The body of Christ is sadly broken
by Julia Smucker, Orodara, Burkina Faso
As a Mennonite who has developed certain Catholic sympathies in recent years, I found Chad Mason’s article “Mennonite but Not Anabaptist” (Jan. 8) a compelling argument for recognition of all baptism. However, recent letters that have appeared in response reveal a tragic division.
There is more common ground between Mennonites and Catholics than many in either tradition realize, including the central role of the faith community into which one enters at baptism. The key difference is whether baptism is seen as a sacramental cleansing or a public declaration of faith. Yet even these views ought to be complementary rather than divisive. Like Communion, the meaning of baptism is diluted when we insist on the mere symbolism of the act.
It is true that the earliest Christians baptized only new believers because there were not yet “Christian homes” into which they could be born (although the “households” mentioned in Acts may well have included young children).
Whether this is prescriptive for Christians at all times is open to debate. I am still inclined to see believer’s baptism as preferable. But I am hard pressed to find any biblical basis for rebaptism.
If I were to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, there would be no need to be rebaptized, since my baptism in the Mennonite church was a valid trinitarian baptism and is recognized as such by the Catholic Church—which affirms one baptism.
I once asked a respected Catholic pedagogue, “If we can recognize one baptism, why can’t we recognize one Communion?”
I am now saddened to realize that there is not even one sacrament that is universally recognized by all Christians. As long as this is the case, the body of Christ remains sadly broken.
Editor’s note: In our Feb. 19 issue we announced that no more letters would be published in response to Mason’s article. We decided to publish Smucker’s letter, however, because of the lag time required for mail to her village in Burkina Faso.
Associated Issue: Mennonite but not Anabaptist - Jan. 8, 2008
Associated Article: Mennonite but not Anabaptist
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