ecumenical conversation

Bridgefolk asks how to repair harm to Indigenous Peoples

Muriel Bechtel, left, Jay Freel Landry, John Stoesz, Fr. William Skudlarek OSB, and Samantha Lioi are pictured at the Bridgefolk hymnsing. (Photo by Gerald W. Schlabach)

Jaime Arsenault, tribal historic preservation officer for the White Earth Nation. (Photo by Gerald W. Schlabach)

Reverend Jim Bear Jacobs of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. (Photo by Gerald W. Schlabach)

John Stoesz of Mountain Lake, Minn. (Photo by Gerald W. Schlabach)

Abbot John Klassen of St. John’s Abbey takes part in a panel discussion with Bridgefolk founders Weldon Nisly, on screen, Gerald W. Schlabach, and Marlene Kropf about the history of Bridgefolk. (Photo by Joetta Schlabach)

Participants in the Bridgefolk movement for dialogue and greater unity between Mennonites and Roman Catholics have long made the phrase, “Proceed through friendship,” their byword.

Deepening the meaning of baptism

Cristina Vanin, second from left, responds to feedback at the ‘One Baptism? A Symposium on Baptism and the Christian Life’ event during a panel discussion. Also pictured, from left to right: John Rempel, Mary (Joy) Philip, Anthony Siegrist and facilitator Jeremy Bergen. (Photo by Janet Bauman)

After five years of meetings by an international commission of Mennonites, Lutherans and Roman Catholics on the topic of baptism, John Rempel, the commission’s Mennonite representative, presented a trilateral report from that dialogue at an event called “One Baptism? A Symposium on Baptism and the Christian Life,” at Waterloo North Mennonite Church on Nov. 8.

Mennonite and Reformed representatives seek a common witness

From left: John D. Roth, César García, Thomas Yoder Neufeld and Reformed Pastor Peter Detwiller cross the Limmat River in Zurich to visit Reformed and Anabaptist sites. (Photo by J. Nelson Kraybill)

“Reformed and Anabaptist are branches from the same tree,” said Hanspeter Jecker, a Mennonite theologian from Switzerland. “Anabaptist convictions that once were controversial—such as the voluntary nature of church membership and rejection of capital punishment—are now accepted by many Christian groups.

Catholic-Mennonite gathering planned for Winnipeg

St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., has hosted numerous Mennonite-Catholic gatherings. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Ewing, Creative Commons)

One could say Anabaptism began as a rebellion against Catholicism. Our forebears bled and died so we could be not-Catholic.

Building unity in the body of Christ

The Anglican Church of Canada-Mennonite Church Canada dialogue began in 2016. It had its first face-to-face meeting in 2018. (Image by Ron Porter/Pixabay)

There are hundreds of denominations within Christianity, and it can be easy to focus on the differences between them all. But a group of Mennonites and Anglicans is breaking through those walls.

Mennonite pastors and scholars involved in ecumenical gathering

Speakers at the event, “Behold! I do a new thing: Emerging perspectives in ministry” spoke of their yearning for ecumenical interaction. (CMU photo)

“I wonder whether Jesus’ call for Christian unity isn’t an invitation to focus on what unites rather than divides us, in order to see that everyone brings something valuable to God’s kingdom.” So said Kathy Koop, pastor of Winnipeg First Mennonite Church, in reflecting on a recent ecumenical gathering.

Mennonite helps Lutherans commemorate the Reformation

Mennonite Willard Metzger shares a sermon with delegates to the 16th Biennial Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Metzger is executive director of Mennonite Church Canada. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada photo)

Serving communion at the 16th Biennial Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) was a profoundly humbling experience for Willard Metzger.

“I felt as though I was surrounded by a huge cloud of Anabaptist witnesses from the past,” says Mennonite Church Canada’s executive director.

The significance of that statement is deeply rooted in history.

In the face of in/difference

As I write this I am flying over the ocean, returning from an international ecumenical gathering in the north of Italy. People from across the world were there, including some from countries I had never met people from. Places like Myanmar. Places like Senegal. And places like Germany, Italy, U.S.A, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, Iraq, Chile, Sweden, China, India, Lebanon, Korea, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Russia, Nepal, and so many more.

ecumenical conversation

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