Friendship through Bridgefolk

Eye on the Valley

Andrea Bartoli, U.S. leader of the Catholic Sant'Egidio lay fellowship, shared the story of Dirk Willems, the Dutch Mennonite known for saving a drowning pursuer who then killed him. Through his compassionate act, Bartoli said, that martyr gave "a gift of the spirit that I can experience 500 years later."

Glen Miller, in turn, shared warm memories of a friend from his years directing the Mennonite Central Committee in India: Mother Teresa. In lovingly serving people of all world faiths, Miller said, "She was a holy person."

These testimonials were part of the 2005 Bridgefolk Conference, an annual dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics held this year for the first time at Eastern Mennonite University. Bridgefolk began in 1999 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mount Pleasant, Pa., and continued at Saint John's Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., in 2002-2004.

About 65 people from both traditions, the majority lay members, attended this year's events on the Harrisonburg campus. With their children, they worshiped at local Catholic and Mennonite churches together...