wfn.org | Polish Lutherans agree to adoption of Joint Declaration

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Synod also addresses ordination of women

WARSAW, Poland/GENEVA, 30 April 1998 (lwi) - The synod of the Evangelical
Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland (ECACP) agreed to the adoption
of the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" between
Lutherans and Catholics at its April 18-19 meeting in Warsaw. In its
statement, the synod expresses the hope that the "Joint Declaration will be
generally accepted into the theological thinking and practices of the
church and that it will provide new impulses for further cooperation and
rapprochement between Catholics and Lutherans".

The some 70 synod members also addressed the issue of women's ordination,
according to Lutheran World Information correspondent, Andrzej Debski.
ECACP bishop, Jan Szarek, spoke up for the ordination of women in his
report to the synod which then mandated the Committee for Theology and
Pastoral Care to carry out an in-depth and objective investigation of the
question and to submit a recommendation next year.

The synod members elected Tadeusz Szurmann as their new president. The
44-year-old pastor succeeds Andrzej Hauptman who passed away in March aged
51.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/