Tag: Bridgefolk

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” →

Bridgefolk Conference 2014 to be held on the theme of service

The thirteenth annual Bridgefolk Conference is slated for July 24-27, 2014 at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN. Our conference theme this year is Service–An Overflow of Christ’s Love. The Catholic keynote speaker will be Vincent Guider, director of the North Lawndale Kinship Initiative at Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago’s West Side. The Mennonite keynote speaker will be Elizabeth Soto Albrecht, moderator of Mennonite Church USA. In addition to keynote addresses, the conference will include times and spaces for worship, discussion, reflection, story-sharing, and fellowship as well as participation in service projects. Please look for conference registration information to be posted in the near future on the Bridgefolk website (www.bridgefolk.net). As a grassroots movement of Catholics and Mennonites “proceeding through friendship,” Bridgefolk welcomes all those interested to join us at the conference.  We hope to see you there!

12th annual Bridgefolk conference meets in Waterloo

Collegeville, MN (BRIDGEFOLK) — Meeting for the first time in Canada, the 12th annual Bridgefolk conference was held July 25-28 at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario under the theme, “Reconciliation: A Way to Peace.”

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.

Previous conferences have alternated between Catholic and Mennonite locations in the United States.  Of the sixty participants gathered for this year’s conference, about thirty-five were Mennonite and twenty-five Catholic.  Half the participants were from Canada, with the other half being mainly from the United States in addition to a couple participants from outside of North America.

The conference’s keynote speakers were Christian McConnell, who teaches Liturgical Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, and John Rempel, director of the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre, both of whom spoke on practices of reconciliation within their respective churches’ traditions. Continue reading “12th annual Bridgefolk conference meets in Waterloo” →

News release on 2013 Bridgefolk conference

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2013 Bridgefolk conference to focus on reconciliation
News release
June 6, 2013

Collegeville, MN (Bridgefolk) – Bridgefolk, the Mennonite-Catholic ecumenical organization, will hold its 12th annual conference July 25-28 at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  The conference theme, “Reconciliation: A Way to Peace,” is one of a series focusing on key spiritual practices that unite both Mennonites and Roman Catholics.  Continue reading “News release on 2013 Bridgefolk conference” →

Register now for Bridgefolk 2013 conference!

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Bridgefolk 2013 online registration is now open!  Under the theme “Reconciliation: A Way to Peace,” Bridgefolk is holding its 12th annual conference July 25-28 at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  The conference will feature John Rempel (Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre) and Christian McConnell (St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto) as keynote speakers.  Conference sessions will include times of worship, instruction, reflection, and fellowship (including agape meal, hymn sing, and ice cream social!).  As a grassroots movement of Catholics and Mennonites “proceeding through friendship,” Bridgefolk welcomes all those interested to join us.  Day registration options are available for Friday and Saturday.  Child care will be provided on request.  For registration, schedule, and travel information, go to http://www.bridgefolk.net/conferences/bridgefolk-2013.

Ivan Kauffman: Pope Francis and peace

Bridgefolk perspectives on Pope Francis

For the past half-century, ever since John XXIII and Vatican II, the popes have been strong advocates of peace. Since John Paul II they have been non-Italians. And beginning with John Paul they have been increasingly attractive to the evangelical community. If early indications endure, this trend will continue under Pope Francis—and if so it will be strengthened, and likely become permanent. This has profound and long-lasting significance for the Mennonite-Catholic reconciliation in which Bridgefolk has played an important role.

This is very good news, but it also comes with a price. A pope from Argentina inevitably brings the legacy of that nation’s “Dirty War” with him—and with it the Churches’ inaction during the reign of terror and state-sanctioned murder, which impacted all the Americas, including the United States in that period. Along with the gift of this attractive new papacy we must now confront our unwillingness and our inability to deal with this great mass of political evil.

In his final speech before being elected pope and choosing the name Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio told his fellow cardinals he heard Jesus knocking at the door, but that he heard Jesus knocking from inside the Church, asking to be let out into the world. It is widely believed this speech played a major role in his election. Belonging to a Church which goes out with Christ into the world’s evil and suffering will be a very different experience for most of us. It will require not only personal and political change, it will require some new institutions.  But this is an opportunity, not a burden, and it is one that both Catholics and Mennonites can enthusiastically embrace. Let us do so.

Ivan J. Kaufman is a co-founder of the Bridgefolk movement.

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” →

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” →