Communion of saints: Miraculous healing leads to sainthood, helps Mennonites and Catholics deepen friendship

by Laurie Oswald Robinson

Mennonite World Review

Because a Japanese Mennonite man was healed from leukemia after Mennonites and Catholics prayed, a new round of ecumenical dialogue on prayer is stirring up the faithful.

Jun Yamada presents relics of Joseph Freinademetz to Pope John Paul II in the service of canonization for Freinademetz on Oct. 5, 2003, in Rome. — Photo by Society of the Divine Word

Exactly how God said “yes” to prayers for the healing in 1987 of Jun Yamada, a 24-year-old university student in Japan, will always be shrouded in mystery.

But that isn’t keeping participants in Bridgefolk — a group of Mennonites and Catholics united by their faith in Christ — from more deeply exploring the connection between God’s family on Earth and in heaven.

This past July at the annual Bridgefolk gathering, Alan and Eleanor Kreider — longtime Mennonite teachers on church history, worship and mission — shared the account that Jun Yamada’s brother, Nozomu Yamada, had passed on to them in Tokyo. Continue reading “Communion of saints: Miraculous healing leads to sainthood, helps Mennonites and Catholics deepen friendship” →

Ivan Kauffman in America magazine: “There are three options open to us, not just two—left, right and Catholic”

Ivan Kauffman, Bridgefolk co-founder

After Ideology: What Catholics can contribute to the political debate

by Ivan Kauffman
America, 10 December 2012

Growing up Protestant and Republican in Kansas, I began life as a political conservative. But when I was in college, John F. Kennedy changed that. He and Pope John XXIII opened the door to the Catholic Church for me, and for most of my adult life I considered myself a Catholic political liberal. I am still very much a Catholic, but my political leanings have changed again. I no longer consider myself a liberal—or a conservative.

Click here to read more. 

St. Marcellus Day celebration Oct. 30 at Notre Dame

Tuesday, October 30

Pilgrimage, Supper, Prayer Service, and Keynote Address

The relics of St. Marcellus are kept at Notre Dame’s Sacred Heart Basilica, and each year on his feast day, pilgrims visit those relics and meditate on the current-day meaning of his martyrdom for peace 1,700 years ago. Continue reading “St. Marcellus Day celebration Oct. 30 at Notre Dame” →

Gerald Schlabach reflects on religious freedom in Commonweal magazine

An article by former Bridgefolk director Gerald Schlabach on religious freedom appears in the current issue of Commonweal magazine.  The article, “Outvoted, Not Persecuted: Four Lessons about Religious Freedom” takes the experience of Mennonites, historic peace churches, and other minority churches into debates among American Catholics about whether their religious liberties are being threatened.

The full article is available for Commonweal subscribers at http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/outvoted-not-persecuted, but the following excerpts convey the arc of Schlabach’s argument:   Continue reading “Gerald Schlabach reflects on religious freedom in Commonweal magazine” →

The witness of Margaret O’Gara — two reflections

Margaret O’Gara

We are grateful to the authors for permission to share two reflections on the life of our departed friend and colleague, Margaret O’Gara.

“Fully Human, Spiritual, Religious, Christian” is a reflection that Margaret’s husband (or “spousal colleague”) Michael Vertin shared at both her Toronto, Ontario and Collegeville, Minnesota funeral masses in August.

“The Ecumenical Mountatin” is the homily that Fr. Rene McGraw O.S.B. shared at the Collegeville, Minnesota funeral mass.

Our earlier announcement of Margaret’s death may be found here. 

Mennonites plan a contemporary Martyrs’ Mirror

GOSHEN, Ind. — More than 35 people from seven countries gathered at Goshen College on August 5-8, for an international consultation on the theme, “Bearing Witness: A New Martyrs Mirror for the 21 st Century?” Hosted by the college’s Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism, the international gathering explored the possibility of a major story-gathering initiative, focused especially on the theme of “costly discipleship.” Continue reading “Mennonites plan a contemporary Martyrs’ Mirror“ →

Michael Turman reflects on experiencing “double eucharist”

Mennonite and Catholic communion
Reflections on an experience at the Bridgefolk conference

article by Michael Turman
in Canadian Mennonite Young Voices 

Michael Turman

I had an experience of God’s presence at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, in July at the Bridgefolk conference. “Bridgefolk is a movement of sacramentally-minded Mennonites and peace-minded Catholics,” says its mission statement. Every year Bridgefolk holds a gathering of Mennonites and Catholics to celebrate, explore, and honour each others’ practices and traditions. In practice this happens through friendship and open discussion of shared values. Over the ten or so years that Bridgefolk has been meeting, a committed group has formed. Even though I was attending for the first time, it felt like a family reunion.

In some way, I was among family. The Mennonite and Catholic churches are both like home to me. As the eldest child of a Mennonite and Catholic marriage, I was raised in both churches. I learned the mystery and holiness of the sacraments of baptism and communion from the Catholics and I learned the holy joy of four-part hymn singing and the sacred value of community (and potlucks!) from the Mennonites. I have been spiritually sustained at times both by praying the rosary and by volunteering for Mennonite Central Committee.

With such committed, faithful Christians on both sides of my church family, why must we be Mennonites and Catholics? Why shouldn’t the two churches learn from each other? Continue reading “Michael Turman reflects on experiencing “double eucharist”” →

Reading Scripture, Breaking Bread: Bridgefolk 2012

Bridgefolk co-chairs Abbot John Klassen and Rev. Marlene Kropf.

Saint Joseph, MN (BRIDGEFOLK) — Forty Mennonites and Catholics gathered July 26-29 at Saint Benedict’s monastery in St. Joseph,MN for the eleventh annual Bridgefolk conference.

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’s conference was the third in series on shared practices central to the Christian life and was organized around the theme, “Formed in the Word: Scripture and Peacemaking.”  Keynote speakers were Michael Patella (Saint John’sAbbey) and Helmut Harder (Mennonite Church Canada), who gave presentations on Catholic and Mennonite ways of interpreting and applying Scripture.

In addition to historical traditions, the conference focused on spiritual practices of reading Scripture.  Continue reading “Reading Scripture, Breaking Bread: Bridgefolk 2012” →

“Deeper spirituality” by Andre Gingerich Stoner

The following article appeared in the August 20 issue of Mennonite World Review

In the mid-1980s, Dawn Ruth Nelson was part of a group of young mission workers trying to live out the Mennonite values of community, discipleship and nonviolence amid “the troubles” of Northern Ireland. When the communal living experiment ended explosively a few years later, she came to the painful awareness that her spiritual resources were not enough to sustain the ideals she was trying to practice. This led to a “desperate need for a more meaningful prayer life, a deeper spirituality, a closer connection to God” and her first silent retreat at a Catholic monastery.

When she returned to the U.S. she also began to explore the spiritual practices that had sustained Mennonites of earlier generations. Continue reading ““Deeper spirituality” by Andre Gingerich Stoner” →