ELCA Approves Lutheran-Roman Catholic Ecumenical Document

Episcopal News Service ^ | 8/12/16

[marshmallow]

[ELCA News] The 2016 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly took several significant steps Aug. 10 moving forward the mission of this church as a church for the sake of the world.

By a vote of 931 to 9, the assembly overwhelmingly accepted the “Declaration on the Way,” a unique ecumenical document that marks a path toward greater unity between Roman Catholics and Lutherans. Following the vote, an emotional assembly stood to applaud the momentous decision.

At the heart of the document are 32 “Statements of Agreement” that state where Lutherans and Roman Catholics do not have church-dividing differences on topics about church, ministry and the Eucharist. More tentatively, the document also explores differences that remain.

[stars & stripes forever]

[The 2016 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly took several significant steps Aug. 10 moving forward the mission of this church as a church for the sake of the world.]

The ELCA is a political tool of the UNITED NATIONS against ISRAEL. Let us hope the CATHOLIC CHURCH stands for ISRAEL.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3459598/posts

[cloudmountain]

Very interesting.
It's only natural, perhaps, since Martin Luther had been a Roman Catholic priest, FATHER Martin Luther, for a long time before his "heresies."

[steve8714]

Alphabet “Lutherans”. More in common with UCC or the Episcopal Church than Mo or Wis synods.

[ebb tide]

At the heart of the document are 32 “Statements of Agreement” that state where Lutherans and Roman Catholics do not have church-dividing differences on topics about church, ministry and the Eucharist.

The ECLA ordains womyn "priests" and consecrates womyn "bishopresses". It performs same sex marriages. Openly gay persons, in public same-sex gay unions, are "priests" and "bishops". The ECLA is weak on abortion. Nothing church-dividing here.

[niteowl77]

...moving forward the mission of this church as a church for the sake of the world

Ecumenical Lutheran Club of Apostates.

[faithhopecharity]

Ecla is taken over by Satan. RCC should remember Only two of seven churches passed muster , Biblically. Stay away from ecla and pcusa and obama’s fake church and -—

[ZULU]

The ECLA, which took an official stand urging cutting off of funds to Israel, FINALLY found a Pope liberal enough to please them.

Big deal.

[Sven Tremain]

I’m in Minnesota. I call it the DFLCA.

[chajin]

This is absurd. The LCMS has much more in common doctrinally with the RCC than the ELCA does. The Catholics should run from any connection with the ELCA as if they were running from Satan itself.

[redgolum]

First of all, I am LCMS (Mo synod).

To say that the ELCA has similar views on Communion, when they are in open communion with confessions who do not believe in the Real Presence, means that this is just nuts.

Or a way for some of the more Liberal Catholics and ELCA’ers to score a few points in tearing down their communion.

[ebb tide]

>> Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs United States Conference of Catholic Bishops<<

>>The Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs affirmed the 32 Agreed Statements and commended the Declaraion on the Way to Cardinal Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, for further reflection and action. The Declaration is not a Statement of the full body of Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.<<

From the “Declaration on the Way”:

>>In his 1520 treatise Babylonian Captivity of the Church, a text that is formative for many Lutheran pastors and other Lutheran leaders, Luther used strong language to argue against the terminology of “sacrifice” as he understood it to be employed
by many of his contemporaries (LW 36:35). For the 16th century reformers, the “diminution in practice of congregational communion was regarded as scandalous, and the primary blame for this was placed on the idea of the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice. It was thought that this idea allowed for a view which made unnecessary the reception in faith of Eucharistic grace and attributed an autonomous sacrificial power to the priest” (The Eucharist, § 59).<<

>>However, as the 1978 U.S. dialogue statement, The Eucharist, explains: “All those who celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of him are incorporated in Christ’s life, passion, death, and resurrection. ... In receiving in faith, they are taken as his body into the reconciling sacrifice which equips them for self-giving (Romans 12:1) and enables them ‘through Jesus Christ’ to offer ‘spiritual sacrifices’ in service to the world (1 Peter 2:5)” (§ 36).<<

And also:

>> The possibility of occasional admission of members of our churches to Eucharistic communion with the other side (communicatio in sacris) could be offered more clearly and regulated more compassionately.<<

And:

>>The expansion of opportunities for Catholics and Lutherans to receive Holy Communion together would be a significant sign of the path toward unity already traveled and a pledge to continue together on the journey toward full communion.<<

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/ecumenical/lutheran/upload/Declaration_on_the_Way-for-Website.pdf