Tag: Bridgefolk

Advent greetings from Bridgefolk

 

Dear friends,

The season of Advent is a time of hopeful expectation and prayerful reflection.  At Bridgefolk, we share in this spirit of hope for what is to come, as well as gratitude for what has been.  The past year has brought many blessings to the Bridgefolk movement:  A successful conference at MCC Welcoming Place challenged and enriched us.  New friends have broadened our circle.  Developments in ecumenical dialogue have given us cause for hope and renewed opportunities for progress.  We have much cause for praise and celebration.

At the same time, we are aware that we rely on the support of committed friends of Bridgefolk to continue to pursue the vision set before us.  In the coming year, we hope to devote resources to adjusting our administrative structure, developing our annual conference and encouraging participation in local and broader Bridgefolk activities.  To meet our aspirations, we will rely on your support.

We invite you to take a moment during this busy time to consider making a financial contribution to the ongoing work of Bridgefolk.  Your contribution will help ensure that the work of Bridgefolk moves forward in the coming year.

Bridgefolk is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.  Your contributions will be tax deductible. Please consider sending a check of $50, $100, $250 or more to Bridgefolk, Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville MN 56321.  You can also donate online by going to http://bridgefolk.net/howtohelp.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.

In deep gratitude,

 

Marlene Kropf and Abbot John Klassen,
Bridgefolk Co-Chairs

Margaret Pfeil finalist, Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement

Margaret Pfeil

Dr. Margaret Pfeil, assistant professor of moral theology at the University of Notre Dame and a leader in Bridgefolk, was recently honored as one of seven finalists for the Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement for Early Career Faculty in the United States.  The award “recognizes a faculty member who connects his or her teaching, research, and service to community engagement.”   Continue reading “Margaret Pfeil finalist, Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement” →

Andy Martin joins Bridgefolk Board, strengthening Canadian voice

Bridgefolk is pleased to welcome Andy Martin of Elmira, Ontario, Canada, on to its board.  Andy is married to Colleen and they have three (nearly) adult children. He grew up in Waterloo region in the conservative Mennonite church, which split from the (Old) Mennonite church in the late 1950s in order to hold to a more conservative practice and theology. At the age of 31 Andy left his community of origin and his career as an automotive technician and owner of several small businesses to pursue an education. “From the beginning this was a journey to discover the bigger questions in life,” he explains.

Andy completed an undergrad degree in music and a master’s degree in counseling in Manitoba at Providence College and Seminary and a master’s degree in theology from Conrad Grebel University College/University of Waterloo, with a thesis on the influence of fundamentalism on the conservative Mennonite movement directed by Mennonite historian and Bridgefolk participant Arnold Snyder. Continue reading “Andy Martin joins Bridgefolk Board, strengthening Canadian voice” →

Bridgefolk celebrates the fruit God brings through human failure

News release on 2011 Bridgefolk conference

By Gerald W. Schlabach

Bridgefolk co-founder Ivan Kauffman speaks during discussion following panel on common worship. Panel members, left to right: Stanley Kropf (moderator), Mary Schertz and Alice Noe.

Akron, Pennsylvania (BRIDGEFOLK) – “The Holy Spirit works in and through human failure, not around it,” Mennonite biblical scholar Mary Schertz told Catholics and Mennonites gathered at the headquarters of Mennonite Central Committee August 4-7 for the 2011 conference of Bridgefolk, a grassroots movement for dialogue and unity between Mennonites and Roman Catholics.

Peter was in a position to deny Jesus only because he was trying to be faithful to his promise, Schertz explained.  He risked his life to follow Jesus into the courtyard near where he stood trial.  “God worked the birth of the church out of human failure,” noted the Bridgefolk board member and professor of New Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.  “Failure will always be present in the life of the church, but it doesn’t have to have the last word.  So too with Bridgefolk.  God has been at work through our failure.”

Schertz’s insight helped conference participants name the mix of joy and pain that they continue to share as Bridgefolk enters its second decade as a movement.  “This was Bridgefolk’s tenth annual conference,” Bridgefolk co-founder Weldon Nisly commented later, “and I think we have matured.  We feel the pain of church disunity as acutely as ever.  But holding that pain together has also led to a deep trust and mutual love.  We are clearer than ever that it is only ours to live in hope, not to ‘fix’ the church’s disunity.   Yet we find ourselves celebrating the fruit that God has brought from our failure.” Continue reading “Bridgefolk celebrates the fruit God brings through human failure” →

Death of Doris Murphy

We have just received news of the death of Doris Murphy, a Bridgefolk friend who contributed enthusiastically to some of our early conferences.  Her obituary follows.

Doris Helen Murphy, age 74, of Ellsworth, Wis., passed away at home on Aug. 11 after a short illness.

She was cared for in her final weeks by her family.

Doris was born on Feb. 7, 1937, in Big River, to the late Edward Bernard Murphy and Edna Anna (Schommer) Murphy.

She was a member of the Benedictine Religious Community until 1987. She earned a degree in education from Viterbo College, a master’s degree in music history with a concentration in liturgical music from The Catholic University of America, and a master’s degree in theology from St. John’s University School of Theology. Continue reading “Death of Doris Murphy” →

Woman’s journey from Mennonite to Catholic is a two-way street

Bridgefolk brings 2 churches together for dialog, worship

Dorothy Harnish

Dorothy Harnish is one of the local organizers for this year’s Bridgefolk conference in Akron, Pennsylvania.  A local paper in Lancaster did the following feature story on her:

By JOAN KERN
Correspondent
Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal / New Era

Dorothy Harnish was a cradle Mennonite. And a teen Mennonite and a young adult Mennonite and a middle-aged Mennonite.

But now she’s a senior citizen Catholic, a member of Lancaster’s St. Leo the Great Catholic Church.

Harnish, 69, of Landisville, will gather with about 75 other Catholics and Mennonites at the 11th annual Bridgefolk Conference, Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 7. Continue reading “Woman’s journey from Mennonite to Catholic is a two-way street” →

Bridgefolk 2011 to explore hospitality, forgiveness, common worship

News release

MCC Welcoming Place
MCC Welcoming Place

Akron, PA (Bridgefolk) – Mennonites and Catholics will join together this summer in prayer and friendship at the tenth annual Bridgefolk summer conference.  Entitled “Practices for our Life Together in Christ,” the 2011 summer conference will take place August 4-7 in Akron, Pennsylvania, and focus on the practices of hospitality, forgiveness, and common worship.

This summer’s conference will be the second in a series of summer conferences focusing on nine “key practices” of Bridgefolk. Over the course of three years, Bridgefolk conferences are exploring spiritual practices that sustain the active Christian lives of both Catholics and Mennonites. Mennonite Central Committee’s Welcoming Place will host the gathering. Continue reading “Bridgefolk 2011 to explore hospitality, forgiveness, common worship” →

Article explores hospitality in worship

Bridgefolk participant Heather Grennan Gary explored hospitality and worship in a recently published article in U.S. Catholic. Heather shares with the following introduction for the article:

The hospitality I’ve encountered within a Mennonite context has been a special and surprising gift. I wrote the following article in part to uphold it as an example worth emulating especially within Catholic parishes, where there’s frequently a need to step up the level of hospitality toward visitors, newcomers, regular attendees, and longtime members alike.

While this article necessarily focuses on the inhospitable feeling I experienced at a specific parish, it’s certainly not just about this parish—nearly every parish community I’ve visited or attended over the years has room for improvement. And while I chose not to mention the denomination of the hospitable church for the purposes of this article, I hope Bridgefolk recognize it as Mennonite.

Read the article here.

Visit us on Facebook to discuss questions from the author.