Articles : History by Preheim
March 4 issue
-
Photo provided
Peacemakers of Newtown, Conn.
On Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn., 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School were killed by a gunman, the worst school shooting in U.S. history. But the city now identified with death once was a place for people opposed to violence.
During World War II, Fairfield Hills State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Newtown, was the site of a Civilian Public Service unit under the auspices of the Church of the Brethren. It included, in addition to Brethren, one Mennonite as well as Quakers, Methodists, Baptists and a handful of members of other denominations. The unit and the rest of the CPS program were shuttered after the war.
Dec. 10, 2012 issue
-
First schism — Reformed Mennonites
Depending on who’s counting, the United States today is home to anywhere from a dozen to nearly 70 Mennonite and Amish groups. Many of them are the results of divisions, as members who either left or were expelled from one group would form another. But as implausible as it might seem now, once upon a time the American Mennonite church was schism-free.
Sept. 17, 2012 issue
-
Football season arrives — at some colleges
School has started. Before long the leaves will turn and the temperature drop. In short, it’s football season. With its traditions and pageantry, football is the quintessential college sport. But not everywhere. Only three of the seven U.S. Mennonite colleges play the game.
June 25, 2012 issue
-
Six Degrees of John F. Funk
For some Mennonite and Amish leaders, becoming bishop is the pinnacle of their service to Christ and the church. Not so with John F. Funk. He was ordained a bishop in the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference 120 years ago this month. By then, however, he had already changed the church.
April 2, 2012 issue
-
Conflicts of conscience: faith versus the state
Dennis Koehn knows a little bit about the conflict between religious beliefs and the requirements of government. In 1970, as an 18-year-old Kansas Mennonite, he refused to register for the draft. He was found guilty and, after his appeal was denied, in 1972 began an 18-month prison term, most of it spent in a federal facility in Colorado.
Download