Monday, April 13, 2015

FROM CONFLICT TO COMMUNION - Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017


A few days ago, while engaged in some online research, I came upon a document that was published back in 2013 which I had been unaware of: FROM CONFLICT TO COMMUNION - Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.

The document/report was a collaborative effort of The Lutheran–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity (formerly known as "The Joint Lutheran - Roman Catholic Study Commission on the Gospel and the Church"), and the following is an introduction to the report, published on The Lutheran World Federation website (LINK):

The Luther-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity invites all Christians to study its report open-mindedly and critically, and to walk along the path towards the full, visible unity of the Church.

In 2017, Catholics and Lutherans will jointly look back on the event of the Reformation and reflect on 50 years of official worldwide ecumenical dialogue during which time the communion they share anew has continued to grow.

This encourages Lutherans and Catholics to celebrate together the common witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, amidst this celebration, they will also have reason to experience the suffering caused by the division of the Church, and to look self-critically at themselves, not only throughout history, but also through today’s realities.

And from the Forward of the document/report, we read:

The true unity of the church can only exist as unity in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fact that the struggle for this truth in the sixteenth century led to the loss of unity in Western Christendom belongs to the dark pages of church history. In 2017, we must confess openly that we have been guilty before Christ of damaging the unity of the church. This commemorative year presents us with two challenges: the purification and healing of memories, and the restoration of Christian unity in accordance with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Eph 4:4–6).

I read this interesting document/report last week before spring-break guests arrived on Thursday. I plan on rereading it again in greater depth, with an emphasis on the 91 footnotes, and may publish some reflections in a new thread once I have finished the task.

I hope a few readers will take the time to read through the document, and share their assessment/s in the combox.

[Links to document: HTML; PDF.]

Grace and peace,

David

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