Posted on 11/02/2015 8:58:07 AM PST by ebb tide
Drawing on 50 years of national and international dialogue, Lutherans and Catholics together have issued the "Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist," a unique ecumenical document that marks a pathway toward greater visible unity between Catholics and Lutherans. The October 30 release of the document comes on the eve of the anniversary of Martin Luther's posting the 95 Theses, which sparked the Protestant Reformation.
"Pope Francis in his recent visit to the United States emphasized again and again the need for and importance of dialogue. This Declaration on the Way represents in concrete form an opportunity for Lutherans and Catholics to join together now in a unifying manner on a way finally to full communion," said Bishop Denis J. Madden, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Catholic co-chair of the task force creating the declaration.
"Five hundred years ago wars were fought over the very issues about which Lutherans and Roman Catholics have now achieved consensus," said ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton. "Church, ministry and Eucharist have been areas of disagreement and even separation between our two churches, and we still have work to do both theologically and pastorally as we examine the questions. The declaration is so exciting because it shows us 32 important points where already we can say there are not church-dividing issues between us, and it gives us both hope and direction for the future," she said.
At the heart of the document are 32 "Statements of Agreement" where Lutherans and Catholics already have points of convergence on topics about church, ministry and Eucharist. These agreements signal that Catholics and Lutherans are indeed 'on the way' to full, visible unity. As 2017 approaces, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, this witness to growing unity gives a powerful message to a world where conflict and division often seem to drown out more positive messages of hope and reconciliation The document also indicates differences still remaining between Lutherans and Catholics and indicates possible ways forward.
In October both the ELCA Conference of Bishops—an advisory body of the church—and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) received and unanimously affirmed the 32 Agreements. ELCA bishops requested that the ELCA Church Council accept them and forward the entire document to the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the denomination's highest legislative body.
The document seeks reception of the Statement of Agreements from The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU). The LWF is a global communion of 145 churches in 98 countries worldwide. The ELCA is the communion's only member church from the United States.
The conclusion invites the PCPCU and the LWF to create a process and timetable for addressing the remaining issues. It also suggests that the expansion of opportunities for Lutherans and Catholics to receive Holy Communion together would be a sign of the agreements already reached. The Declaration also seeks a commitment to deeper connection at the local level for Catholics and Lutherans.
In December 2011, Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the PCPCU, proposed a declaration to seal in agreements in the areas of the church, ministry and the Eucharist. The ELCA and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded to the Cardinal's proposal by identifying Catholic and Lutheran scholars and leaders to produce the declaration, drawing principally on the statements of international dialogue commissions sponsored by the LWF and the PCPCU and a range of regional dialogues, including those in the United States.
A significant outcome of the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue in the United States and internationally is the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), signed in 1999 in Augsburg, Germany. With the JDDJ, the LWF and the Catholic Church agreed to a common understanding of the doctrine of justification and declared that certain 16th century condemnations of each other no longer apply.
I feel bad too, that Luther acted from a very bad case of scruples. Luther does not sound to me to be a really bad apple, like say Henry VIII. Luther did not behead his wife (Anne Boleyn) on made up charges which are so disgusting (adultery, incest).
So Luther never stuck me as someone who was evil. There are two things which I hated which he did. First Luther giving permission for Phillip of Hess to engage in bigamy and then ordering him to cover it up, and the second thing is Luther’s anti-Semitism, which was far worse than almost anyone at the time, and it was an anti-Semitic time.
And I am Catholic too.
The faithful Lutherans of the Missouri Synod would never join with the RC until the issues in the 95 thesis are fully addressed. Otherwise, I’m looking for a new church. It would be useless to both true Lutherans and Catholics alike to pretend that the issues that lead to the reformation were suddenly not so important after all....
Luther was a flawed individual. (as were all the apostles and great men of the faith) Thank God HE uses flawed vessels mightily.
You and Biggirl are products of the false ecumenism in Vatican II. You are so used to the post Vatican II ways that you don't even realize what you are saying or doing. Pope Pius XI warned us in Mortalium Animos:
And here it seems opportune to expound and to refute a certain false opinion, on which this whole question, as well as that complex movement by which non-Catholics seek to bring about the union of the Christian churches depends. For authors who favor this view are accustomed, times almost without number, to bring forward these words of Christ: "That they all may be one.... And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,"[14] with this signification however: that Christ Jesus merely expressed a desire and prayer, which still lacks its fulfillment.
Correct
The Lutherans aren’t a church. Only the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church are Churches (the Orthodox squeak in by merit of having a valid priesthood and sacraments).
Then what should we call our Christian Protestant brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Saints
Thank-you and God Bless!
Friends, at a time when those who call themselves Christians in so many parts of the world are under attack, please let us not argue anymore, let us “love one another” as those called to holiness, to sainthood in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Apostates
I never knew about those things. I tend to agree with you though about anti-Semitism.
I think anti-Semitism was fairly wide spread but we only know what's been written by those who could write and that wasn't too many folks.
As I recall my history Jews weren't allowed to own land in Europe. So, many turned to banking and lending.
They were a "closed shop," as the saying goes and, without doubt, there were bad feelings from both sides about the other.
Look up Johann Eck. He was a staunch Catholic, opponent of Luther and the Reformation, and a anti-Semite himself. Maybe the main difference between them was Luther became more famous. Who knows?
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