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.
This year Mennonites are marking 500 years since the birth of the Anabaptist movement in January 1525 in Zurich. Within two years, some of those who had been “re-baptized” were martyred. We know the period that followed as a time of persecution and martyrdom, in which Anabaptists were killed by both Reformers and Catholics.
Thankfully, relations grew less violent, but even 50 years ago, recognizing each other as Christians was often a challenge. Now, there is much more understanding and cooperation between their descendants.
A good example is in Winnipeg’s North End, where a small Mennonite congregation is renting space from the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Indigenous Church, (or Aboriginal Catholic parish), through a history that involves cooperation with a Lutheran church as well.
Bridgefolk Conference 2025 Mennonites and Catholics in Dialogue
Anabaptism at 500: Ecumenical Dialogue in an Age of Polarization First Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, MB, Canada July 24-27, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The 2025 annual Bridgefolk conference will be held July 24-27, 2025 at First Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba—Treaty 1 Territory and the homeland of the Metis Nation. This is the 23rd annual Bridgefolk gathering, the second time it will be held in Winnipeg, and the third time in Canada.
Bridgefolk is a grassroots ecumenical movement of Mennonites and Roman Catholics who work together toward Christian unity by “proceeding through friendship.” Newcomers are always welcome at Bridgefolk gatherings, regardless of religious affiliation.
First Mennonite Church, Winnepeg, Manitoba (photo by George Penner)
The 2025 conference theme is “Anabaptism at 500: Ecumenical Dialogue in an Age of Polarization.” This year’s conference will look at the birth of Anabaptism from both a Mennonite and a Roman Catholic perspective, what has changed in the past five centuries, and what the implications are for ecumenical dialogue today.
The Mennonite keynote address will be given by Dr. Jennifer Otto, Associate Professor in the Department of History and Religion at the University of Lethbridge, where she teaches courses on Christianity, Bible, and Western Religions. Dr. Otto’s current research project, “Remembering Anabaptist Martyrs,” investigates the reception and representation of early Christian martyrs among Anabaptists in the 16th century and in the present day.
We also welcome Fr. John Klassen OSB, as our Roman Catholic keynote speaker. Fr. John was abbot of Saint John’s Abbey, in Collegeville, Minnesota, for over 23 years, and was instrumental in starting and supporting Bridgefolk during that time. Before becoming abbot, he received a doctorate from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, in 1985, taught at Saint John’s Preparatory School (1972-77) and Saint John’s University (1983-2000), and was the director of the university’s senior seminar program (1986-88), and of the Peace Studies Program (1988-90). He was the director of monastic formation for the abbey from 1993-99.
This conference will also feature a panel discussion with others who are involved in ecumenical dialogue and work, locally and elsewhere. The conference will feature a workshop to equip participants with practical tools to engage in respectful dialogue as well as small groups in which to practice these tools.
“Bridgefolk brings a unique set of gifts to this work,” notes Laura Funk, long-time Bridgefolk participant and local conference organizer. “Mennonites and Catholics are in conversation and prayer with each other. Often we do our best learning in the presence of those who have had a different experience, who bring different assumptions and history to the challenge of respectful dialogue in an age of increased polarization. In addition, we are called together to be peacemakers, with a commitment to the non-violence of Jesus in the Gospel. This call shapes our approach to listening, speaking, thinking, and acting.”
The conference will include a foot-washing service and agape meal, as well as a hymn sing, which have become favorite elements of Bridgefolk gatherings.
Registration information will be forthcoming on the Bridgefolk website (www.bridgefolk.net)
Matt Rissler, Angie Kohlhass, and their children Noah and Miriam.
Matt Rissler is the longest serving Bridgefolk board member, mostly because no one else wants to be treasurer, he suspects, and the office does not have term limits. Matt (a Mennonite) and his future wife, Angie Kohlhass (a Catholic), first attended Bridgefolk events while they were graduate students at the University of Notre Dame in the middle aughts. The final report from the historic international dialogue between Catholics and Mennonites from 1998-2003, “Called Together to be Peacemakers,” had just been released. Matt and Angie have been hooked on Bridgefolk ever since.
“It was necessary to take courage: it’s another world, another vocabulary, another way of thinking. How was I to bring my own questions and be respectfully present as a guest while being fully Mennonite?” Anne-Cathy Graber asked these questions as she received an invitation to attend the Vatican’s Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod in October 2024.
Having taken the role of Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Secretary for Ecumenical Relations for MWC in 2023, Anne-Cathy Graber represented Mennonite World Conference at the month-long event, which had 16 “fraternal delegates” representing other Christian churches and communities, 8 Protestant and 8 Orthodox.
Anne-Cathy Graber is an itinerant Mennonite pastor and theologian and co-director of the Chair of Ecumenical Theology at the Faculties Loyola Paris. She serves on MWC’s Faith & Life Commission. Additionally, she has represented Anabaptists at the Global Christian Forum Committee, in the Faith & Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (2014-2022), in the bilateral dialogue between MWC and the Reformed Church. She is also a consecrated sister in Chemin Neuf, a Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation.
2025: Remembering Zurich and Nicaea January 27, 8-9:30 p.m. ET
Jennifer Otto, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge and Bridgefolk board member.
The year 2025 marks 500 years since the first adult believers’ baptisms of the Anabaptist movement took place in Zurich, Switzerland. It also marks 1700 years since the Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed was established as the first ecumenical statement of “catholic” Christian faith. In this webinar, Bridgefolk Board Member Jennifer Otto, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge, will provide a brief historical introduction to the events of both Nicaea and Zurich and invite us into conversation about unity and division within the Church.
How should we, as Mennonites and as Catholics, commemorate these two events?
How do these anniversaries impact the way we think about “proceeding in friendship” together?
Can we celebrate the Nicene Creed and the beginnings of Anabaptism while acknowledging the pain caused by the ruptures in the Body of Christ that both events embody?
On October 10, a week into this year’s groundbreaking synod at the Vatican bringing bishops, other clergy, and laypeople together for a month of listening and discernment, the daily press conference focused on ecumenical dimensions of the event. Among four panelists from varying Christian traditions was Anne-Cathy Graber, a French Mennonite representing Mennonite World Conference. The following are excerpts from a Vatican News press release reporting on the briefing:
Anne-Cathy Graber speaks at Vatican press conference, 10 October 2024.
Reverend Anne-Cathy Graber, a pastor from the Mennonite World Conference and secretary for ecumenical relations, who is participating in the Synod for the first time, said she was “surprised by the invitation,” as she belongs to a “little-known church” that emerged from the Reformation in the 16th century and is characterized by the baptism of believers and active nonviolence.
Reflecting on her presence, she observed: “The Catholic Church does not need our voice, which is very small, but this in itself says much about synodality – it shows that every voice matters, every voice is important.”
For Pastor Graber, “Christian unity is not only a promise for tomorrow, it is here and now, and we can already see it. We are not only close but belong to the same body of Christ, we are members of one another, as St. Paul said.”
“Even though we do not have voting rights as fraternal delegates, “our voice and presence were welcomed just like everyone else’s. The equal dignity of baptism is visible. There is no powerful Church dominating from above. We are all a people walking together and seeking,” she continued.
Other panelists noted the close link between the “synodality” by which Catholics are working to better listen to one another, and ecumenical listening between Christians:
Voice was then given to the guests at the briefing, who focused on ecumenism, which forms an inseparable pair with synodality.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the [Vatican’s] Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, summed up the concept with these words: “The synodal journey is ecumenical. And the ecumenical journey cannot be anything but synodal.”
Defining the ecumenical dimension as “one of the most relevant aspects of this Synod,” the cardinal emphasized how fundamental “the exchange of gifts, in which we learn from one another, with the conviction that no Church is so rich that it does not need the contribution of other Churches, and no Church is so poor that it has nothing to offer” is to both ecumenism and synodality.
At an ecumenical Taize service the following day, Pope Francis himself underscored this message in a homily emphasizing the “common mission” of Christians around the world. Francis noted that “The ecumenical movement evolved from the desire to bear common witness: to witness alongside one another, not standing apart from or, worse yet, at odds with one another.”
To read the entire Vatican News press release from 10 October, click here.
For Pope Francis’s homily at the 11 October ecumenical Taize service, click here.
For a report on the synod and Graber’s participation in Anabaptist World, click here.
As Cardinals Robert McElroy and Charles Bo inaugurate the new Pax Christi Catholic Institute for Nonviolence in Rome, Pope Francis sends his support and calls for charity and nonviolence to guide the world.
By Edoardo Giribaldi
“Active non-violence is not passivity. It is an effective method of confronting the evil that exists in our world that often engenders conflict.”
L to R: Dr. Maria Stephan, Cardinal Charles Bo, Cardinal Robert McElroy, Sister Teresia Wachira.
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, and Cardinal Robert McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, took part on Sunday in the inauguration of the new Catholic Institute for Nonviolence, founded by Pax Christi International, a movement that promotes peace and consists of 120 organizations from all around the world.
The Rome-based Institute will be dedicated to promoting nonviolence as a central teaching of the Catholic Church, embarking on the mission of making research, resources, and experiences in nonviolence more accessible both for Church leaders and global institutions.
The event was held at the “Istituto Maria Santissima Bambina” in Rome, and featured the presence of Sister Teresia Wachira, from the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as renowned author and researcher Dr. Maria Stephan, who moderated the event and conversation.
Nonviolence as the foundation of the Church
In an interview with Vatican News ahead of the event, Cardinal McElroy stressed the difficulty in sharing the ideal of nonviolence in the current context, which is marred by conflict and violence. “However, it seems to me it’s the only message we have in the light of the Gospel and in the times that we are living in,” he said.
The second and final session of the Vatican Synod on Synodality will include a Mennonite representative and underline the Catholic Church’s plan to promote dialogue with other Christian denominations, enhance transparency and take responsibility for mistakes.
The number of representatives from other Christian denominations at the synod has grown from 12 to 16 to include Mennonite World Conference, the World Lutheran Federation, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria.
The Oct. 3-27 gathering at the Vatican will include MWC representative Anne-Cathy Graber of France, a member of MWC’s Faith nd Life Commission and MWC’s representative to the Global Christian Forum. She is a Mennonite but also a member of the Chemin Neuf Catholic community in Paris.
