Category: Commentary

Reflection by Jim Loney, missing CPT member in Iraq

In defence of the Sacred Heart
by Jim Loney
Catholic New Times,  Sept 26, 2004

(Jim Loney is one of the four Christian Peacemaker Team members missing in Iraq.  Thanks to Tom Finger, Mennonite theologian and Bridgefolk participant, for drawing this reflection to our attention.)

I was never a big fan of the Sacred Heart. In fact, the Sacred Heart used to make me see red: white-bread, saccharine-soaked images of Jesus staring into the blue with puppy-dog eyes; robes and hair flowing in pious cascades; stow-book religious “camp” for the spiritually infantilized.

But, on a high summer Sunday morning in ordinary time, in a little country church located on the banks of the Saugeen River (back in the days of our failed attempt to begin a rural Catholic Worker community, but that’s a whole other story), it happened. The Sacred Heart changed my heart….

To continue, go to
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MKY/is_14_28/ai_n6245080

Cardinal Ottaviani and why the labels don’t work

Here is a news story that is 6 years old, reporting on events 55 years old.  So why share it now?

During one of the discussion periods at our Bridgefolk conference in July, there was a question about the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and a comment about “liberals” and “conservatives.”  I offered a further comment reminding the group that those standard labels can be surprisingly unreliable.  To illustrate I mentioned the example of an influential cardinal and Vatican official who has a reputation as an ultraconservative. After all, he led a group of bishops at the Second Vatican Council that tried hardest to put a brake on the reforms we associate with the council.  I could not remember his name, but I recalled that his support for the section of the Pastoral Constitution (Gaudium et spes) concerning war played a key role in garnering support for the council’s harsh judgment on modern war and groundbreaking support for pacifism as a legitimate option for Catholics.

The cardinal was Alfredo Ottaviani, and an account of his role and his reasons appeared in the magazine Salt of the Earth, published by the Claretians, who also publish U.S. Catholic.  The article, by Tom Cornell, is entitled “How Catholics Began to Speak Their Peace.”  It is available online at http://salt.claretianpubs.org/issues/chistory/peace.html.  Opening paragraphs appear below.

Continue reading “Cardinal Ottaviani and why the labels don’t work” →

A Tribute to Brother Roger of Taizé

by Ken Henke, Princeton Theological Seminary

On Tuesday, August 23, funeral services will be held for Brother Roger of Taizé. At the age of 90, he was attacked with a knife by a woman, most probably mentally disturbed, in the midst of community prayer in the Church of Reconciliation at Taizé, France. He died shortly afterward.

The son of a Swiss Reformed pastor, at age 25 he left his native Switzerland and came bicycling into the tiny, poor hamlet of Taizé in France, seeking a place where he could quietly devote himself to a life of prayer and contemplation. A peasant woman, keeper of the keys to the run-down house and property which Roger Schutz had come to look at, begged him to buy the house and stay. Later on, when asked, “Why Taizé?” Roger Schutz was to say: “I chose Taizé because the woman was poor. Christ speaks through the poor, and it’s good to listen to them. Anyone who begins with the poorest of the poor is not likely to go wrong.” Continue reading “A Tribute to Brother Roger of Taizé” →

Wise counsel on “bridging” many divides

The latest cover story in Sojourners magazine caught my eye for an obvious reason — it is about “bridging.”  No, it is not about Mennonite-Catholic or even Catholic-Protestant bridging.  It is about left-right, blue-state-red-state bridging.  Those divides are quite familiar within both the Mennonite and the Catholic Church, however.  And the article offers some wise counsel for any Christian in any kind of bridging ministry.  So here are the opening paragraphs, and a link to the entire article for those who are interested in reading on.  — Gerald Schlabach  Continue reading “Wise counsel on “bridging” many divides” →

Articles on John Paul II and Benedict XVI

This week’s Mennonite Weekly Review gives prominent place to an article by Ivan Kauffman on John Paul II’s role in promoting dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics, an editorial on John Paul II by MWR editor Robert Rhodes, and an intriguing letter to the editor by historian Robert Kreider about the role that two Catholics with Mennonite family connections played in a lay group that especially formative in the priesthood of the young Karol Wojtyla in Poland.  The article and the editorial are available online:

Ivan Kauffman, “Mennonite-Catholic dialogue grew at John Paul’s behest”
http://www.mennoweekly.org/APRIL/04-18-05/DIALOGUE04-18.html

Robert Rhodes, “John Paul: A pope revered by all”  (editorial)
http://www.mennoweekly.org/APRIL/04-04-05/POPE-edit04-11.html

Also, the Catholic Peace Fellowship as posted very hopeful article on its website about the peace commitments of the new pope, Benedict XVI:

“New Pope A Strong Critic of War”
http://www.catholicpeacefellowship.org/nextpage.asp?m=2252

 

Ivan Kauffman reflects on the legacy of John Paul II

Has there ever been another person mourned on a global scale in the way Pope John Paul is being mourned? We in Bridgefolk have special reason to join this outpouring of emotion and appreciation. Surely the speed with which the Mennonite Catholic bridge has developed is due, in some major way, to his leadership. It will be years if not centuries before the full impact of this historic life is apparent, but already there are several things for which we may be grateful: Continue reading “Ivan Kauffman reflects on the legacy of John Paul II” →