Author: gws

Report from Mennonite – Catholic Dialogue now available

“Called Together to Be Peacemakers,” the final report of the international dialogue that occurred from 1998-2003 between representatives of the Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Church Unity, was released in February.  Thanks to the gracious help of the MWC office in Strasburg, France, we have been able to make the report available on the web.  You will find a link to the document at http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/dialogue.

The release of any such document would be a major event in Mennonite – Catholic relations, but the document makes major substantive contributions on many points.  Chapter 1 endeavors to narrate the history that separated Mennonites from Catholics in a way that both can accept.  Chapter 2 takes up three key theological concerns: the nature of the church, understandings of sacraments/ordinances, and the call to peacemaking.  Chapter 3 closes with confessions of past sin that invite Mennonites and Catholics to move forward through a “healing of memories.”

While reading and reflecting on the document, begin thinking about how you might use it to encourage local dialogues between Mennonites and Catholics in your own setting.

Out of hibernation

Dear Bridgefolk:

Even here in Minnesota there are signs of spring.  So it is a good time for the Bridgefolk email list to come out of hibernation.  With this message I want to briefly let you know what has been happening and what will be coming in the next few days as we do a little catching up.

Though this list has been in hibernation, the Bridgefolk steering committee has not been asleep.  A revitalized, redesigned newsletter called The BRIDGE has been in development and is almost ready for release.  We now expect to put out a newsletter on a regular quarterly basis, in an attractive format that you will be able to share with friends.

As we put out the newsletter on a regular basis, we also expect to use this list to let you know about new developments as they happen, without the lag time that has come when we have expected the newsletter to do all our work.  When we have news, or new material on the website, or updated conference information, we will let you know with shorter Bridgefolk Briefs.

As we catch up here, I will be sending out the first two or three Bridgefolk Briefs shortly.  But don’t worry — we continue promising not to clutter up your email inbox!

Grace and peace,

Gerald W. Schlabach
Bridgefolk coordinator

Common threads: Mennonites in dialogue with the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome

by Marilyn Stahl and Dirk Giseburt

In early May, several Mennonites from the United States paused in the 16th century Church of Sant’Egidio in Rome.  In the 1970s, after many years as an adjunct to a Carmelite convent, the church became the gathering place of the new Community of Sant’Egidio, a loosely organized group of young people who had come together in prayer and in dedication to service to the poor.  With simple, white walls, the church is in the form of a cross.  The altar on the left side is piled with Bibles in all the languages of countries where the Community has active membership.  The altar on the right is decorated with a multitude of crosses made by craftspersons in many countries.  The altar in front bears a very old Russian icon of Christ that had been found at the church.

“We pray here, between Holy Scripture and the poor, facing Jesus,” explained Claudio Betti, a Sant’Egidio member.  When Sant’Egidio was founded in 1968, this twin devotion to the Bible and the poor had set the Community apart in Rome.  But today, with 40,000 members worldwide, the Community has the support of Church leaders and has become a widely respected advocate both for the poor and for peace.

The tour continued:  In the former convent dining room, Sant’Egidio members once acted as mediators between the factions in a civil war in Mozambique that had taken several hundred thousand lives. The negotiations lasted over two years but finally resulted in a peace agreement, signed in the dining room in 1992.  The Community has several times been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as a result.

Sant’Egidio had invited American Mennonites to visit their community in Rome after making contact through the Mennonite-Catholic Bridgefolk conversations in the U.S.  Continue reading “Common threads: Mennonites in dialogue with the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome” →

Speakers urge creative use of arts in worship

by Ann Graham Price

STURGIS, Mich. (MC USA) —

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,
in the beauty of holiness, in the beauty of holiness.
Oh, glory hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
O come before his presence and glorify his name.
(No. 124, Hymnal:  A Worship Book)

Art is so beautifully open that worshipers can put themselves into an artistic work — a dance, poem or drama, for example — and the Holy Spirit can honor each individual response to it, Sally Morgenthaler told her audience the weekend of April 25 for the annual “Art of Worship” program at Amigo Centre.

Yet a long-standing suspicion of incorporating the creative arts in worship is deeply rooted in some aspects of Anabaptist traditions, said Marlene Kropf, director of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board Office of Congregational Life. She is also associate professor of spiritual development and worship at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart. Continue reading “Speakers urge creative use of arts in worship” →

Introducing Regina Wilson, New Steering Committee Member

As far as I know, I had never met a Mennonite until August 1990 when my husband Jeff Nixa and I were blessed to meet Gerald and Joetta Schlabach at Notre Dame.  Aside from the pleasure and blessing of meeting Gerald and Joetta, no fireworks occurred from this meeting.  In fact, I only learned a little bit about the Mennonite Church at that point.  Gerald and I were in a class together at Notre Dame and our paths occasionally crossed at various ND theology functions along the way.  Little did I expect what would unfold in Jeff’s and my life in subsequent years.  In fact, in some ways this is more Jeff’s story than mine, but I was definitely along for the ride.

Jeff and I are what is known as cradle Catholics.  Catholicism is what I know. I basically eat, sleep and breathe it, and, though I am unhappy about some aspects of the Catholic Church, it’s family.  Jeff, on the other hand, came to a point where the sins of the Catholic Church far outweighed the grace for him, and he decided to take a break from Catholicism.  Gerald and Joetta had invited us several times to worship at Kern Road Mennonite Church here in South Bend.  Due to my responsibilities as a pastoral associate, it is difficult for me to get away on a Sunday.  Jeff, however, decided to give it a go and went one Sunday to Kern for worship.  One Sunday led to another worshipping at Kern Road.  Of course, he would give me glowing reports about community life, women preaching, the singing, and the commitment to justice.  Of course, I was jealous.  Before long that first worship experience had led to five years with Kern Road for Jeff.

During this time, we both met many other Mennonite folks and developed friendships along the way.  I also grew more impatient with the division between not only the Mennonite and Catholic Churches but between all Christian Churches. As my associations with Mennonites grew and deepened and as we occasionally shared worship, I grew more uncomfortable and embarrassed by the division we were “celebrating” (in a sense) at Sunday worship.  Sharing the pain of this division has sharpened my desire to be part of the work for unity.

Our girls were both baptized in the Catholic Church.  As time passed and they grew older, issues about which church to raise them in became more pressing for us.  Eventually, Jeff decided to return to the Catholic Church but, of course, neither one of us has been the same since.  Meeting Gerald and Joetta on a balmy August day in Indiana was the beginning of an experience that has deeply formed my ministry in the Catholic Church and has been life changing for our family.

Serving on the steering committee for Bridgefolk is a way for me to continue to share in the blessings and gifts of the Mennonite Church as well as to engage in the work for Christian unity.

— Regina Wilson

An update from Bridgefolk in the Newton, KS area

It was good to return home from the July meeting at St. John’s and have other “bridgefolk” to meet with for debriefing, reflecting, and brainstorming options for bridge-building work right here in our own community.

Like many of you we have individually tried to find ways to communicate our experience to friends, family, and members of our churches and parishes. Gordon Houser certainly has the widest reach as an editor of The Mennonite, and some of you may have read the article he wrote on the Bridgefolk gathering.

We have made a couple of attempts to do some of this sharing as a group. Several of us shared at New Creation Mennonite Fellowship here in Newton as part of a Sunday morning worship service. Gordon also called us together to help lead a chapel service at the Mennonite Church USA offices in town.  Our reflections on the July gathering and our need as Mennonites to help create stronger relationships with our Catholic sisters and brothers seemed to be well received.

More recently, C. Arnold Snyder (another Bridgefolk participant) came to Newton and offered the Menno Simons Lectures at Bethel College (Nov. 3-5). Myrna Krehbiel learned that Arnold is a gifted jazz pianist and set up a special evening concert at Peace Connections in Newton where she serves as the director.  It was a fun night of connecting with others through music. Thank you Arnold for the many gifts you shared with us!  (Why didn’t we hear you tickle the ivories this summer??  Maybe next time!)

Our current national and international environment is, of course, causing us to reflect in some new ways on what it means to be disciples and Christian peacebuilders in our world today.  A number of recent actions and activities in the Newton community have allowed us to build bridges with people of many stripes who are working for peace.

The July 2002 Bridgefolk gathering was a meaningful event for each one of us, and we will continue to seek ways to keep the spirit of hospitality, peace, and understanding we encountered there alive and moving here on the Kansas prairies.  Blessings to all of the bridgefolk out there!  May God’s fierce love and enduring peace move in this beautiful and unsettled world.

(Bridgefolk 2002 participants from Newton were Gordon Houser, Myrna & Randy Krehbiel, Don & Corinne Kehrberg, and Eric Massanari):

 

Catholic and Mennonite scholars announce joint project to study Anabaptist martyrs, 2003

A group of prominent Mennonite and Catholic scholars will gather this summer at St. Johns Abbey to begin a joint historical study of the sixteenth-century Anabaptist martyrs, many of them condemned to death by the Inquisition.

It will be the first time Catholics have publicly confronted these incidents, and the first time that Mennonites have engaged in historical study of the martyrs in an ecumenical setting.

Entitled “The Anabaptist Martyr in an Ecumenical Context” the conference is an outgrowth of the international Mennonite Catholic dialogue that has been taking place for the past five years under the auspices of the Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.  Continue reading “Catholic and Mennonite scholars announce joint project to study Anabaptist martyrs, 2003” →