Tag: Bruderhof

Local dialogue continues in Lancaster PA

Roughly 50 people met once again at St. Mary’s Parish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, April 25th, for the second annual Anabaptist-Catholic dialogue. Fr. James Lease, ecumenical officer of the Diocese of Harrisburg gave welcoming remarks on behalf of the Catholic Bishop, Timothy Senior. As in the past, the Anabaptists present included both plain and progressive congregations, Mennonites, Brethren, Bruderhof, and Old-Order Amish. There were also a few Anglicans in attendance. All age groups were present. The dialogue coincided with a Plough Magazine readers meetup and a pizza lunch, hosted by the Bruderhof, earlier in the day.


Sean Domencic, co-organizer of the dialogue, presided at the the event. In his opening remarks, Domencic emphasized that the objective of this dialogue was neither to be promote a “feel good” ecumenism which fails to acknowledge doctrinal divisions nor to be a “debate club” which seeks to proselytize one another. Rather, the event was rooted in the prayer of Jesus that “all might be one” (Jn 17:21), which demands we understand the grace of God in other traditions and urgently seek to reconcile our divisions. The concept of the “Anabaptist Ordinariate” (by which Anabaptists might retain their traditions while entering into sacramental communion with Catholics) was reiterated, along with a call for those interested in expanding the scope of the Lancaster dialogues to volunteer.

The dialogue began with prayer, in the form of a hymn, praying Psalm 133, reading a homily of Pope Leo XIV on Gospel non-violence, intercessions, and a short Scripture reading. The meeting focused on the stories of martyrs in the Anabaptist and Catholic traditions. The first reading was the ancient martyrdom account of Saint Polycarp, read in sections by a Mennonite and a Catholic. The second reading was the Martyr’s Mirror account of the martyrdom of Dirk Willems, read by a Catholic. The third reading was the martyrdom of Bishop John Fisher, read by a Mennonite.

In the discussions that followed, Anabaptists were surprised by the early Church emphasis on venerating the relics of the martyrs. Catholics acknowledged grief at the persecution of Willems and the dangers of the Church entangling herself with political power. Several participants expressed hope that these martyrs are, through the mercy of God, reconciled in Heaven and of one mind about Christian doctrine, despite being on opposite sides of the Reformation. The latter half of the discussion surprisingly turned towards church discipline in our respective traditions, and the success and failure of applying it.

The gathering closed with a Catholic reading the martyrdom of Michael and Joseph Hofer (Hutterites killed by the U.S. government for refusing the draft) and an Amishman reading the martyrdom of Franz Jaggerstatter (a Catholic killed by the Nazi government for refusing the draft). A closing prayer was followed by singing the Doxology. Around a dozen people stayed for another hour of free-form discussion.

The late Pope Benedict XVI on the search for reconciliation by Anabaptists and Catholics

Johann Christoph Arnold and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Rome 1995

Following the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, The Plough magazine re-released the transcript of a 1995 interview with the future pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The magazine is a ministry of the Bruderhof, a contemporary Hutterite Anabaptist community. Bruderhof elder Johann Christoph Arnold, met with Cardinal Ratzinger, for a conversation with a group of German Catholics. Excerpts and a link to the entire article follow.

In response to two accounts of Anabaptist martyrs, which Arnold had begun by reading:

What is truly moving in these stories is the depth of faith [of these men], their being deeply anchored in our Lord Jesus Christ, and their joy in this fact, a joy that is stronger than death. We are distressed, of course, by the fact that the church was so closely linked with the powers of the world that she was able to deliver other Christians to be executed because of their beliefs. This should be a deep challenge to us, how much we all need to repent again and again, and how much the church must renounce worldly principles and standards in order to accept the truth as the only standard, to look to Christ …

On the true path to Christian unity:

I think, too, that it is important [to realize] that we cannot bring about unity in the church by diplomatic maneuvers. The result would only be a diplomatic structure based on human principles. Instead, we must open ourselves more and more to him. The unity he brings about is alone true unity. Anything else is a political construction, which is as transitory as all political constructions are. This is the more difficult way, for in political maneuvers people themselves are active and believe they can achieve something. We must wait on the Lord, that he will give us unity, and of course we must go to meet him by cleansing our hearts. …

This is how I would see such a gathering, that we don’t try to negotiate how [Catholics and Anabaptists] can unite in the Catholic Church, but that together we allow the Lord to cleanse us and learn the truth from him, the truth that is love, and that we let him work so that he brings us together.

On the source of Christian unity:

As a Catholic one should wish that a Hutterite becomes a better Hutterite, and the other way around, a Hutterite can wish that a Catholic becomes a better Catholic, as long as one is convinced that in both cases it is the center that actually matters. To become fully Catholic means to enter fully into communion with Christ; if becoming fully Hutterite means the same thing, if it does not mean the canonization of relativism – each to his own – but on the contrary the deepest unity of truth, which is Christ himself. He is the source of the unity, and from this source it will go out into the world.

To read the entire article click here.