Category: News

Reading Scripture, Breaking Bread: Bridgefolk 2012

Bridgefolk co-chairs Abbot John Klassen and Rev. Marlene Kropf.

Saint Joseph, MN (BRIDGEFOLK) — Forty Mennonites and Catholics gathered July 26-29 at Saint Benedict’s monastery in St. Joseph,MN for the eleventh annual Bridgefolk conference.

Bridgefolk is a movement of sacramentally-minded Mennonites and peace-minded Roman Catholics who come together to celebrate each other’s traditions, explore each other’s practices, and honor each other’s contribution to the mission of Christ’s Church.

This year’s conference was the third in series on shared practices central to the Christian life and was organized around the theme, “Formed in the Word: Scripture and Peacemaking.”  Keynote speakers were Michael Patella (Saint John’sAbbey) and Helmut Harder (Mennonite Church Canada), who gave presentations on Catholic and Mennonite ways of interpreting and applying Scripture.

In addition to historical traditions, the conference focused on spiritual practices of reading Scripture.  Continue reading “Reading Scripture, Breaking Bread: Bridgefolk 2012” →

Benedict XVI reaffirms interreligious “pilgrimage toward peace” in letter to Sant’Egidio meeting in September

“Peace needs to be supported by hearts and minds that seek truth”

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 11, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the message that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope’s secretary of state, sent in the name of the Holy Father to the archbishop of Vrhbosna-Sarajevo, on the occasion of the 26th International Meeting of Prayer for Peace, organized by Sant’Egidio Community. Continue reading “Benedict XVI reaffirms interreligious “pilgrimage toward peace” in letter to Sant’Egidio meeting in September” →

Catholic youth conflicted about war, reports US Catholic magazine

Conflicted generation: Millennials and the war on terror
by Ruth Graham
US Catholic, August 21, 2012

Caleb is a 22-year-old Navy veteran who headed to boot camp as soon as he graduated from high school and quickly found himself in Iraq, where he spent most of his time patrolling rivers. He’s also a devout Catholic; he and his wife attend Mass every week and serve as lectors at their parish. Caleb is a confident, experienced man, but when asked to speak about both of these things at once—his support for the war and his faith—he wavers.  Read more.

 

Mennonite Church USA reports on 2012 Bridgefolk conference

Mennonite Church USA has published the following report on the 2012 Bridgefolk conference:

Roughly forty people, Mennonites and Catholics, gathered for three days of fellowship, study and worship in July, hosted by the sisters of St. Benedict Monastery in Minnesota. The group explored the formative practice of studying and praying with scripture in the two traditions. The group also engaged in ongoing discernment around Eucharist. As is the pattern at each gathering, the group participated in an agape meal, which included footwashing. The group also celebrated a “Double Eucharist.” A presider from each tradition gave a homily and then led in the ritual. Each group prayerfully observed but did not partake in the other’s ritual. The group spent several hours reflecting and sharing together about this experience. To learn more about the Bridgefolk movement visit www.bridgefolk.net.

Fall semester marks beginning of two new Catholic-Mennonite collaborations

EMU and Catholic Do Joint Engineering Program

Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) has partnered with Catholic University of America (CUA) for a new dual degree program that will prepare students to pursue peacebuilding and sustainability through engineering.  Read more.

Mennonite, Catholic high schools to merge some music activities

Come September, Lancaster Mennonite High School students will be high-stepping across the football field alongside their Lancaster Catholic High School Crusaders marching band peers.  Read more.

Margaret O’Gara, R.I.P.

Margaret O’Gara, Professor of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, entered the realm of eternal life on Thursday, August 16, at age 65, after suffering from cancer for two years.

The characteristic aim of Margaret’s 37 years of work as a theologian was to foster dialogue among Christians for the sake of overcoming divisions between the churches. Besides her teaching, research, writing, and extensive public lecturing, she was a member of official ecumenical dialogues in Canada, the United States, and at the international level. She also served as president of the North American Academy of Ecumenists and the Catholic Theological Society of America.  From 2009 to 2012 she served on the board of Bridgefolk.

Margaret’s unusual effectiveness in these professional arenas came from a combination of her scholarly rigor, her exceptional ability to listen sympathetically, her uncommon energy, and her contagious delight at the growth of mutual understanding and friendship. The same traits marked her strong personal relationships with her students and colleagues, the members of her extended family, and her many longstanding friends. Beneath everything else, the fundamental driving force of her life was her deep and abiding Christian faith.

Visitation at Rosar-Morrison Funeral Home, 467 Sherbourne Street in Toronto, on Wednesday, August 22, from 2:00 to 9:00pm, with a prayer service at 7:30pm. Funeral mass at St. Basil’s Church on Thursday, August 23, at 10:30am. Burial in Breckenridge, Minnesota.

Catholics remember Anabaptist martyr

Collegeville, Minnesota (BRIDGEFOLK) – On May 20 a Benedictine abbot whose ancestors had once been Dutch Mennonites, led in commemorating the 485th anniversary of the martyrdom of Michael Sattler. Sattler had been a Benedictine, but left during the Peasants War of 1525 to become an Anabaptist leader. He is regarded as the primary author of the Schleitheim Confession.

The Abbot was Fr. John Klassen, the leader of the largest Benedictine monastery in North America, Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

The commemoration on May 20 affirmed both the nonviolent witness of Michael Sattler, and his willingness to die for the principle of religious freedom—positions now widely accepted in the Catholic community. Fourteen members of the monastic community participated, along with two Mennonite pastors. Continue reading “Catholics remember Anabaptist martyr” →

Leading ecumenist Br. Jeffrey Gros, FSC, highlights Lutheran-Mennonite footwashing in keynote address

A keynote address by Br. Jeffrey Gros, FSC, to the 2011 National Workshop on Christian Unity last May has recently come to our attention.  In it he called attention to the use of footwashing at a historic service of repentance and reconciliation, in which representatives of the Lutheran World Federation confessed 16th-century persecution of Anabaptists as a sin.  This “icon” should serve as a model for planning similar commemorations as Christians around the world mark the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017, he said.   Continue reading “Leading ecumenist Br. Jeffrey Gros, FSC, highlights Lutheran-Mennonite footwashing in keynote address” →

MWC requests prayer for Honduran church following murder of pastor

Mennonite World Conference has issued the following press release in the wake of the murder of Rafael Erasmo Arevalo, a Mennonite pastor in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras.  Bridgefolk participant Joetta Schlabach has been traveling in Central America and had recently talked with other church workers in the Copán area.  Motives for the murder are not known, but Schlabach reports that tensions are high in the area.  In many parts of the country, gang and drug-related violence are exacerbating a repressive climate continuing in the wake of a 2009 coup in Honduras.  Further tensions in the Copán area surround efforts to organize miners working for Canadian mining companies.  

On Sunday, January 22, Rafael Erasmo Arevalo, a Mennonite pastor in Honduras, was attacked and killed after leading an evening worship service. Arevalo, from Santa Rosa de Copán, drove about 20 kilometres north to Veracruz, where he had led worship services for the past 10 years.

According to a report in a Honduran newspaper, La Prensa, Arevalo parked his car at the home of a Veracruz city councilor and then walked to the church. When he returned to his car after the worship service, he was attacked by “unknown persons.” His body was not discovered until the next morning, about five kilometers from the scene of the attack. Continue reading “MWC requests prayer for Honduran church following murder of pastor” →