Tag: Mennonite World Conference

Ivan Kauffman surveys 50 years of Mennonite-Catholic dialogue

Earlier this month Bridgefolk co-founder Ivan Kauffman spoke at Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana.  His talk offers a succinct overview of how Mennonite-Catholic dialogue has unfolded in the last 50 years. 

Called Together to Be Peacemakers
Mennonite Catholic Dialogue 1962-2012

Ivan J. Kauffman
Assembly Mennonite Church
Goshen, Indiana
July 8, 2012

It has been said we over-estimate what can be changed in one year, and under-estimate what can be changed in ten years. My life experience confirms that. But I would add that we can not even imagine the change that can take place in 50 years.

When the Second Vatican Council opened 50 years ago this October I was a student at Goshen College, at a time when Carl Kreider was still wearing a plain coat, and Mary Oyer was still wearing a covering. None of us then had any idea this event would affect us—that it would permanently change relationships between Mennonites and Catholics and launch us into a new era in the Church’s peace witness—but that is what has happened.

I could keep us here for hours telling stories about how this happened but I will briefly mention only a few. Continue reading “Ivan Kauffman surveys 50 years of Mennonite-Catholic dialogue” →

MWC requests prayer for Honduran church following murder of pastor

Mennonite World Conference has issued the following press release in the wake of the murder of Rafael Erasmo Arevalo, a Mennonite pastor in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras.  Bridgefolk participant Joetta Schlabach has been traveling in Central America and had recently talked with other church workers in the Copán area.  Motives for the murder are not known, but Schlabach reports that tensions are high in the area.  In many parts of the country, gang and drug-related violence are exacerbating a repressive climate continuing in the wake of a 2009 coup in Honduras.  Further tensions in the Copán area surround efforts to organize miners working for Canadian mining companies.  

On Sunday, January 22, Rafael Erasmo Arevalo, a Mennonite pastor in Honduras, was attacked and killed after leading an evening worship service. Arevalo, from Santa Rosa de Copán, drove about 20 kilometres north to Veracruz, where he had led worship services for the past 10 years.

According to a report in a Honduran newspaper, La Prensa, Arevalo parked his car at the home of a Veracruz city councilor and then walked to the church. When he returned to his car after the worship service, he was attacked by “unknown persons.” His body was not discovered until the next morning, about five kilometers from the scene of the attack. Continue reading “MWC requests prayer for Honduran church following murder of pastor” →

Larry Miller reflects on 22 years at the helm of Mennonite World Conference

Mennonite World Conference
news release

by Phyllis Pellman Good

“As long as the wind is in its sails. . .”

Larry Miller remembers one moment clearly when, as a 38-year-old, he was weighing whether or not to accept the nomination to lead Mennonite World Conference. The year was 1988, 23 years ago, and he was sitting in a university library in Strasbourg, France, where he lived.

“I was working on my dissertation, and I looked up and noticed a book by one of my professors on a shelf. I pulled it down. It was dusty, and no one had ever checked it out. I suddenly realized that I was poised to write those kinds of books!”

Miller speaks at the 2009 Executive Committee meetings in Paraguay. To his left are Danisa Ndlovu, incoming MWC president that year, and Nancy Heisey, who was completing her term as president. Photo: Merle Good

Miller was finishing his doctorate in New Testament and was under consideration for a graduate-level teaching position in that field in the Protestant faculty at the University of Strasbourg. But something unexpected had come his way. The European Mennonite churches had together nominated him to be Executive Secretary of Mennonite World Conference. Continue reading “Larry Miller reflects on 22 years at the helm of Mennonite World Conference” →

Introducing César García, in-coming MWC General Secretary

Mennonite World Conference 
news release

By Kathy Heinrichs Wiest

As one amateur Mennonite historian likes to point out, the only real Mennonite name is Menno Simons. From there on down through history, the rest of the family names are just “add-ons.” After a series of Mennonite World Conference (MWC) secretaries named Dyck (1961-73), Kraybill (1973-90) and Miller (1990-2011) the name of García stands out as an historically recent addition to the Anabaptist family.

César García’s personal story with the Mennonite family began in Bogotá, Colombia, when his mother took him and his sister to several churches in search of a new church home. Eleven-year-old César chose the Iglesia Hermanos Menonitas Dios es Amor (God is Love Mennonite Brethren Church) as the place they would settle.

That choice was the first step on a continuing journey for García, who has come to treasure Anabaptist theology and history and has given his life to scholarship, to mission and to shaping the church from an Anabaptist perspective. Continue reading “Introducing César García, in-coming MWC General Secretary” →

MWC’s Larry Miller to lead Global Christian Forum

Larry Miller
Larry Miller

Strasbourg, France (MWC)–The Global Christian Forum (GCF) has appointed Larry Miller to become its first full-time Secretary when he completes nearly 22 years as the General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC).

The GCF, formed in 1998, is a growing global initiative that seeks to bring leaders of all Christian churches in the world together to foster mutual respect and to address common challenges.

Miller will begin officially with the GCF on January 1, 2012, at the same time that César García, MWC’s next General Secretary, assumes the position after a time of transition. Continue reading “MWC’s Larry Miller to lead Global Christian Forum” →

MWC names first general secretary from the global South

César García has been leader in Mennonite-Catholic dialogue in Colombia

César García of Bogotá, Colombia, General Secretary-elect of Mennonite World ConferenceMennonite World Conference has just announced the appointment of its next General Secretary.  A search of Bridgefolk’s online archives suggests that García already has a record of involvement in Mennonite-Catholic dialogue in Colombia and advocacy for continued dialogue at the international level.  Here is the MWC press release:

Taipei, Taiwan (MWC) — For the first time, a leader from the global South will become the General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC). On May 4, the MWC Executive Committee formally appointed César García of Bogotá, Colombia, as General Secretary-elect, to succeed Larry Miller on January 1, 2012.

“I am excited about the possibility of serving in the leadership of MWC with the purpose of praying, thinking and acting as part of Christ’s global church,” García said, following his acceptance of the call. “God is glorified when the multicultural interdependency of his church is evidenced in our way of doing theology, practicing ecclesiology and bearing Christian witness in the world.”

Continue reading “MWC names first general secretary from the global South” →

Lutherans and Mennonites seek reconciliation, forgiveness

STUTTGART, Germany– In what Bishop Mark S. Hanson, President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), described as possibly “the most significant legacy this Assembly will leave,” the Eleventh Assembly of the LWF today took the historic step of asking the Mennonites for forgiveness for past persecutions. Delegates unanimously approved a statement calling Lutherans to express their regret and sorrow for past wrongdoings towards Anabaptists and asking for forgiveness.

Hanson described the act of repentance and reconciliation as “communion building and communion defining. “We will not just look back; we will also look towards together to God’s promised future.” Continue reading “Lutherans and Mennonites seek reconciliation, forgiveness” →

Mennonite World Conference endorses dialogue with Catholics, Lutherans

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – During its annual meeting in July, the Executive Committee of Mennonite World Conference approved participation in a tri-lateral conversation with the Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.  General Secretary Larry Miller reflected: “Because of our history, we Anabaptists have often seen ourselves as heirs of martyrs, and we need to come to terms with how that affects our view of the world.  We also need to see ourselves as members of the wider body of Christ, called to give an account of our convictions and practices, and to receive others as they do likewise.”  The dialogue will begin in 2011.  The full report can be found here.

Vatican’s ecumenical council proposes renewed dialogue with Mennonites

A recent Information Service publication of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) includes news that the PCPCU has sent a letter to the Mennonite World Council “proposing a round of conversations.”  The council suggests that this new round of dialogue begin in late 2010 or early 2011, and that discussions center on “the theology and practice of baptism in our communities”.

The news is part of an article reporting on last year’s Mennonite World Conference assembly in Paraguay: Continue reading “Vatican’s ecumenical council proposes renewed dialogue with Mennonites” →