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.
Our Moments and Our Days
An Anabaptist prayer book
Arthur Paul Boers, Eleanor Kreider, John Rempel, Mary H. Schertz, Barbara Nelson Gingerich, editors
Co-published by Institute of Mennonite Studies and Herald Press
The new version of Take our moments and our days is a four-week cycle of prayers for ordinary time. Lying behind the prayers is a pattern of themes that are especially important in the Anabaptist tradition. Continue reading “Anabaptist Prayer Book revised”
More than a 100 Mennonites and Catholics in the Northern Indiana area came together for centering prayer last summer, contributing to the formation of one of the first local Bridgefolk groups. Marlene Kropf, Bridgefolk co-chair notes that “one of the good things that came out of this experience was becoming friends and realizing how many interests and visions we have in common. Though we come from very different traditions, our vision for the church and for spiritual growth and renewal is remarkably similar.” The newspaper of the Fort Wayne – South Bend diocese has done a feature on the summer meetings. Here are the opening paragraphs, and a link for the entire story.
Continue reading “Michiana Bridgefolk forms around centering prayer in Northern Indiana”
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Thanks to the Eucharist, “God’s absolute ‘no’ to violence, pronounced on the cross, is kept alive through the centuries,” said the Pontifical Household preacher in a Lenten meditation.
With his sacrifice, “Christ defeated violence, not opposing it with greater violence, but suffering it and laying bare all its injustice and uselessness,” said Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa today as he led the third in a series of weekly meditations during Lent.
The meditations, held in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, are attended by members of the Roman Curia and other cardinals, bishops and religious close to the Vatican.
Are Mennonites sacramental? Mennonite theologian and Bridgefolk participant Tom Finger takes up that question in the cover story of the latest issue of The Mennonite. That article is available online at the following web address: http://www.themennonite.org/issues/7-18/articles/Are_Mennonites_sacramental
An updated version of this article entitled
“Seeking the Taproot of Anabaptist Spirituality”
is now available at
http://www.cascadiapublishinghouse.com/dsm/autumn04/schema.htm
Have we, as Mennonite people of faith, “lost our spirituality,” or perhaps never claimed a spirituality and, consequently, do we need to look to other traditions, such as Catholic spirituality, in order to recover this vital aspect of religious commitment? These questions emerged recently in the context of the recent consultation on Mennonite-Catholic dialog held at St. John’s Abbey in the rolling hills of Steuben County, Minnesota-Lake Wobegon country. It was a wonderful weekend-replete with Benedictine hospitality, reunion with old friends and the excitement of making new ones, stimulating papers, reciting Psalms with the monks, singing hymns with the Mennonites, good food and great (relatively cool) weather. Continue reading ““Handing Us Back Ourselves:”
On the Rediscovery of Mennonite Spirituality”
The place was overcrowded and noisy, and the food was unimpressive. Meals and meetings were held outside or in tents, depending on the weather. Visitors slept (and many snored loudly) in tents and overcrowded barracks. One had to stand in long lines (often up to 30 minutes) for everything, especially food. It hardly seemed like a setting for meaningful prayer, but my visit to Taizé turned out to be one of the most spiritually meaningful weeks of my life.
And not just for me. During the hot July week when I visited, Taizé welcomed more than 4,500 pilgrims, mostly young adults, from many denominations and from 60 nations (including a thousand from Eastern Europe). Summer weeks typically see between 2,500 and 6,000 visitors, with a total of 100,000 each year-although Taizé is off the beaten path (in France’s Burgundy region, midway between Lyons and Geneva).
What attracts so many to this place?