Mennonite firm sues over Obamacare contraception coverage

December 07, 2012
By Amy Worden
Philadelphia Inquirer

A Mennonite-owned cabinetmaker has filed a federal suit charging that the Affordable Care Act’s mandate on contraception coverage violates its constitutional rights.

Conestoga Wood Specialties, citing the principles of religious freedom on which William Penn founded Pennsylvania, says in its suit, filed in U.S. District Court, that to accord to its Mennonite beliefs, it would be “sinful and immoral for the company to participate in, pay for, facilitate or otherwise support any contraception” that would have the effect of an abortion.

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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.

yamada-1-web — 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”

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.

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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” →

Catholic youth conflicted about war, reports US Catholic magazine

Conflicted generation: Millennials and the war on terror
by Ruth Graham
US Catholic, August 21, 2012

Caleb is a 22-year-old Navy veteran who headed to boot camp as soon as he graduated from high school and quickly found himself in Iraq, where he spent most of his time patrolling rivers. He’s also a devout Catholic; he and his wife attend Mass every week and serve as lectors at their parish. Caleb is a confident, experienced man, but when asked to speak about both of these things at once—his support for the war and his faith—he wavers. Read more.

Mennonite Church USA reports on 2012 Bridgefolk conference

Mennonite Church USA has published the following report on the 2012 Bridgefolk conference:

Roughly forty people, Mennonites and Catholics, gathered for three days of fellowship, study and worship in July, hosted by the sisters of St. Benedict Monastery in Minnesota. The group explored the formative practice of studying and praying with scripture in the two traditions. The group also engaged in ongoing discernment around Eucharist. As is the pattern at each gathering, the group participated in an agape meal, which included footwashing. The group also celebrated a “Double Eucharist.” A presider from each tradition gave a homily and then led in the ritual. Each group prayerfully observed but did not partake in the other’s ritual. The group spent several hours reflecting and sharing together about this experience. To learn more about the Bridgefolk movement visit www.bridgefolk.net.

Fall semester marks beginning of two new Catholic-Mennonite collaborations

EMU and Catholic Do Joint Engineering Program

Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) has partnered with Catholic University of America (CUA) for a new dual degree program that will prepare students to pursue peacebuilding and sustainability through engineering. Read more.

Mennonite, Catholic high schools to merge some music activities

Come September, Lancaster Mennonite High School students will be high-stepping across the football field alongside their Lancaster Catholic High School Crusaders marching band peers. Read more.

Catholics remember Anabaptist martyr

Collegeville, Minnesota (BRIDGEFOLK) – On May 20 a Benedictine abbot whose ancestors had once been Dutch Mennonites, led in commemorating the 485th anniversary of the martyrdom of Michael Sattler. Sattler had been a Benedictine, but left during the Peasants War of 1525 to become an Anabaptist leader. He is regarded as the primary author of the Schleitheim Confession.

The Abbot was Fr. John Klassen, the leader of the largest Benedictine monastery in North America, Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

The commemoration on May 20 affirmed both the nonviolent witness of Michael Sattler, and his willingness to die for the principle of religious freedom—positions now widely accepted in the Catholic community. Fourteen members of the monastic community participated, along with two Mennonite pastors. Continue reading “Catholics remember Anabaptist martyr” →