Mennonite delegation meets the Pope

Mennonite World Conference sends a group from 10 countries to Rome.

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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 (MWC) delegation Oct. 18-23.



Nancy Heisey presents a framed image of Anabaptist martyr Dirk Willems to Pope Benedict XVI. Photo by Citta del Vaticano.

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 MWC 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.

“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,” says Larry Miller, MWC general secretary. “Beginning at the least with Pope John Paul II, key Catholic leaders, too, see active peacemaking and nonviolence rooted in Jesus Christ as normative, not disconnected from the gospel, he says.

Pope Benedict XVI reiterated this position in his remarks to the MWC delegation on Oct. 19.

“Since it is Christ himself who calls us to seek Christian unity,” he said, “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 toward healing.”

In Nancy Heisey’s remarks to the Pope on behalf of MWC, she 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.

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 asked, “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 Paulus Widjaja, delegation member and 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,” Widjaja said.

The statement will be posted on the MWC Web site, www.mwc-cmm.org.

MWC appointed delegates from the five continental regions, including General Council members 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 Miller (France) and Helmut Harder (Canada),
co-chair, Catholic/MWC International Dialogue.—Ferne Burkhardt of MWC

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