This religious group often arouses interest because of its fundamentalist practices or ancient way of life, and many Catholics have wondered where they came from or who their founder was.
Who are the Mennonites?
Its origins go back to the Anabaptists or “rebaptists” during the Protestant Reformation. In 1536 Menno Simons (1492-1559) will join the Anabaptists and will become their leader, he will soon give them a calm and energetic character.
The Anabaptist movement began in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and many Anabaptist leaders were killed in Tigur in 1527. A few who had remained in different countries arrived in Holland. It will be there, where Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest, is in charge of the group, from this man the name “Mennonites” will come later. The first community of Tiguri was founded in 1525.
Today, most Mennonites live in North America, the USA and Canada. Also in Mexico and some countries of South America. In Europe, Mennonites can be found in Germany and the Netherlands.
Doctrine:
-There are evangelical Christians with Calvinist tendencies.
— They believe in Scripture alone, Faith alone, and the rest in Protestantism alone.
– They believe in the baptism of adults or believers, that is, they deny the baptism of infants, arguing that infants do not have the faith or understanding to receive baptism. They were baptized after the fourteenth year of age and after appropriate training.
This is his fundamental teaching, which we will briefly answer with the Scripture:
– In the NT we have different passages (Acts 16:15, Acts 18:8, 1Cor 1:16) where entire families were baptized. It is very difficult to believe and imagine that all these families or homes do not include small children. Moreover, there are many passages in the Bible that connect “house”, “house” with “children” (Matthew 19, 29; 1 Tim 3, 12 etc.).
– They reject all use of violence, they interpret the Kingdom of God to be purely spiritual, and they demand a strict separation of faith and congregation with civil power.
– They administer baptism by immersion, sprinkling or infusion, except for those groups that separated from the original Mennonites.
– The Lord’s Supper is celebrated three times a year, which, as in every group of Protestants, is symbolic, for them there is no real presence of Christ in the bread and wine. They clearly forget that in apostolic times they all regularly met for the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42 and 46).
Traditions:
– They are active, ethical, have great community training and are very interested in culture, purity of customs, as well as carrying out charity work. They demand the complete separation of the Church and the complete freedom of each community. However, it must be known that the relationship between the Church and the State entails distinction without separation, union without confusion (cf. Mt 22, 15-21 and R. 13, 1-5). This relationship will be correct and fruitful if it follows three basic principles: accepting the existence of an ethical field that precedes and informs the political sphere; to distinguish the mission of religion and politics; they encourage cooperation between these two spheres. Another custom they have against the military, but he never condemns the military, rather he praises the faith of the Roman centurions, and presents them as true men of God (Matt. 8:5; 27, 54; Mark. 15, 39; Luke
Derived groups:
– The Hutterian brothers were founded by Jakob Hutter in Moravia in 1528.
– Amish, founded by Jacob Aman in Switzerland, this old man separated from his original group in 1623. to introduce new customs of dressing and foot washing as a religious ritual to his followers. Today the religious group is located between Canada and the United States.
Jesus Urones – Catholic Evangelizer.
