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.
The Rev. Dr. Fernando Enns, a German Mennonite pastor, will be a featured guest at the Paul Wattson Seminar and Reception. This annual seminar is hosted by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and the University of San Francisco. The topic of the address will be: A Decade to Overcome Violence 2000 – 2010: An Ecumenical Journey Towards a Common Understanding of Just Peace.
To download a flier on the event, click here.
COLLEGEVILLE, MINNESOTA (Bridgefolk.net) – Bridgefolk had much to celebrate as it held its 10th anniversary conference in Laurelville, Pennsylvania last August, but is also entering a crucial time of transition. That was the sentiment Bridgefolk Board members shared as they met in mid-October at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota to plan their next conference and discern how to guide their grassroots ecumenical movement of Mennonites and Roman Catholics through its next steps. Continue reading “Bridgefolk revamps leadership, announces 2010 conference”
2009 summer conference registration is now available on the Bridgefolk website at http://www.bridgefolk.net/conferences/2009bridgefolk/. You are welcome to register online or to print out the registration form and send it by mail. If you have special concerns regarding your arrangements for the event, please contact Kent Yoder at info@bridgefolk.net. A schedule for the event is soon to follow.
The new Bridgefolk website is now up and running! You can visit the site at http://www.bridgefolk.net/. We plan to add a few elements in the coming months, but this is essentially the finished product. Thank you to Gabe Schlabach for his commitment to this project, and to all of you for your verbal and financial support. This is the first step in an effort to improve the Bridgefolk communications program. Keep watch for more to come.
Here is another opportunity for ecumenical conversation in which Mennonites and Catholics have both played a part, in western Canada.
June 2-5, 2009 in Saskatoon, SK
The Summer Ecumenical Institute will function as a stock-taking and a vision-building exercise for the grassroots ecumenical community in Canada. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism. It is also the 50th anniversary of the announcement by Pope John XXIII of the Second Vatican Council, one of whose main aims was the advancement of Christian unity. It is 50 years since our founder, Fr. Bernard de Margerie, received his call to the path of ecumenism. There is much to celebrate!
This conference will be the climax of a year of themed events giving thanks for the past achievements of the ecumenical movement and committing ourselves to Christian unity and reconciliation for the future. Continue reading “Summer Ecumenical Institute in Saskatoon, SK”
The Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School has extended a special invitation to Bridgefolk to participate in a week-long training workshop May 31 – June 5. Three Bridgefolk leaders took part in a conference at the center last year and found it be a meaningful opportunity to explore the challenge of reconciliation at many levels — international, racial, and ecumenical.. Continue reading “Duke Summer Reconciliation Institute”
Martyrdom in an Ecumenical Perspective: A Mennonite-Catholic Dialogue, edited by Peter Erb, is the most recent publication in the Bridgefolk Series by Pandora Press. Acknowledging the martyrdom of Anabaptists, the 1998-2003 bilateral discussions between the Catholic Church and Mennonite World Conference resulted in a call for further reflection on the experience of martyrdom. In 2003 and 2004, Saint John’s Abby of Collegeville, Minnesota hosted two conferences in which Catholics and Mennonites discussed this subject. Martyrdom in an Ecumenical Perspective is a collection of perspectives presented at these meetings.
Contributors:
Books may be ordered from: www.pandorapress.com
Bridgefolk is inviting sermons and homilies as well as poetry and art that reflect on the relationship between eating together at the Lord’s Table and our life of Christian peacemaking. Submissions will be considered for publication in a new book, We Are Each Other’s Bread and Wine: Mennonite and Catholic Reflections on Eucharist and Peacemaking.
This book project is a collaborative effort among Mennonites and Catholics to share reflections and convictions on the profound gifts of each tradition — the Eucharist and peacemaking — for the sake of encouraging richer Christian worship and more faithful Christian discipleship in the world. The contents of the book will be invited from Catholic and Mennonite communities in the United States, Canada, and abroad. The Institute of Mennonite Studies (AMBS) plans to publish the book jointly with a Catholic publisher.
We hope the book will explore questions such as:
For information on how to submit entries, go to http://www.bridgefolk.net/misc/sermons.
The Bridgefolk Board is pleased to announce the appointment of a new executive director, Kent Yoder of Goshen, Indiana.
Kent is a student at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Indiana, where he is currently pursuing a degree in the Master of Divinity program. He is a member of Assembly Mennonite Church and is actively involved in congregational life.
Kent has recently worked in the Geneva Office of the World Council of Churches, and this involvement has led to his pursuit of a M.A. thesis on the subject of international ecumenical peace dialogue. In the summer of 2007, Kent helped coordinate the Bridgefolk Conference held at AMBS.