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).
Two Decade to Overcome Violence representatives, Fernando Enns (Germany) and
Hansulrich Gerber (Switzerland), both Mennonite, joined Mennonite World
Conference members Nancy Heisey, president, Larry Miller, general secretary,
Helmut Harder, co-chair of the Mennonite/Catholic International Dialogue
(Canada), and Paulus Widjaja, peace commission secretary (Indonesia), who
were in Rome as part of a Mennonite delegation at the invitation of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Other Mennonite participants in the October 23 to 25 meeting in Rome were
Ricardo Esquivia, leading peace advocate and activist in Colombia; Henk
Leegte, Dutch pastor and theologian, and Lenemarie Funck-Sp=E4th,
Association of Mennonite Churches in Germany (AMG) representative to
numerous ecumenical gatherings.
Catholic participants included representatives of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and
participants in the Mennonite/Catholic International Dialogue.
The group worked on a statement with suggestions and recommendations to
propose to the WCC by February 2008 as it plans for the 2011 convocation.
The joint statement will address biblical and theological foundations of
peace, peace and discipleship, and particular peace challenges the churches
face today.
“It is very encouraging to hear the way the Catholics are prepared to
cooperate with the Mennonites in working on a joint text of peace theology.
It is even more encouraging to note that such a text would contribute to the
development of the Ecumenical Peace Declaration,” said WCC general secretary
Sam Kobia, when receiving news of the consultation.
Ferne Burkhardt
MWC news editor
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Mennonite World Conference is a communion (Koinonia) of Anabaptist-related
churches linked to one another in a worldwide community of faith for
fellowship, worship, service, and witness.