wfn.org | Lutherans, Roman Catholics Prepare to Sign Historic Agreement

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 6, 1999

LUTHERANS, ROMAN CATHOLICS PREPARE TO SIGN HISTORIC AGREEMENT
99-241-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and a vice president
of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), will be among church
representatives from around the world assembling Oct. 31 in Augsburg,
Germany, to sign the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification," an historic agreement with the Roman Catholic Church.
Anderson is the only Lutheran from North America expected to sign the
agreement.
     The Joint Declaration is "a significant milestone in the
reconciliation of our two church traditions.  By acknowledging that
there is agreement on this crucial article of the Christian faith, our
two churches have bridged a theological divide that has separated us for
nearly 500 years," Anderson said.
     "This agreement will have a positive effect on the mood of
conversations between our two communions.  I hope that this theological
breakthrough will lead to other agreements in the future," he said.
     The doctrine of justification says people become "right with God"
because Jesus Christ won their salvation through his life, death and
resurrection.  This means salvation is strictly a gift through faith in
Jesus and not because anyone else has earned it.
     "By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because
of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy
Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good
works," said the Joint Declaration.
     With the major issue -- over which the two churches "damned" each
other in the 16th century -- taken care of, Lutherans and Roman
Catholics are able to tackle the remaining list of issues, said the Rev.
Daniel F. Martensen, director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical
Affairs.  Such issues include the office of ministry and the authority
of the pope.
     Roman Catholics and Lutherans are saying "we don't have any
church-dividing difference between us any longer on the teaching of
justification by grace through faith," he said.  "There is a difference
in how we interpret the Christian life after being saved by grace
through faith.  There is where discussions will go on."
     Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett, Roman Catholic Diocese of
Seattle, called the declaration "a powerful gift from God."  Brunett,
chairman of the committee for ecumenical and interreligious affairs of
the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressed the ELCA's 1999
Churchwide Assembly.
     "The deepest significance of our common understanding of the grace
of Christ as central in our lives, in a culture dominated by
competition, by status, by merit and self-reliance, is that what we
receive as a gift we must recognize also comes to us as a common task
and challenge," he said.
     "What we understand anew we must teach anew and live out together
anew.  This is the last stage that opens between us as Lutherans and
Catholics.  There are many aspects of our life together in the Church
which, over time, I am confident will be touched and reshaped as a
result of the accord expressed in the Joint Declaration," said Brunett.
     Anderson stressed the possibilities of ceremonies and celebrations
in Lutheran and Roman Catholic parishes across the United States.
"American Lutherans especially greet this announcement with enthusiasm,
because the work of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue on the
doctrine of justification, published in 1985, contributed significantly
to this international agreement," he said.  Anderson was Lutheran co-chair 
of the dialogue at that time.
     "We encourage local joint celebrations of this agreement between
Lutheran congregations and Roman Catholic parishes, using the Service of
the Word approved for joint Lutheran-Catholic worship or the prayer
offices that are the common inheritance of the whole Church," said a
statement from The Liturgical Conference.  The conference, a Roman
Catholic organization when it was founded in 1940, is now an ecumenical
association that works to renew liturgy within the churches.
     LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko and Bishop Christian Krause of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick (Germany), LWF president,
will sign the document with the LWF's five vice presidents: Anderson;
Bishop Julius Filo, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the
Slovak Republic; Parmata Ishaya, Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria;
President Huberto Kirchheim, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran
Confession in Brazil; Dr. Prasanna Kumari, Arcot Lutheran Church,
executive secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in
India.
     Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity, will sign for the Vatican.
     The Joint Declaration is the result of more than three decades of
international dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholics.  This is
the first time such a declaration has been recognized between the two
churches.
     The LWF circulated a draft of the Joint Declaration among its
member churches.  The ELCA Churchwide Assembly approved the document in
1997.
     On the basis of such responses, the LWF Council affirmed the Joint
Declaration on June 16, 1998.  On June 25 the Roman Catholic Church gave
its response to the same declaration.  At that time it was clear that
the two dialogue partners had not affirmed the Joint Declaration in the
same way, Noko said.
     Signing the Joint Declaration could only happen if both the LWF
and the Vatican had the same understanding of the significance of such a
signing, he said.  The two parties developed an "Official Common
Statement" about that significance and a short explanatory "Annex" to
the statement, which make the signing possible.
     The statement and annex underscore that a consensus in basic
truths regarding the doctrine of justification has been reached and the
mutual condemnations from the time of the Reformation concerning the
doctrine of justification do not apply to the teaching on justification
as set forth in the Joint Declaration.
     Lutherans and Roman Catholics around the world have listened
carefully to each others' teachings about a key Christian doctrine and
have come to the conclusion that they agree on the core doctrine and
have minor differences on related issues, according to the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.
     The role of "good works" or "Christian living" is a related issue
that Lutherans and Roman Catholics now declare to be "not church
dividing."  Roman Catholics hold that good works contribute to growth in
grace and that a reward in heaven is promised to these works.  Lutherans
emphasize that justification is complete in Christ's saving work and
that Christian living is a sign of that unmerited justification.
     October 31 is significant because on that day in 1517, 482 years
earlier, Martin Luther introduced his 95 theses or points of contention
against the Vatican.  Among other things, Luther denounced the sale of
indulgences -- letters replacing punishment for the sins of repentant
Christians.  Lutherans consider Oct. 31 the birthday of the Reformation.
     Augsburg is important to the Lutheran tradition because in 1530
Emperor Charles V assembled a conference of Luther's followers to draft
a statement outlining the beliefs and practices of the churches in
Germany.  The resulting Augsburg Confession has served as a founding
document of the Lutheran Church.
     The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a global communion of
Lutheran churches, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Founded in 1947, the LWF now has 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans.  LWF
central offices are in Geneva, Switzerland.

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     The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and relatedresources are linked from <http://www.elca.org/ea/jddj/index.html> on
the World Wide Web.

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