Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox in Wichita, Kansas

Just before nine o’clock on the morning of Friday, January 13, I was kneeling in one of the pews of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral, praying Morning Prayer from Magnificat. It was cloudy and dark outside and the Cathedral was still chilly inside, but the lamps were lit in front of the iconostasis and the icon murals on the walls and ceilings glowingly told the story of our Redemption in the Life of Christ. Third Hour Prayer was about to begin.

Around me, Orthodox Christians, other Catholics, and Protestants from various denominations joined in the prayer in different ways, either reciting the prayers along with the priest and reader, or silently joining in the doxologies, the Our Father, the repeated plea “Lord have mercy”—three times, 12 times, 40 times—and hearing the psalms of the day. Each time the doxology invoked the Trinity (Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and until the ages of ages. Amen.) the Orthodox Christians bowed and crossed themselves. This was the first day of the seventh annual Symposium offered by the Eighth Day Institute in Wichita, Kansas.

Source: Stephanie Mann  -  "Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox in Wichita, Kansas" blog entry, National Catholic Register, 20 Jan 2017, http://www.ncregister.com/blog/stephaniemann/protestants-catholics-and-orthodox-in-wichita-kansas

Br. Peter goes to Fuller

With the blessing of the monks of St. Andrew’s Abbey, Brother Peter [PhD ’87] enrolled in 1975 as the first Catholic PhD student at a Protestant school in Pasadena—Fuller Theological Seminary.

In his first classes, Brother Peter was a foreigner in a new tribe; still wearing his black Benedictine habit, he seemed a visible outsider to the students and teachers around him. It was so obvious that at the end of one quarter, Paul Jewett, the senior professor of systematic theology, invited him to the front of the class to debate the differences between Protestant and Catholic theology—a series they called the “Peter and Paul Debates.” He found that the Reformation was alive and well at Fuller, he says: “It made me a better Catholic!”


Source: Michael Wright  -  https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/a-voice-from-narnia/

Gary Kinnaman & Bishop Olmstead

2010:

Our new Phoenix Bishop Olmstead asked me and another friend to present him with a list of a dozen or so key evangelical pastors and leaders, which the Bishop invited to a luncheon at the Diocesan Center. He told us that mainline churches have a point person, as do the Mormons. (We have three Mormon temples in Phoenix.) But no one person speaks for Evangelicals. The meeting was a first for many, maybe most of the people in room. The bishop’s purpose was to call us together around our shared concerns about religious liberty, life, and family and he shared his remarkable faith journey.


2013-Present:

I’ve been told that, at the time or our lunch meeting with Bishop Olmstead, he was more interested in shared activism than in deep and personal fellowship. That changed dramatically three years ago. A dear friend and colleague, Joe Tosini, who has residences in Phoenix and Long Island, reconnected with his Italian friends Giovanni Traettino, a Pentecostal pastor, and Mateo Calisi, appointed by St. John Paul II to lead the Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church. (It’s estimated that there are 150 million Catholics who have had a deep personal experience with the Holy Spirit.)

Source: Gary Kinnaman  -  Presented during Movement Day NYC, representing the John 17 movement and Greater Phoenix and Arizona Catholic/Evangelical Bridges, as posted on the John 17 Facebook page on 1 November 2016.

Hanna Miley

My name is Hanna Zack Miley.  My father’s name is Markus Zack.  My mother, Amalie Zack, was his second wife. For the last 73 years of my life, I have not seen my father.  I could not embrace him.  The only material object that I could touch, and physically connect with him was the gravestone of his first wife located in the Jewish cemetery in Gemünd.  On June 23, 2013, that changed. 
 
When I first laid my fingers on the smooth granite that my father certainly touched decades earlier, it was early in my journey towards forgiveness and reconciliation. Rightly would my father and mother have also had gravestones in the Gemünd cemetery.  But they had no gravestones at all. They were Jews in Nazi Germany.  
 
In the winter of 1938, our little family of three moved from Gemünd to Cologne. I am not sure if we left under duress or voluntarily, looking for anonymity in a big city.
 
In Cologne my parents saved my life by placing me on the Kindertransport, number 8,814 of 10,000 Jewish children allowed to leave Germany.  In 1942, they too left Cologne on a train – but not one bound for Great Britain, where mine had taken me. They went to the Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland.  Unknown to its inhabitants, this ghetto was only a stage in their eventual extermination. Markus and Amalie Zack were gassed to death in nearby Chelmo. There was no gravestone.  There was no grave.  Their bodies were unloaded into a pit, only to later be dug up and burned.  Their ashes scattered in the forest fulfilled the chilling promise that, “The Jews will make good fertilizer.”

Now it is June 23, 2013. I am on the stage of the Kurpark Hall in Gemünd.  Four hundred Germans in the hall are celebrating the opening ceremony for the 800th anniversary of the founding of their home town.  I am anticipating something special, because they have asked me to stand with my husband George as F. A. Heinen, a local journalist, walks towards us holding in his hands a wrapped, rectangular object.
 
On this Sunday afternoon, I have already been recognized as the patron of this meaningful celebration.  I have already seen the only known photograph of my father projected on to a large screen – the camera capturing a moment of dignity before the Jews were ejected from Gemünd.  I have already heard a German high school student read his name aloud, in honor rather than in horror.  I have imagined tracing his name carved into his Stolpersteine, a brass paving stone that will be laid in front of his house, our house, on the main street of Gemünd, so that any passerby who stoops or kneels can read, “Died, May 3 1942, Chelmno.” 
 
George and I stand on the stage, the wrapping paper is whisked away from the mysterious object and F. A. Heinen, a big burly man, cannot hold back his beaming smile as he hands me a framed document.  What is it?  Heinen is the author of numerous books detailing the history of the region under National Socialism, and in his research sifting through the district’s archives, he discovered a document, a rental agreement for one of the many pieces of land my father owned in the area.
 
My father’s signature jumps towards me as I look down at the copy of the document.
 
A signature uniquely represents the person.  I already possess a poem my mother quoted when her pen touched the page in the autograph book belonging to Ruth, a fellow Jewish survivor from Gemünd.  Eight years ago Ruth tore out the page and gave me the poem with my mother’s actual signature. Now it has been joined by this flowing script displaying my father’s identity.  His hand is strong, the lines firm and confident.  I am lost in wonder as I consider the late-in-life gift of a second material connection to my father.
 
I think about the courage of the local group, composed of students, teachers, business people, retired citizens, government officials and the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches.  They have researched and planned for months to honor the former Jewish citizens of Gemünd by placing their story at the center of the 800th anniversary. I think about the pain they must have experienced digging down into the evil of their own story, and I marvel at God’s mercy, that He would visit Gemünd with such healing mercy.  Just moments before, I had read in German my carefully prepared speech to the citizens of the home town which expelled me as a seven year old girl.  Holding my father’s document, the words I had spoken now take on deeper significance:
 
I am here representing the silenced Jews.  For many years, there was a veil of silence, but in the last few years there has been a willingness to learn the truth about the past.  I believe that the celebration today and the laying of the eleven Stolpersteine are public acknowledgements of the wrongs done by our ancestors.  When such acts of repentance take place, they open the way for God’s healing, forgiveness and redemption.  The darkness and evils of the past can be washed away, and we as citizens can stand upright, free from our burdens of the past.
 
As I consider the approaching anniversary of the Reformation and the commemoration through Wittenberg 2017 I believe there are valuable connections between the laying of the Stolpersteine and healing the wounds of  division that have persisted throughout church history as well as other historical “spaltung” (division).  Below are a few principles for reconciliation to consider.

The descendants of those bearing the guilt of past wrongs must take the initiative and lead in acts of repentance.
We who are the descendants of those who have been sinned against are uniquely placed to  pray for the hearts of those who have wronged us. The love  of God melts hard hearts.  We must ask God for the miraculous gift of forgiveness.
A significant part of the story is personal relationships. The Lord led us to individuals from Gemünd's past and present and gifted us with deep, healing friendships.
Through 13 years of intercession there were many discouragements and failures but we slowly learned God's way of doing things.  Now we stand awed by God's mercy.

Source: Wittenberg 2017  -  "Hannas Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/hannas-story.html

Abbé Paul Couturier

In 1935, Abbé Paul Couturier, a priest of the Archdiocese of Lyons, sought a solution to the problem of non-Roman Catholics not being able to observe the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. He found the solution in the Roman Missal as the Association for Promotion of the Unity of Christians had done seventy-eight years earlier in England. Couturier promoted prayer for Christian unity on the inclusive basis that “our Lord would grant to his Church on earth that peace and unity which were in his mind and purpose, when, on the eve of His Passion, He prayed that all might be one.” This prayer would unite Christians in prayer for that perfect unity that God wills and by the means that he wills. Like Fr. Paul Wattson, Abbé Couturier exhibited a powerful passion for unity and had sent out “calls to prayer” annually until his death in 1953.

Source: Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A.  -  "BACKGROUND: Brief History of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017", by Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A., Associate Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, http://geii.org/week_of_prayer_for_christian_unity/background/brief_history.html

Pastor Andrew

Andrew later told me that everything in him resisted making such a confession. He feared he would lose the respect of the congregation and destroy his credibility as a pastor and preacher. But as he had prayed about it, several Scripture passages had come to mind and moved him to go against his feelings and do what he knew was right.

Of course his confession had exactly the opposite effect from what he feared. Instead of diminishing his congregation’s respect for him, his humble obedience to God catapulted him to a new level of credibility and trust in the eyes of the people God had called him to serve. In fact, years later when visitors asked what kind of pastor he was, his people would often describe this incident as an example of his character.

Once again, Jesus made good on his promise: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

May God help each of us to remember Andrew’s example the next time we’re tempted to conceal, deny or minimize our own sin, and to trust God’s promise to bless those who humble themselves under his mighty hand.

Source: Unknown

Giovanni & Matteo

For a decade or more, Giovanni and Matteo have been leading Catholic/Evangelical reconciliation meetings around the globe, perhaps most notably in Latin America, where Giovanni became personal friends with Cardinal Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis. Early in 2014, these two Italian brothers, at Joe Tosini’s invitation, visited Phoenix, where we held several small reconciliation meetings and launched our John 17 Movement. Pope Francis sent us a personal letter encouraging our unity efforts, and both Bishops Olmstead and Nevares participated in all those meetings. When I expressed my deep gratitude to Bishop O, he replied, “It’s providential I’m here. I was supposed to be Rome this week, but those meetings were cancelled!”


Subsequently, we’ve held multiple John 17 worship and prayer events, as well as leadership luncheons. Most notably, we had a grand event a year ago May on Pentecost Sunday at the Phoenix Convention Center. Again, both Bishops spoke, over 2000 attended, and Pope Francis sent us a personal video greeting.

Source: Gary Kinnaman  -  Presented during Movement Day NYC, representing the John 17 movement and Greater Phoenix and Arizona Catholic/Evangelical Bridges, as posted on the John 17 FB page on 1 November 2016.

Father Symonds

As well as enjoying good relations with the Church of Ireland (Anglican), Methodist and Presbyterian ministers in Ballymena, Father Symonds has worked closely with Protestants found guilty of sectarian attacks. ... "If you had told me when I was being ordained that I would be working with former loyalist prisoners, I would have thought that would have been disastrous," he said.

Source: Catholic Review  -  "English priest receives awards for work in Northern Ireland", 5 Jan 2008
http://www.catholicreview.org/article/faith/vocations/english-priest-receives-award-for-work-in-northern-ireland

Peter Kreeft

Kreeft regards Protestants warmly, believing that Catholics can learn from them.

“Until Catholics know the Bible better than Protestants do, and until they know Christ, both personally and theologically, better than Protestants do, there is no reason why God should end the Reformation and make all Protestants come back home,” he said. With this mentality, he has made it his mission to unite Christians of different denominations.

Source: Thomas Keenan  -  Catholic Author Peter Kreeft: To Save Your Soul, You Must Opt Out of the “Culture of Death”
http://aleteia.org/2014/10/22/catholic-author-peter-kreeft-to-save-your-soul-you-must-opt-out-of-the-culture-of-death/

"We've got to bridge that gap."

A church book discussion about lynchings piqued Wesley Edwards' curiosity in area hate crimes, leading to Austin Callaway. A longtime African-American friend, Bobbie Hart, confessed ignorance to the lynching, prompting them to form the group "Troup Together." Through archival research and interviews, they pieced together parts of Calloway's story.


The "knowledge deficit" is what worries Edwards. If Callaway's lynching remained a mystery all these years, what else don't they know about?


"If white people have one version of history and African-Americans have a different one, then we don't know what we don't know," he said. "We've got to bridge that gap."

Source: Wesley Edwards  -  Quoted in "'Justice failed Austin Callaway': Town attempts to atone for 1940 lynching", Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, 28 Jan 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/us/lagrange-georgia-callaway-1940-lynching/index.html