Communion as pledge to friends, neighbors, and enemies

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 3

Eichenberg's Lord's Supper (small)by Mary Lehman Yoder
Assembly Mennonite Church
Goshen, Indiana, July 20, 2008

Ephesians 2:11 ff; John 13:34 ff

Back in 2002 when the propaganda war regarding Al Q’eda and Iraq was running at full steam, I heard that Rich Meyer, who has frequently served with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, was floating a proposal around:

Our nation is gearing up for war. The Pledge of Allegiance is starting to be used as a measuring stick at best or a club at worst. How shall we respond? We should celebrate communion every Sunday!

Continue reading “Communion as pledge to friends, neighbors, and enemies” →

The mentally ill are our lepers

In a March 28 article in National Catholic Reporter, Melissa Musick Nussbaum compares the lepers healed by Jesus, previously ostracized as “unclean,” to patients of mental health facilities today.  She writes:

I serve on the board of my local Catholic Charities. Our Marian House Soup Kitchen and drop-in center is located downtown, just across the street from the cathedral. Many of those we serve are mentally ill. Every year the cry goes up to move the facility to some place far away from downtown shops and restaurants. Every year the cry goes up to relocate our Lazaruses so that our way is unhindered, our view is unspoiled, and our fantasies remain intact.

So I’ve been interested in Dr. [Abraham] Nussbaum’s work, a work he does with many others of like mind, to find a different way to treat and live with the mentally ill. His attention is drawn to the many Mennonites, who, as conscientious objectors during World War II, worked as attendants in American mental asylums.

Menno Simons, the Anabaptist father of the Mennonites, was a Norbertine priest before he left the order and the Catholic church. But Nussbaum believes that Simons, and his followers, may help lead the church back into right relationship with our brothers and sisters who suffer from mental illness.

Nussbaum goes on to outline a history of the Mennonite conscientious objectors who completed their Civilian Public Service in psychiatric hospitals, refusing to use any force against patients.  She concludes with a vision for what service to the mentally ill could look like in a Catholic context.  The full article is available here.

Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites, part two: bearing pain for the good of the church

The following interview was first published on the blog of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, “On Our Minds.” To see the original post go to http://collegevilleinstitute.org/blog/mennonite-catholics-catholic-mennonites-part-two.

By Janel Kragt Bakker, Collegeville Institute

Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites: Bearing Pain for the Good of the Church

In Part One of our interview with Gerald Schlabach, Ivan Kauffman, and Weldon Nisly, all of whom are leaders in Bridgefolk (the North American Mennonite-Catholic dialogue), we discussed the origins of contemporary Mennonite-Catholic exchange as well as the gifts the two traditions offer to each other. Though sources of attraction between the Catholic and Mennonite traditions vary, Schlabach, Kauffman, and Nisly identified Mennonite strengths in service and lay participation, and Catholic strengths in sacramental life. Participants in Mennonite-Catholic dialogue are often united by their shared commitment to peace and justice as well as their desire to build understanding and a sense of common purpose across the two traditions. In Part Two of the interview, we discuss how those involved in Mennonite-Catholic dialogue navigate painful divisions and cultural trends hostile to community and tradition.

Continue reading “Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites, part two: bearing pain for the good of the church” →

Palm Sunday homily: The messiah of peace

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 2

Eichenberg's Lord's Supper (small)by Abbot John Klassen
Saint John’s Abbey
Collegeville, Minnesota, April 27, 2008

 

For a long time I have puzzled about the detailed instructions Jesus gives to his disciples regarding the colt he is to ride into Jerusalem.  In the Gospels, Jesus is not an arranger; he is always moving and speaking on the fly. But in this instance, he has set this all up. He’s taking pains to stage this event, to send a particular message.

Unlike the rest of his passion, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is his own initiative. It is a symbolic action at Passover time, when Jerusalem is filled with pilgrims, that manifests the meaning of his life and mission. This symbolic action is also a final plea to the religious authorities who have already decided to condemn him to death after the raising of Lazarus. Continue reading “Palm Sunday homily: The messiah of peace” →

Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites: bridging, not splitting, the difference

The following interview was first published on the blog of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, “On Our Minds.” To see the original post go to http://collegevilleinstitute.org/blog/mennonite-catholics-catholic-mennonites-bridging-splitting-difference.

By Janel Kragt Bakker, Collegeville Institute

Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites: Bridging, not Splitting, the Difference

In one sense, Stearns County, Minnesota is no hub for Mennonite Christians. Heavily German and Catholic, with a smattering of Lutherans, evangelicals, and Somali Muslims, the county is home to nary a Mennonite congregation or Anabaptist community to speak of. But in another sense, because of what has been happening at the Collegeville Institute and Saint John’s Abbey, Stearns County has become a Mennonite landmark. Bridgefolk, the North American Mennonite-Catholic dialogue, meets regularly at Saint John’s Abbey, and the Collegeville Institute has attracted a number of Mennonite scholars and workshop participants over the years. Terms like “Mennonite Catholic” and “Catholic Mennonite” are commonly spoken on our campuses. In conjunction with a recent Bridgefolk gathering, we prompted a conversation among several leaders of the Mennonite-Catholic dialogue—each of whom has been affiliated with the Collegeville Institute and somehow claims the dual identity of Mennonite and Catholic.

Continue reading “Mennonite Catholics and Catholic Mennonites: bridging, not splitting, the difference” →

A dialogue gets renewed

Brenda Suderman, a writer for the Winnipeg Free Press, describes ongoing ecumenical initiatives between Mennonites and Catholics in Winnipeg, including Bridgefolk participant Helmut Harder.

More than just friends, not quite a family, a dozen Christians who gather regularly to share their faith over a meal are quietly setting an example for new ecclesiastical relationships.

After 14 years of meeting in parish halls and church basements, the members of Winnipeg’s Catholic-Mennonite Dialogue have no plans to end this long-running liaison between their two faith traditions.

“I’ve tried now and then to shut it down, but then people remind me they see value in this,” explains Helmut Harder, a retired Mennonite theologian who has participated from the beginning.

“It (the dialogue) keeps me abreast of what is going on in the Catholic Church.”

Whether in basement gatherings or meetings between high level faith leaders, Christians should expect more initiatives of this type under Pope Francis, says Catholic theologian Catherine E. Clifford of St. Paul University in Ottawa.

Suderman goes on to quote Clifford on how ecumenism has evolved since Vatican II and the continued importance of working toward unity, and Harder on the renewed interest in ecumenism that he observes in Winnipeg.  The full article from the Winnipeg Free Press website is available here.

Timothy Colegrove: Pope Francis on “Slow” Evangelism

Mennonite church planter Timothy Colegrove, in a recent entry on Patheos’ Slow Church blog, reflects on Pope Francis’ engaging and relational approach to spreading the gospel, and how this meshes with the “Slow Church” concept.  Giving particular attention to Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Colegrove muses:

As Alice and I move forward in our mission to plant a church with the Conservative Mennonite Conference in Boston, I find myself in strange unity with the Pope. Who would have imagined that a Mennonite would find such agreement with the head of the Catholic Church, an institution that viciously oppressed early Anabaptist disciples? Yet while reading the Evangelii, I could feel my heart breaking out in applause and spirit-filled agreement at his call to greater connection with other disciples and with the communities around us. Undoubtedly this is the Church that a relationally starved culture needs so badly.

The full article is available here.

Announcing new online series:
We Are Each Other’s Bread and Wine

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We Are Each Other’s Bread and Wine:
Mennonite and Roman Catholic Reflections on Eucharist and Peacemaking

As Bridgefolk participants grow in understanding and appreciating the profound gifts of each other’s traditions, we are discovering how deeply the practice of eating together at the Lord’s Table sustains and enriches our life of Christian discipleship and peacemaking. Fed and nourished by the gift of Christ’s love, we are strengthened to share the peace of Christ in the church and in the world.

To illuminate this vital connection, Bridgefolk has begun a new online series, of sermons and homilies that connect discipleship and peacemaking with the Eucharist or Lords’ Supper.  The first installment, “The Table of Countercultural Mission,” was preached by Mennonite pastor Daniel P. Schrock at Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen, Indiana. Go to http://www.bridgefolk.net/eucharistic-peacemaking to read, or find guidelines for submitting sermons and homilies on these themes for inclusion in this online collection.

The table of countercultural mission

We are Each Other’s Bread and Wine
no. 1

Eichenberg's Lord's Supper (small)by Daniel P. Schrock
Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship
Goshen, Indiana, April 27, 2008

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this. (Luke 22:19-23, NRSV)

If you want to learn countercultural mission, then eat bread and drink wine at the table of God.

When Jesus sat down at a table with his disciples on that Passover night long ago, he knew what was going on in the mind of Judas Iscariot. Somehow Jesus knew that Judas was plotting to hand him over to the temple leaders. Indeed, a few days before this last supper with the twelve, Judas had quietly visited the chief priests and officers of the temple police in Jerusalem to offer them a deal. In exchange for a fee, Judas offered to help them find Jesus after dusk, when most people in the city were tucked away in their houses for the night. Reward me, said Judas, and I’ll tell you where Jesus is, so you can arrest him under the cover of darkness (Luke 22:3-6).

Jesus knew that Judas was in the process of betraying him (see 22:21). Ponder that for a moment. Continue reading “The table of countercultural mission” →