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.
News Service
November 5, 2007
Strasbourg, France – Mennonites and Catholics are developing a common
statement to the World Council of Churches (WCC) as it prepares for the
International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in 2011. The convocation,
convened by the WCC, will come as the culmination of the WCC “Decade to
Overcome Violence. Churches seeking Reconciliation and Peace” (2001 – 2010). Continue reading “Mennonite delegation well received by Catholic leaders in Rome”
Please join us in prayer as Mennonite delegates from 10 countries around the world travel to Rome for continuing consultations on Mennonite-Catholic dialogue and peace. Continue reading “Join us in prayer, as Vatican hosts worldwide Mennonite representatives”
Addressing the World Council of Churches assembly currently meeting in Brazil, Cardinal Walter Kasper reiterated the Catholic Church’s commitment to ecumenism. Here is the WCC’s news release.
World Council of Churches – News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release – 16/02/2006
CARDINAL KASPER: ROMAN CATHOLICS COMMITTED TO ECUMENISM
More articles and free photos at
www.wcc-assembly.info
The president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has stressed the “irreversible” commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to ecumenism.
Continue reading “Cardinal Kasper addresses WCC assembly”
As enthusiastic supporters of the international dialogue between Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), Bridgefolk has made a number of resources available for the study of Called Together to be Peacemakers, the final report from its first round. New on our website is a commentary that appeared with the document upon its initial release by the PCPCU.
Written by Professor Emeritus Jos. E. Vercruysse S.J., the commentary can provide a useful summary of the Called Together for those who have not yet had an opportunity to read it in full, along with certain points of critique that will interest those who are studying it closely.
You will find Called Together to be Peacemakers in various languages, along with information about an abridged study version with discussion questions, and commentaries by Prof. Vercruysse as well as others at http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/dialogue.
Thanks to Gerald Stover of Bethelehem PA for helping to make Prof. Vercruysse’s commentary available.
Gerald Schlabach
Bridgefolk Executive Director
info@bridgefolk.net
www.bridgefolk.net
“Called Together to Be Peacemakers,” the final report of the international dialogue that occurred from 1998-2003 between representatives of the Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Church Unity, was released in February. Thanks to the gracious help of the MWC office in Strasburg, France, we have been able to make the report available on the web. You will find a link to the document at http://www.bridgefolk.net/theology/dialogue.
The release of any such document would be a major event in Mennonite – Catholic relations, but the document makes major substantive contributions on many points. Chapter 1 endeavors to narrate the history that separated Mennonites from Catholics in a way that both can accept. Chapter 2 takes up three key theological concerns: the nature of the church, understandings of sacraments/ordinances, and the call to peacemaking. Chapter 3 closes with confessions of past sin that invite Mennonites and Catholics to move forward through a “healing of memories.”
While reading and reflecting on the document, begin thinking about how you might use it to encourage local dialogues between Mennonites and Catholics in your own setting.
For Immediate Release
April 7, 2004
At first thought, a small group of Mennonites and a Vatican delegation seem to be unlikely conversation partners. But maybe not. Five-plus years after they first met for a formal Dialogue, seven representatives from Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and seven from the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity have issued a Report of their conversations. Its title hints at the intention of the meetings, as well as their tone–“Called Together to Be Peacemakers.”
But the conversations and the Report are only one part of the process for MWC. Another part is just beginning. Mennonite World Conference is forwarding copies of the Report to all of its member churches for their “study and reaction.” The English document has been translated into French; a Spanish translation is underway.
“On the MWC side, we are now entering a broadening stage in the process,” explained MWC Executive Secretary Larry Miller, who was one of the participants in the conversations. “This Report is not a kind of Encyclical handed down from the MWC office. Instead, it is intended to be reviewed and explored by Mennonites and Brethren in Christ around the world–from the point of view of their own contexts and convictions.” Continue reading “Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue Report Going to Churches”
For its relationship with Mennonites, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is in touch with the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) whose central office is in Strasbourg, France. Those communities from different parts of the world adhering to the MWC consist altogether of about one million persons.
There were two important contacts in this past year. First, the President of the MWC, Dr. Mesach Kristeya accepted the invitation of Pope John Paul II to participate in the “Day of Prayer for Peace in the World” January 24, 2002, in Assisi, and read one of the ten statements of commitment in the third part of that day. Second, another session took place of the international dialogue organized by the MWC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Continue reading “Mennonite-Catholic dialogue featured in Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano“
JOINT PRESS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
November 14, 2002
AKRON, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. – The fifth meeting of the Mennonite-Catholic international dialogue took place at the headquarters of the Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pennsylvania, October 25-31, 2002. Co-sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference (Strasbourg, France) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City), the dialogue began in 1998, has met annually since then and is working toward issuing a final report in 2003. Dr. Helmut Harder (Mennonite, Winnipeg, Canada) and Bishop Joseph Martino (Catholic, Philadelphia PA, USA) are co-chairmen. Continue reading “Joint news release: Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue”
JOINT NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference and
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
January 28, 2002
ASSISI, Italy – The fourth meeting of the Mennonite-Catholic international dialogue took place at St. Anthony’s Guest House of the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement, in Assisi, Italy, November 27th-December 3rd, 2001. Co-sponsored by the Mennonite World Conference (Strasbourg) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City), the dialogue began in 1998 and is anticipated to run for at least five annual sessions after which it will issue a report. Dr. Helmut Harder (Mennonite, Winnipeg, Canada) and Bishop Joseph Martino (Catholic, Philadelphia PA, USA) are co-chairmen.
The presentations given in this session of the dialogue focused especially on two themes. On one theme concerning the sacraments, papers were presented on the Mennonite side by Dr. Helmut Harder (“What Anabaptists-Mennonite Confessions of Faith Say About Baptism and the Lord’s Supper”) and on the Catholic side by Rev. Dr. James F. Puglisi, SA, Rome (“Contemporary Theology of the Sacraments with Particular Attention to the Christian Initiation [Baptism and Eucharist]”). On a second theme concerning relations between church and state in the Middle Ages, papers were presented from the Mennonite perspective by Dr. Neal Blough, Paris, France (“From the Edict of Milan to Vatican II, via Theodosius, Clovis, Charlemagne and the Fourth Lateran Council”) and from the Catholic perspective by Dr. Peter Nissen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (“Church and Secular Power[s] in the Middle Ages”). Continue reading “Joint News Release: Mennonite-Catholic International Dialogue”