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” →

Mennonites and Catholics Share Friendship Through ‘Bridgefolk’

By Chris Edwards

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Andrea Bartoli, U.S. leader of the Catholic Santa Egidio lay fellowship, shared the story of Dirk Willems, the Dutch Mennonite known for saving a drowning pursuer who then killed him. Through his compassionate act, Bartoli said, that martyr gave “a gift of the Spirit that I can experience 500 years later.”

Glen Miller, in turn, shared warm memories of a friend from his years directing the Mennonite Central Committee in India – Mother Teresa. In lovingly serving people of all world faiths, Miller said, “She was a holy person.”

These testimonials were part of the 2005 Bridgefolk Conference, an annual dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics held this year for the first time at Eastern Mennonite University. Bridgefolk began in 1999 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mt. Pleasant, Pa. and continued at Saint John’s Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., in 2002-2004. About 65 people from both traditions, the majority lay members, attended this year’s events on the Harrisonburg, Va., campus. With their children, they worshiped at local Catholic and Mennonite churches together. Continue reading “Mennonites and Catholics Share Friendship Through ‘Bridgefolk’” →

Remembering the Cloud of Witnesses: 2nd Ecumenical Conference on 16th-century Martyrdom

PRESS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference
August 12, 2004

COLLEGEVILLE, Minnesota — Mennonite and Catholic historians and theologians continued the study of 16th-century religious martyrdom that began last year. Discussions at Saint John’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Minnesota, July 26-28, included plans to form an ecumenical institute for on-going scholarly research on this topic.

The conference was entitled, “Sixteenth century martyrdom in ecumenical perspective.” Ivan Kauffman, a Washington, D.C.-based writer and one of the conference organizers, provided this framework: “The church today stands between a past marred by extensive violence and a future committed to peacemaking. We must somehow connect our historical past to our very different future.”

Sixteenth-century martyrdom became a topic of ecumenical discussion when, in 1998, the Mennonite World Conference entered into a five-year dialogue with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. Two major contributors to the international dialogue, Drew Christiansen, S.J., and Helmut Harder, spoke at this year’s martyrs conference.

Full story

Mennonites and Catholics Gather at Bridgefolk Conference to Discern Spiritual Practices for Violent Times

by Melanie Zuercher

Collegeville, Minn.(BRIDGEFOLK)-History may show that Mennonites and Catholics have had little to say to each other for the past 500 years. But not all members of these two groups see it that way today.

When Mennonites and Catholics sit down together, the Catholics bring a long and rich tradition of liturgy and strong institutions. Mennonites bring a distinctive practice of four-part a capella singing and a historic peace witness.

Bridgefolk, a grassroots group of Catholics and Mennonites, convened July 17-20 at St. John’s Abbey (Benedictine) to examine these and other “Spiritual Practices for Violent Times.” It was the second “Catholic-Mennonite peace dialogue” at St. John’s in two years, and the group expects to meet there annually through at least 2006. Continue reading “Mennonites and Catholics Gather at Bridgefolk Conference to Discern Spiritual Practices for Violent Times” →

Anabaptist Martyrs Studied at Joint Mennonite-Catholic Conference

by Marilyn Stahl

Collegeville, Minn.- Mennonite and Catholic scholars gathered to begin a joint historical study of the sixteenth-century Anabaptist martyrs in mid-July at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn. Many of the martyrs were condemned to death by Catholic civil and church authorities.

Abbot John Klassen of St. John’s began his welcoming remarks by citing the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in describing the work of South Africa’s Commission for Truth and Reconciliation: “For forgiveness to occur, the past must be reconstructed and acknowledged.” To achieve a real accommodation between Mennonites and Catholics, said the Abbott, “an analogous process is utterly essential.”

The conference was the first time that Catholics have publicly confronted these historical incidents, and the first time that Mennonites have reexamined this aspect of their foundational history in an ecumenical setting. Continue reading “Anabaptist Martyrs Studied at Joint Mennonite-Catholic Conference” →

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” →