Mennonite and Jewish Leprechauns?

En Häselmenschkje

     Today is St Patrick’s Day – an international celebration for Irish immigrant and cultural communities around the world.  In true Irish fashion, they have opened this day of celebration and festivity to all of their friends and neighbours – everyone is ”Irish for a day.” 

    For many in the United States and Canada, St Patrick’s Day is an annual celebration of immigration and our continuing ties to our immigrant pasts – Irish, Ukrainian, Mennonite, Jewish or Latin American – everyone celebrates.

    While most of us will be headed out to parades and parties (perhaps even quietly slipping out to local pubs and bars to celebrate with friends), there are also numerous opportunities to celebrate our shared immigrant heritage a bit more soberly, culturally and historically before we start tipping back the “Sláinte.”

Mennonite Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention

be’sope

Courtesy thehealthage.com

    Addiction, drugs and alcohol in the Anabaptist community have become much more visible since the documentary Devil’s Playground came out in 2002.  There should be no surprise.  Long known for presenting a public profile of simplicity and sobriety, the tight Mennonite (and Amish) communities have long sheltered a growing, if hidden, confrontation with drugs and alcohol.

    The old Mennonite joke (which has also been applied to other cultures) goes something like this:

    Q:   “Why don’t you ever invite a single Mennonite to go fishing?”

    A:   “Because he will drink all of my beer.”

    Q:  “Why do you always invite two Mennonites when you go fishing?”

    A:  “That way neither of them will drink any of my beer.”

    The joke goes to the heart of the matter – Mennonite culture is just like any other – we like our beer (or wine) and we like to experiment and explore.  However, in the 20^th Century, alcohol, tobacco and drugs have become increasingly taboo and unacceptable for church members.  At the same time, the assimilation of Mennonites into non-Mennonite culture had dramatically increased the amount of alcohol consumption and drug use.  Somewhat problematically, much of this use is hidden or does not begin until Mennonite youth leave their hometowns.  Even within towns, it is difficult to understand if there is a different impact in the ethnic Mennonite community contrasted to the larger society.  We just blend in too well when we want to. 

Modern and the Postmodern

Figure 1 Frank Gehry's Postmodern Architecture challenges traditional aesthetics and Modernist assumptions such as material use, construction technique, the truth of sense perception and the rationality of the Golden Mean and the straight line.

In a 2008 blog master rant, Eugene Reimer, the linguist sensei of Menno Plautdietsch, turned his attention to the (mis)use of the terms Modern and Postmodern.

    Reimer’s rant is entirely correct, and entirely wrong.  Indeed, Modernity is an adjective meaning “relating to the present-day or the most recently developed [artifact, fashion, trend or idea]” (Reimer).  I know that Reimer very much understands the terms and principles of Postmodernism, so I am not trying to engage his comments per se, so much as to engage those who are similarly uncomfortable with the concept of PoMo.  I myself have often stated similar nostalgic longing for the time when definitions were fixed and one could depend on them to hold their meaning and the world made perfect sense and … 

United State's Bishop's Conference Questions Amish Exemption

 fe'schoone

Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, US Conf of Catholic Bishops

   Writings for the Huffington Post, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Media Director for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has questioned why Amish Anabaptists are exempt from US President Obama's Healthcare Reform Directive and the Catholics are not.

    What is going on? 

    In an election year already proven one of the most scandal-ridden and bloody ever, Sr. Mary is merely the latest conservative Vatican paladin to complain about the church’s lack of status in American society.  She should try being Mennonite or Amish.

    Truthfully, like the Anabaptists, the Roman Catholic Church has come a long way from the days of being merely tolerated or even feared to being recognized as a full-fledged pillar of American society.  Just fifty years ago, people were alarmed at the thought of a Catholic president.  So where has the new martyrs’ complex come from?

International Women’s Day 2012

Früesje'schlajcht

    National advocacy days seem to be proliferating as quickly as Hallmark holidays.  I have no objection.  Just as I enjoy my morning devotional to reflect on the things of the spirit, or my daily paper to reflect on society, these advocacy days often bring positive thoughts to mind and new knowledge.

     National Hug Day (21 Jan), National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day (03 Jan) or Take Your Pet to Work Day (24 Jun) may not seem on par with Independence Day (04 Jul) or Canada Day (01 Jul), yet sometimes such faux-holidays might bring an otherwise mundane topic into greater focus.

    International Day of Women (08 Mar) is a United Nations’ sponsored holiday that spotlights the experience and heritage of women around the world – including women Mennonites from all ethnicities and denominational groups.

    My interest in the concept of Mennonite womanhood was also recently sparked by a comment to a website regarding the new-found interest by progressive Evangelicals and Southern Baptists in their Anabaptist heritage – indicating celebration of a newly reclaimed tie of which many traditional Anabaptists seem to be wary.  Regrettably, despite a long internet search, I have been unable to relocate the comment, but it went something along the lines that as a woman, the commenter was glad to be Mennonite and not a member of the more Fundamentalist non-Anabaptist denominations because the Mennonites recognized the ordination of women to the pastoral office and their equal participation in the church.