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.
Category: News
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”
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”
Goshen College performs plays on the lives of the saints
Last summer the theme of the 2008 Bridgefolk conference was “Saints and the Spirituality that Sustains Them.” News of a specially-commissioned series of short plays being performed this coming weekend at a Mennonite college is particularly striking, therefore.
Continue reading “Goshen College performs plays on the lives of the saints”
Saints and Heroes in the Faith Sustain, Don’t Divide
News release on 2008 Bridgefolk conference
by Kent Yoder
Collegeville, Minnesota (Bridgefolk) — On July 24-27, forty-five Mennonites and Catholics gathered at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota for the seventh annual Bridgefolk conference. Under the theme “Holiness the Road: Saints and the Spirituality that Sustains,” participants explored common and divergent threads between Catholic and Mennonite traditions regarding the role of saints and heroes of the faith. Despite recognizable differences between the two traditions on this topic, the group agreed that this is not a unity breaking issue. Opening presentations by Gerald Schlabach, Marlene Kropf and Ivan Kauffman, several of Bridgefolk’s founding members, introduced listeners to Mennonite and Catholic perceptions of the saints and holiness in the other’s tradition. Schlabach contributed a role-play dialogue between “Ana B” (Anabaptist) and “Cathy” (Catholic), in which the conversation characterized perspectives of each tradition. Kropf then offered a personal reflection on the witness of Saint Francis and Saint Claire of Assisi from a Mennonite perspective in which she expressed her gratitude for their stories. Continue reading “Saints and Heroes in the Faith Sustain, Don’t Divide”
Bridging a Divided Church in Colombia
The following news release from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) reports on a joint peacemaking project by Mennonites and Catholics in the South American nation of Colombia. CPT describes its mission as “Getting in the Way,” and asks: “What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?” CPT seeks to enlist the whole church in organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. For further information on CPT, visit http://www.cpt.org/.
Continue reading “Bridging a Divided Church in Colombia”
Joint statement by Mennonites and Catholics to WCC Decade to Overcome Violence now available
Following up on their 1998-2003 dialogue and ground-breaking document, Called Together to Be Peacemakers Mennonite and Catholic leaders met together for a brief conference October 23-25, 2007 in order to offer joint suggestions for the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). The DOV will culminate in an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in 2011. In preparation, representatives from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Mennonite World Conference met at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome with the goal of submitting theological reflections that Mennonites and Catholics, committed to overcoming violence, might affirm together as a witness to peace in the ecumenical context. Continue reading “Joint statement by Mennonites and Catholics to WCC Decade to Overcome Violence now available”