Photo: Conference participants gather around the baptismal font of St. James Cathedral. Photo by Samantha Lioi, used with permission. 

The 16th annual Bridgefolk Conference on the theme, “Pilgrimage Toward Christian Unity: Beginning with Baptism,” was held in Seattle, July 27-30. It marked the first time that this grassroots conference and conversation between Mennonites and Catholics has taken place on the west coast. Hosted by area Mennonites, conference participants gathered on the campus of Seattle University. Sixty persons—35 Mennonites, 21 Catholics and four others—participated in the conference.

The conference’s focus on baptism and formation for Christian unity built on the nearly completed international “Trilateral” conversation on baptism among the Mennonite World Conference, the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

In the conference’s opening address, Professor Maxwell Johnson of the University of Notre Dame, South

Bend, Indiana, urged conference participants to recover an ecumenical baptismal spirituality.

“Through water and the Spirit in baptism all are incorporated into the one Christ, the one Church, the one Body of Christ. And because of this, Christian unity is, above all, not a demand, not a call, but already a gift of baptism itself to be received and further realized gratefully,” he said. Johnson also noted the enticing idea, which Seattle congregations have considered, of a common font for baptisms in a local community.

At each conference, Bridgefolk seeks to highlight places and communities where the Spirit has already been at work breaking down dividing walls. James Eblen, professor emeritus at the School of Theology & Ministry (STM) at Seattle University, shared the STM story. After Vatican II, local church leaders sought ways to create new structures that would model more fully and visibly baptismal unity in Christ. STM is an intentionally ecumenical graduate school of theology and ministry located at a Jesuit university. The inscription around the baptismal font in the Chapel of St. Ignatius reads: “No barrier can divide where life unites: one faith, one fount, one spirit, makes one people.”

In response to the presentation, Weldon Nisly, Seattle, Washington, and Marlene Kropf, Port Townsend, Washington, affirmed the Mennonite partnership with STM. Jessica Wright, interim pastor of Evergreen Mennonite Church, Kirkland, Washington, shared her experiences as a Mennonite student at STM. Mennonite students at STM embrace both their Anabaptist heritage and their identity as belonging in the larger body of Christ.

At the Saturday morning session, conference participants explored draft documents from the Trilateral conversations on baptism. John Rempel, Senior Fellow at the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre and a Mennonite participant in the international conversations, was present at the conference. He highlighted the centrality of baptism in the Anabaptist reformation.

“At the heart of its [Anabaptism’s] corrective was a focus on the human response of faith to the divine initiative of grace,” he said.

Rempel invited input and comments on the drafts in hopes that the final report will benefit from grassroots ecumenical insights. Professor Anne McGowan of the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, and Professor Johnson also contributed to the panel discussion on baptism.

In addition to highlighting ecumenical scholarship, Bridgefolk conferences move through the weekend with prayer, worship, singing and the sharing of personal stories. Prayer experiences included monastic Midday Prayer and centering prayer led by Muriel Bechtel, Kitchener, Ontario.

Lectio divina, the Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, framed the Friday afternoon session. Conference participants reflected on 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

Building on themes from this Scripture passage, Lenae Nofziger of Seattle Mennonite Church and Holy Family parish in Kirkland, Washington, shared the joys and challenges of being part of a Mennonite-Catholic family. Gerald Schlabach, St. Paul, Minnesota, spoke on baptism and the immigration status of Christians.

Spiritual directors Lynn Baker, Fresno, California, Laura Funk, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Pat Shaver, Seattle, Washington, offered spiritual direction to conference participants.

For many participants, the annual hymn sing and the Footwashing Liturgy and Agape Meal are

conference highlights. This year, Randall Spaulding of Wallingford, Connecticut, led the hymn sing in the beautiful Chapel of St. Ignatius on the SU campus. Tony Brown, Pittsburgh, contributed a call and response song and Br. Aelred Senna and Mary Lehman Yoder, Goshen, Indiana, were solo voices during the sung Litany of Witnesses, which includes the names of both Mennonites and Catholics who are part of the communion of saints.

Samantha Lioi, associate pastor of East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, presided at this year’s Footwashing Liturgy. STM director of worship, Bishop Edward Donalson III, preached, sharing his mother’s lesson of the importance of extending the table.

After the Agape Meal, attendees paused to remember the late Professor Alan Kreider of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana. Nozomu Yamada, of Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, described the first time he met Alan and Eleanor at the Anabaptist Center in Tokyo, and how Alan helped him tell his family’s story of the miraculous healing of his brother, Jun, after the intercessory prayers of both Catholics and Mennonites. In open sharing facilitated by Darrin Snyder Belousek, Lima, Ohio, many other participants described how Alan had touched their lives.

An ecumenical pilgrimage on Saturday afternoon, led by Marlene and Stanley Kropf and Dirk Giseburt of the Seattle planning committee, gave conference participants an opportunity to visit local Mennonite and Catholic places of worship and see for themselves some of what is happening “on the ground” in Seattle. At Seattle Mennonite Church, lead pastor Megan Ramer welcomed pilgrims and offered a series of stories about local ministries. Participants enjoyed the opportunity to walk the labyrinth in the sanctuary and visit “God’s Lil’ Acre,” a drop-in center for people experiencing homelessness. At the second site, STM alum Brenda Bellamy, director of faith formation at Saint James Cathedral, welcomed pilgrims to the Cathedral and led a tour describing the Cathedral’s history and symbolism. Participants also had the opportunity to attend the Vigil Mass.

The conference concluded on Sunday morning with a Mennonite-led worship service in the Ecumenical Chapel, using the same lectionary texts as had been read at Mass the day before and including a renewal of baptismal promises. Marilyn Stahl, Mennonite liturgical chaplain at STM, led the worship service with Marlene Kropf. Abbot John Klassen of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, preached.

The 17th annual Bridgefolk Conference will convene July 26-29 at Saint John’s Abbey.