The formation of the ELCA is what nudged Fr. Richard John Neuhaus into the Catholic Church. At the time, he said that the merger was not based on theological principle or belief, but was merely a material merger for material reasons—like a merger of Wal-Mart and K-Mart.
Neuhaus said he had always viewed the Lutheran “Church” as the Lutheran “Movement” within the universal Church. After the formation of the ELCA, he could not maintain that view—of Lutheranism as a principle-based movement within the Church.
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus was exactly the kind of theological mind that showed the path back to the true Church. Hopefully others will pick up the lamp so souls will continue to trek back to Holy Mother Church.
Fr. Neuhaus of blessed memory was one who understood Lutheranism as being evangelical catholic; another evangelical catholic, Rev. Dr. Robert Jenson has put it this way: That the doctrine of Justification (Augsburg Confession ¶IV) is a "proposition for dogma" being offered to the Church.
Despite the back peddaling that has taken place on both sides of the Tiber, it is unmistakeably clear that the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification on October 31, 1999, in Wittenberg by representatives of the Vatican and of the Lutheran World Federation was the "beginning of the end" for Lutheranism.
Despite the nuances and asterisks, the proposition for dogma has been accepted. The raison d'etre for a separate existence is rapidly evaporating.
While the characterization of “communion” or, better, “movement” can be useful, I find it more productive to use the phrase “separated religious order” for such ecclesial structures.