[amc] MWC News Service: Mennonite delegation well received by Catholic leaders in Rome

"Ray Gingerich" <rjgingerich@xxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 6 Nov 2007 18:18:50 -0800

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Service: Mennonite delegation well received by Catholic leaders in Rome
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Subject: [Newslist.mennoworldconf] MWC News Service: Mennonite
delegationwell received by Catholic leaders in Rome

Mennonite World Conference
A community of Anabaptist-related churches
www.mwc-cmm.org<http://www.mwc-cmm.org>

News Service
November 5, 2007

Mennonite delegation well received by Catholic leaders in Rome

Strasbourg, France – When Mennonites from 10 countries spent five days with
Catholic Church leaders in Vatican City, each group was interested in
learning to know the other better. The Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity invited and hosted the Mennonite World Conference delegation
from October 18 – 23.

"We were so warmly welcomed that it was almost overwhelming," said Nancy
Heisey, MWC president. "We learned much about how the Roman Catholic Church
carries out its mission, and we were able in many of our encounters to share
our own understandings, to describe our ministries and to raise our
questions."

The invitation for the visit grew out of the international dialogue between
MWC and the Pontifical Council, which took place from 1998 to 2003 and
resulted in a 48-page report, "Called Together to be Peacemakers."

This visit provided the opportunity for Mennonite World Conference to take
responses to the report as well as concerns about the Catholic Church from
MWC member churches around the world to the Pontifical Council.

The MWC delegation also held conversations at the Pontifical Council for
Inter-religious Dialogue, the Vatican Secretariat of State, the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

"When Catholic Church leaders think of Mennonites, they see us as leading
Christian bearers of the message of peacemaking and nonviolence, which is at
the heart of the gospel," noted Larry Miller, MWC general secretary.
Beginning at the least with Pope John Paul II, key Catholic leaders, too,
see active peacemaking and non-violence rooted in Jesus Christ as normative,
not disconnected from the gospel, he said. "Pope Benedict XVI reiterated
this position in his remarks to the MWC delegation."

Memories of 16th century Anabaptist and Catholic encounters recalled that
the Anabaptist practice of baptizing believers already baptized as infants
was considered heretical and provoked persecution. The public
acknowledgement of a voluntary, adult decision to become a disciple of Jesus
Christ was not acceptable then. Now adult baptism among Catholics is seen as
"normative," according to Rev. Augustine DiNoia, Undersecretary of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and is increasing in frequency,
particularly in the global North.

Monsignor John Radano, head of the Western Section of the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity, credits Anabaptists, together with Baptists,
as "the primary proponents of adult baptism." However, he asks, "Do
Mennonites accept Catholic adult baptism?" Mennonites and Catholics agreed
that questions of baptism require much more discussion.

Conversations around the church and baptism occurred at the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger, headed
this powerful department for more than 20 years.

A disappointment for MWC delegation member Paulus Widjaja, MWC peace
commission secretary from Indonesia, was hearing that the Catholic Church
calls most other Christian churches outside the Catholic Church "ecclesial
communities," but not "churches."

"At the end of our visit, the MWC delegation formulated a document that
states what a church is in our belief. Both the Congregation for the
Doctrine of Faith and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
had stated their openness to receive such a document and to study it," he
said.

The statement, sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and
the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity following the visit,
identifies belief in the triune God, Jesus Christ as the foundation of the
Church, empowerment by the Holy Spirit, the scriptures as the authority for
the Church, baptism as a public sign of commitment to a life of discipleship
in the Believers Church tradition, the Lord's Supper as remembrance and
corporate sharing in the body and blood of Christ and of celebration and
hope and encouragement for the Church to be one. (The statement will be
posted on the MWC web site, www.mwc-cmm.org<http://www.mwc-cmm.org/>,
together with this news release.)

On Sunday morning, the Mennonites attended a service at the Basilica of St.
Mary Major where they were introduced to worshippers by the Basilica's
Archpriest. They also prayed together at the catacombs and fellowshipped
with leaders of the Focolari, an important lay movement within the Catholic
Church, where they heard testimonies of meeting Jesus and of changed lives.

"I have the impression that these Focolari are people who genuinely commit
themselves to live out the gospel in their daily lives....How wonderful and
peaceful our world would become if only all Christians had the commitment
and tried hard to live the gospel and Christ's love in our daily lives as do
the Focolari," reflected Widjaja.

On October 19, the delegation had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, who
said to them, "Since it is Christ Himself who calls us to seek Christian
unity, it is entirely right and fitting that Mennonites and Catholics have
entered into dialogue in order to understand the reasons for the conflict
that arose between us in the 16th century. To understand is to take the
first step towards healing."

Pope Benedict also spoke of a common understanding of nonviolence and active
peacemaking at the heart of the gospel and of a continuing search for unity.
"Our witness will remain impaired as long as the world sees our divisions,"
he concluded.

In her remarks to the Pope on behalf of MWC, Heisey spoke of the "great
common heritage of faith...[and] the challenges of being God's people in
this time" that Mennonites and Catholics share. She noted "the role of the
church in matters of mission and evangelism, peace and justice, and a life
of discipleship" and "the complexities of relationship between church and
society" as other common struggles.

"As Mennonites, we have something to share and to learn at the same time,"
said Mulugeta Zewdie, delegation member from Ethiopia and general secretary
of the Meserete Kristos Church, at the end of the visit. "The dialogue and
this visit can help [us] fellowship with Catholics at the local level. I
encourage MWC to continue to work on this fellowship."

The visit by the MWC delegation captured the attention of the media. The
international Catholic press published stories and Vatican Radio and
Television conducted an interview with Miller and Heisey.

At the end of the visit, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity and MWC leaders discussed both the visit and the question of future
contact. MWC leaders want to report to and get direction from the General
Council, which meets next in 2009. Catholic Church leaders desire dialogue
with Mennonites and will adapt to the MWC timetable, noted Miller.

MWC appointed delegates from the five continental regions included General
Council members Nancy Heisey (North America), Mulugeta Zewdie (Africa),
Thijn Thijink (Europe), Paulus Widjaja (Asia), and Victor Wall (Latin
America).

Delegates from MWC member churches that accepted invitations to send
representatives were Lene-Marie Funck-Späth, German Mennonite churches; Ron
Penner, Evangelical Mennonite Conference, Canada; and Iris de
Leon-Hartshorn, Mennonite Church USA.

Participating MWC staff members were general secretary Larry Miller (France)
and Helmut Harder (Canada), co-chair, Catholic/MWC International Dialogue.

- Ferne Burkhardt
MWC news editor

Photos available on request:

 1.  (Credit: Servizio Fotograpfico de L'.O.R., Citta del Vaticano) Nancy
Heisey, MWC President, presents a framed image of Anabaptist martyr Dirk
Willems of Asperen, the Netherlands, to Pope Benedict XVI. She told the
story of Willems, who was captured, tried and convicted, but escaped from
prison in 1569. Willems fled across the thin ice of a pond, but when the
guard who pursued him broke through the ice, Willems turned back and rescued
him. Willems was recaptured and soon burned at the stake.
 2.  Larry Miller, MWC General Secretary, presents a copy of In God's Image,
a book describing the global Anabaptist family with photos and text, to
Cardinal William Joseph Levada, president of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith. In the background is Charles Brown, an American staff
member.
 3.  (Credit: Helmut Harder) Larry Miller also presented a copy of In God's
Image and the Martyrs Mirror  to Cardinal Casper of the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity. (left to right: Miller, Cardinal Casper,
Monsignor John Radano, Bishop Farrell)
 4.  The MWC delegation with leaders of the Focolari in Rome.

***
Mennonite World Conference is a communion (Koinonia) of Anabaptist-related
churches linked to one another in a worldwide community of faith for
fellowship, worship, service, and witness.

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