Ballymena, N. Ireland

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/

A Catholic Honor Protestants

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” - See more at: http://aleteia.org/2014/10/22/catholic-author-peter-kreeft-to-save-your-soul-you-must-opt-out-of-the-culture-of-death/

Differences & the National Prayer Breakfast

This week (as occurred two years ago) I was graciously invited by my Republican Congressman friend from Alabama, Robert Aderholt, to attend the National Prayer Breakfast activities. Robert and I met and became friends on a summer mission in 1985, when we were roommates in London, England. It was that summer that I felt my call to ministry. Later when I began making more frequent trips to DC for faith-based community organizing events through PICO/ Faith in Action, we renewed our friendship, which has been quite remarkable. Though we sharply disagree on many political issues, he has consistently listened attentively to stories from our ministry, and to the prophetic implications of the plight of the poor, He has been very supportive, gracious and hospitable to countless friends who have visited DC. We can talk civilly around the divisive issues that are rending the very fabric of our families and our nation. Our friendship gives me hope that difference does not necessitate dehumanization.

Source: Nate Bacon - Recounted in a personal prayer letter, 5 Feb 2020

"He found the solution in the Roman Missal"

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

A Quiet Peacemaker

Fr Magill’s determination to push the boundaries in terms of ecumenical outreach is evident from his practice of what the late Michael Hurley SJ called “ecumenical tithing”.

This means that part of his time each week, usually on a Sunday afternoon or evening is devoted to worshipping in another Christian denomination, sometimes St George’s Church of Ireland in Belfast “a very beautiful very high church”.

He believes this commitment comes from “the imperative I get from Jesus Christ in John 17”.

Fr Magill reveals that it is “only a matter of time before I will worship in a Free Presbyterian church as part of ecumenical tithing”.

He is also working on a list of ten things that Catholics can learn from other denominations and “top of the list is welcoming because 90% of churches do welcoming better then we Catholics”, followed by singing.

Source: Martin O'Brien - "A Quiet Peacemaker", The Irish Catholic, 11 Dec 2014, http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/quiet-peacemaker

"I brought you to Austin to be a bridge"

Ultimately the name [Be the Bridge] came from a conversation I had with God on my way to attending the IF conference in 2014. In the middle of feelings homesick for Atlanta, I remember God telling me, “I brought you to Austin to be a bridge.” I used to say that phrase “be the bridge” to my staff, back when I was in the African American church in Atlanta. We were in-between: We weren’t traditionally an African American church, but we weren’t a white church, either. We knew how to fit in both worlds and be comfortable.

Source: Latasha Morrison - As quoted in Christianity Today, "Latasha Morrison: The Church Is the ‘Only Place Equipped to Do Racial Reconciliation Well’", interview by Morgan Lee, January 2017, http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/january/latasha-morrison-church-is-only-place-equipped-to-do.html

John 17 Movement

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 (www.john17movement.com). 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.

Union de Priére

Thomas Roberts was closely associated with the Union de Priére, a group of Reformed ministers first touched by the Pentecostal movement in the South of France in the 1930s. The Union de Priére focused on prayer for four intentions: the revival of the churches by the conversion of souls; the salvation of the Jewish people; the visible unity of the body of Christ; and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead. ... Thomas Roberts grew in his grasp of teh vision of one reunited body of Christ, manifesting the glory of the Savior and the power of the Spirit to the world ... Roberts was a model of a Christian who always remained faithful to his original call - he was always characteristically Pentecostal - yet who was so grateful to the Lord for opening his eyes to see the riches of other Christian traditions, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox.

Source: Fr. Peter Hocken - One Lord One Spirit One Body, pp.viii - ix

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

The Death of 5 Amish Children

On May 13, 1993, five Amish children were killed by a speeding auto near Fredericksburg, Ohio. The auto was driven by a young man, Eric Bache, who showed no remorse for his action in the days that followed. After the funeral, an elder of the community, Henry Burkholder, said: "We could take it a lot easier if he would feel sorry. It's a little harder to forgive since he doesn't seem upset. But we have to forgive him. And we will."

Source: Henry Burkholder - Elder of the Amish Community in Fredericksburg, Ohio, quoted by the New York Times, 17 May 1993, as reported in Peter Schmiechen's "Christ the Reconciler: A Theology for Opposites, Differences, and Enemies", p. 112

Thesis 10 (Not Martin Luther's)

Thesis 10) Imagination and conversion are the very heart and soul of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is about learning to live by a new imagination … That is why the work of reconciliation is sustained more through storytelling and apprenticeship than by training in techniques and how-tos. Through friendship with God, the stories of scriptures and faithful lives, and learning the virtues and daily practices those stories communicate, reconciliation becomes an ordinary, everyday pattern of life for Christians.

Source: Emmanuel Katongole & Chris Rice - Reconciling All Things, p. 151

Father Martin McGill

“It was during this time that the then-Bishop (Cahal) Daly, now Cardinal Daly, introduced me to a diocesan priest, Father Martin McGill, saying ‘You two should have something in common,’ because of our joint interest in ecumenism. Martin and I immediately clicked – we shared a common vision – and after the synod we continued to meet and pray for peace and reconciliation,” he said.

“I became convinced that God was calling me to work in Northern Ireland, but it took two years to convince everyone else – they say that the test of a true vocation is opposition and patience,” added Father Symonds.

In 1999, Father Symonds moved to Belfast and joined the Columbanus Community of Reconciliation, where three Protestants and three Catholics lived together in an interchurch community.

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

"More Relevant"

Bishop Daly had discerned that a qualification in ecumenism was “more relevant to the situation” that Martin would be facing back as a newly-ordained priest in divided Belfast than the two year licence in Biblical theology that he had set his heart on, partly because he had grown to love Rome and the Irish College.

Source: Martin O'Brien - "A Quiet Peacemaker", The Irish Catholic, 11 Dec 2014, http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/quiet-peacemaker

Fr. Paul 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 I would have been disastrous," he said.

Source: Fr. Paul Symonds - As quoted by the Catholic Review in "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

Hanna's Story

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

Jimmy Carter

One Sunday when I was traveling, our deacons at our Plains Baptist Church (where I was a member and a deacon) voted not to admit any African American worshipers into the building. I came home for a church conference, and I made a speech about how we should let them come into God's house. My family and one other, six people, voted to integrate the church and let black people come in and worship at least. All the rest of them voted against it. But almost 100 people didn't vote. That was the first time I saw we really had a breakthrough. The majority of the members who were in conference agreed with me, although they wouldn't vote with me.

Source: Jimmy Carter - Christianity Today, October 2016, "Jimmy Carter: Pursuing an Arc of Reconciliation", pp. 66-69

Verena's Story

My name is Verena Lang. I live in Austria. My journey to reconciliation has been long and arduous. How could it not be when you have to confront the history that I have? A history that includes confusing and condemning messages about God and the church. A history where I had to confront the fact that my father was a leading Nazi during World War II. A history where I was led to enter into the pain of my Jewish friends who lost loved ones in the Holocaust. A history that now leads me to be involved in the work of reconciliation between Catholics, Protestants and Free churches.

I was born in Salzburg in 1944. My faith journey began with a confusing, inaccurate, and limited view of God. My father was a Catholic and my mother was a Protestant. Both of my parents left the church before my birth. Therefore I was not baptized as a child. My parents told me that I could choose any denomination that I wanted. From my mother I was told that in the Old Testament you find cruel stories of an angry God. From my father I was told that Jesus was a good man but he is not God and was not a Jew.

When I attended high school I was part of a class with Protestant girls. I often say they put all us heretics together, because Austria, at that time, was 80% Catholic. Due to the Counter Reformation, Protestants were said to be heretics in Austria. To spend time with my Protestant girlfriends helped me to eliminate any fear of contact with Protestants or members of Free churches.

It is interesting that in my schooling I was drawn to study history, culminating in a PHD in the subject. The historical period I was most drawn to was the period between World War I and World War II. This was the period where my father was involved in the politics of Austria. There is a character in James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses, that states: “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” These words resonate with me and my story. I had a lot of “awakening” to do, personally and spiritually.

​Following the end of World War II, Austria, like Germany, was divided into four parts (one part each ruled by the Americans, the British, the French, and the Russians). I was brought up in the zone occupied by the Americans. As a child we were told all Nazis were criminals. How do you reconcile this when your father was a Nazi? How do you live with a deep love for your father and at the same time live in a society that tells you he is a criminal? These questions were too painful to confront. So I hid the story of my father being a leading Nazi. Yet, amidst the hiding, I was always searching for the truth. My study of history helped me to further “awakenings” even after the death of my father. We can feel imprisoned by history, but we can also be liberated through studying and engaging with history.

Following my studies, my husband and I moved to Wieselburg, a little town in the east of Austria. At that time I was asked to sing in the masses of the Catholic Church. I did this also in Salzburg in the Protestant Church because I liked to sing. After eight years of singing in the Catholic Church in Wieselburg, a surprising event took place. It happened on a Holy Thursday. I was not in a crisis at the time, nor was I seeking after God. Yet God touched my heart with the words of the liturgy: “Do this in remembrance of me.” These words, along with God touching my heart, were the beginning of a profound conversion where I received deep healing over several years.

When I surrendered my life to God it was as if he took an eraser to eliminate all the negative and condemning thoughts that I had accumulated from my parents as a child -- all the bad thoughts, all the lies about Jews, all the conflicting words about God. I received a lot of love from Jesus and was healed from anxiety about death. Today I am fully awake to all the healing I experienced and know that my healing has been a gift from God to help me endure what was to come.

After some years I fell into a big crisis. Deep feelings, that I had long suppressed, came out as sadness and anger. I felt I had to finally confront all the evil things that took place during Nazi rule and the involvement of my father. This proved to be a time of purification and a time for me to mature in my Christian life.

It took me a decade until I could come to the decision: I will forgive my father. Later, still, I came to forgive my mother (who I had learned had abandoned me for a period as a child). The power of forgiveness freed me from a tremendous amount of pain I had been living with. When I said to God: “I forgive my mother for leaving me because she did not know what she was doing,” I was healed from 45 years of chronic back pain.

God continued to lead me into expanding forgiveness. Years ago, my husband and I attended a big Christian conference in Rome. One day the conference celebrated a mass of reconciliation between European nations. Following the celebration we had lunch. At the lunch I sat next to a lady from Israel, a Jewish woman who had lost all her relatives in the Holocaust. She had originally come from Germany. I listened to her story and experienced a deep sadness about it. I felt led to say to her: “Mrs. Kleinberger, my father was a Nazi and on behalf of my father and my country, I ask you for forgiveness for what the Nazis did to your family.” A long silence followed. Then she did something astounding, something transformative. Mrs. Kleinberger wept and embraced me and said to me: “ In Christ we are one.”

This transforming idea of “in Christ we are one” continues in my life today. Years ago my husband and I were invited to the “Round Table – Way of Reconciliation”. The Round Table is a fellowship of leaders of all denominations and churches in Austria, including Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals, Free churches, Anglicans, and Orthodox. Fifty years ago it would have been impossible to think that members of all these churches and denominations could sit together around a round table and begin to respect and love one other. Our individual and church histories had all convinced us that we alone were in possession of the truth and the others were wrong. For 400 years Austria was a predominantly Catholic country because our rulers – the Habsburg families – were Catholic. All non-Catholics were said to be heretics. The split in the church created a tragic divide. We have to learn that we have a common history and that God is a God of history.

The Bible tells us to: Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations (Deuteronomy 32:7). I was forced to do this when I was asked to prepare a paper for a Conference on the common history of the Catholic and Protestant church. Through this experience God was encouraging me and moving me to further “awakenings” and to deeper involvement in the reconciliation between the different parts of the Body of Christ. This has led me to become active in the important work of Wittenberg 2017. I am convinced that the principles of reconciliation that guide Wittenberg 2017 are important to give our attention to and hold the promise of leading us to greater unity among the Body of Christ. Among the Principles, the following stand out to me:

Divisions weaken the Church universal.
The Church universal should feel the pain of her divisions and grieve them.
Grieving requires memory and emotion and we should pray for reconciliation and unity.
Any division can be healed and reconciled with the power of God.

These Principles have proven true in my journey of forgiveness and reconciliation. They have been true in my family’s life. Because of this I am convinced that God can do his work of forgiveness and reconciliation in the divided Church. This is my prayer and my hope.

Source: Wittenberg 2017 - "Verena's Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/verenas-story.html