Week of Christian Unity 2021: A Report from the Vatican

On the occasion of the just-completed Week of Christian Unity, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily newspaper, has published a report on the state of ecumenical dialogue by Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The report mentions the trilateral Lutheran-Catholic-Mennonite dialogue, along with some 15 other bilateral dialogues and discussions in which the pontifical council was engaged during 2020.

Mutual understanding and reciprocal trust

22 January 2021

The year 2020 will long be remembered for the transformation of life, communal and personal, caused by the pandemic. The Ecumenical world, too, has suffered from the restriction imposed due to the health crisis. In relationships among Christians, divided but eager to overcome separations, personal contacts are essential. The mutual understanding and reciprocal trust necessary to deepen communion are born and grow only through encounter. Many meetings, many church gatherings and ecumenical dialogues have had to be cancelled or postponed to a future date. Certain meetings have been replaced by video conferences, but there is no doubt that a conversation mediated by technology does not produce the same effect as an exchange of ideas, beliefs, and motivations that takes place in person. Yet, even in this fateful year, the search for Christian unity has continued, and has made progress. Sixty years after its founding (June 1960), the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (pcpuc) carries onward with conviction its mandate: to promote ecumenism in the Catholic Church and the relationships of the Catholic Church with other Christians, in their Churches and communities. …

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Trilateral report on baptism by Lutherans, Catholics, Mennonites released

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
News release
30 July 2020

Representatives of the Catholic Church, the Lutheran World Federation, and the Mennonite World Conference met periodically from 2012-2017. These trilateral Conversations focused on the understanding and practice of Baptism in light of contemporary missional challenges facing these Christian communities.

The final report entitled Baptism and Incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church summarizes the outcome of these Conversations. The text is published together with a Catholic Commentary authored by Professor Peter Casarella (Duke University, USA). The report is published as a study document in the hope that through wide diffusion, both within the three communities and among Christians in general, it will contribute to better mutual understanding on the mystery of Baptism and greater faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

The report treats three fundamental themes: 1) the relationship between Baptism, sin and grace; 2) the celebration of Baptism and the communication of grace and faith in the context of the Christian community; 3) the living out of Baptism in Christian discipleship.

The publication of the report was announced by a joint communiqué issued for the publication of the report.

Participants in the meetings on behalf of the Mennonites were Prof Dr Alfred Neufeld † (co-chair, Paraguay); Prof. Dr Fernando Enns (Germany); Revd Rebecca Adongo Osiro (Kenya); Prof. Dr John Rempel (Canada); Revd Dr Larry Miller (co-secretary, France/USA).

Lutheran delegation members were Prof. Dr Friederike Nüssel (co-chair, Germany); Bishop Emeritus Dr Musawenkosi Biyela (South Africa); Prof. Dr Theodor Dieter (France); Revd Prof. Peter Li (Hong Kong-China); Revd Raj Bharath Patta (India/UK); and Revd Dr Kaisamari Hintikka (co-secretary, Finland/Switzerland).

Catholic Church delegation members were Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, IMC (co-chair, Colombia); Revd Prof. William Henn, OFM Cap (USA/Italy); Revd Prof. Luis Melo, SM (Canada); Sister Prof. Dr Marie-Hélène Robert, NDA (France); and Revd Avelino González-Ferrer (co-secretary, USA/Vatican).

Fr. William Skudlarek OSB Named Interim Coordinator

Darrin Snyder Belousek <darrin.w.snyderbelousek@gmail.com> announces that henceforth Rev. William Skudlarek OSB <wskudlarek@csbsju.edu> succeeds to his former duties as Bridgefolk’s Executive Director.

Fr. William’s Bridgefolk title is Interim Coordinator. Dom William is a monk of Saint John’s Abbey and serves as the international Secretary General of the official Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.

Reconciliation recounted at regional ELCA gathering

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Mennonite Church USA) — Events in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2010 brought Lutherans and Mennonites to tears and embraces in northern Indiana this month.

More than 20 Mennonites participated in a choir that led participants in hymns on June 11 during the closing worship at the annual assembly of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Leslie French, Indiana-Kentucky Synod Communicator)

During the June 9–11 annual assembly of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in South Bend, Indiana, more than 500 synod members and 25 local Mennonites heard the story of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation that happened between Lutherans and Mennonites at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) assembly in 2010, regarding the historic persecution of Anabaptists by Lutherans.

“The drama and significance of this 30-year process of reconciliation moved the audience,” said André Gingerich Stoner, director of interchurch relations for Mennonite Church USA, who shared the story along with Kathryn Johnson, director of ecumenical and inter-religious relations for the ELCA, during a presentation to the assembly on Saturday morning, June 11. Continue reading “Reconciliation recounted at regional ELCA gathering” →

Major new resource documents Mennonite ecumenical dialogue

PICKWICK_Template — Click here to order from publisher.

Ecumenical dialogue is not an end in itself. It serves as an indispensable instrument to overcome the divisive, mutual misinterpretations of the past. Ecumenical encounters pave the way toward healing painful memories and lead to a deeper understanding of the church’s given unity, thus becoming a more credible witness of that truth.

Edited by Fernando Enns and Jonathan Seiling, Mennonites in Dialogue is a collection of all conversation texts involving Mennonites on international and national levels, covering forty years of encounters with Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists, and Seventh-Day Adventists, among others. The texts illustrate growth in agreement as well as identify the remaining convictions that still divide. Continue reading “Major new resource documents Mennonite ecumenical dialogue” →

Remembering Ivan J. Kauffman, Bridgefolk co-founder

Bridgefolk co-founder Ivan J. Kauffman died on July 15 in Philadelphia, surrounded by family, after suffering a massive stroke 11 days earlier. A funeral mass for Ivan was held on Monday morning, July 27 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Philadelphia, PA. A memorial service was also held in Goshen, Indiana, on Sunday, August 2, at College Mennonite Church. The family requested that memorial donations be made to Catholic Relief Services (crs.org) or Mennonite Central Committee (mcc.org).

Two other Bridgefolk co-founders shared their tributes to Ivan at the recent Bridgefolk conference:

The pope’s arrival and the only Mennonite in the room

Sep 28, 2015 by Sheldon Good, For Mennonite World Review

WASHINGTON — I’m sure I was the only Mennonite there.

It was a cool, clear morning, with stars visible even through the urban twilight, as I cruised the six-mile bicycle ride from northeast Washington to downtown at 5 a.m. Sept. 23. I had been to 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue dozens of times before, but this time felt different. My adrenaline was pumping. The combination of streetlights and flashlights created a mixture of illumination and shadow. Cutting through the darkness, bodies were moving, directions were being given, expectations were high.

When I covered President Obama as a senior at Goshen (Ind.) College during his visit in 2009 to Elkhart County, his first speech outside of Washington as president, I learned how political reporting can be memorable, and an honor, yet not especially dignifying. I was reminded of this recently while at the White House.

I.D., please, the Secret Service officer said. I showed it to him. He motioned for me to pass. It was really happening.

Continue reading “The pope’s arrival and the only Mennonite in the room” →

Bridgefolk 2015 explores miracle of ecumenical healing

Collegeville, MN (BRIDGEFOLK) — Meeting at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN, the 14^th annual Bridgefolk conference was held August 20-23 under the theme, “Ecumenical Healing and the Mystery of the Communion of Saints.”

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 and Canada. Of the ninety participants gathered for this year’s conference, about sixty were Mennonite and thirty Catholic.

This year’s conference featured an array of guests and speakers from Japan, including members of the Mennonite communities in Japan and of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) in Japan. The keynote speakers were Prof. Nozomu Yamada and Fr. Alfonso Fausone SVD, both of Nanazan (Catholic) University in Nagoya, Japan. Continue reading “Bridgefolk 2015 explores miracle of ecumenical healing” →