central Committee.

Full story

Mennonite ecumenical conference

The following conference announcement may be of interest to some Bridgefolk participants.

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Collaborative Ministries
April 18-21, 2005 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Sheraton Cavalier Hotel

The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in Saskatoon is planning the conference, with a team consisting of Mennonite, United Church, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic members. We are building on the strength of two highly successful national shared ministry events (Winnipeg 1993 and Edmonton 2002) and also on annual “ecumenical institutes”, the most recent one held in May 2004 in Winnipeg, which have been held across the prairies for the past several years, attracting participants from a wider number of denominations who are interested in learning about and promoting ecumenical sharing in their congregations and regions. Continue reading “Mennonite ecumenical conference” →

First books in Bridgefolk Series published

Catholic and Mennonite theologians have been discussing two of the most difficult issues dividing their traditions—baptism and the ethics of warfare.  Now their discussions have been published in a new Bridgefolk series.

On BaptismThe first two volumes in the new Bridgefolk Series are now off the press. They are the results of the Mennonite Catholic Theological Colloquium, which was convened four years ago by Bridgefolk leaders Gerald Schlabach and Ivan Kauffman to stimulate conversation between Mennonite and Catholic theologians on the major issues then being discussed by the International Mennonite Catholic Dialogue.

Fifteen theologians were invited to participate in an email exchange of papers and comments over a period of months. About one third of the participants were Mennonites, a third were Catholics, and a third were persons like the conveners who had commitments to both traditions.

The first two volumes make available to the public the discussions on baptism, which took place in 2001, and the discussions of the concept of Just Policing which took place in 2002.

The lead paper in the volume on baptism is by the Catholic theologian, Frederick C. Bauerschmidt.  The Mennonite response is by Thomas Finger, and there are further comments by the Mennonite scholar Alan Kreider, and others. The lead paper in the volume on just policing is by Gerald Schlabach, with a response by the Catholic theologian Joseph Capizzi.  There is additional response from the Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver, and others.

The Bridgefolk Series is published by Pandora Press, whose director is Arnold Snyder.  Both volumes are available from Pandora via their website www.pandorapress.com.