wfn.org | Franciscan Friars Present Christian Unity Award to Lutheran Scholar

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 22, 2000

FRANCISCAN FRIARS PRESENT CHRISTIAN UNITY AWARD 
TO LUTHERAN SCHOLAR
00-KW/JB*

     GARRISON, N.Y. -- The Paul Wattson Christian Unity Award will
 be presented to the Rev. John F. Hotchkin, STD, and Dr. George A.
 Lindbeck by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.  The awards
 ceremony will take place at noon Oct. 27 at the Interreligious Center
 Chapel in New York.
     Lindbeck, a Lutheran scholar, is Pitkin Professor Emeritus of
 Historical Theology at Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Hotchkin is
 executive director of the Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
 Office for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
     Both of this year's honorees were instrumental in the early
 development of the history-making "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine
 of Justification," signed Oct. 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany, by
 representatives of the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic
 Church.
     The Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, based in Garrison,
 N.Y., are a fraternal religious community in the Roman Catholic
 Church.  The Paul Wattson Christian Unity Award has been presented by
 them on nine occasions since 1961 to ecumenists such as the Rev.
 Martin E. Marty, Riverside, Ill., a well-known religious scholar and
 pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Other previous
 recipients include Cardinal Augustin Bea, Cardinal Lawrence Shehan,
 Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury and Pere Yves Congar, O.P.
     "These two eminent ecumenists have been part of a very long
 process of dialogue," said the Rev. Arthur M. Johnson, SA, minister
 general of Franciscan Friars.  "Father Hotchkin and Dr. Lindbeck are
 major players in the search for Christian unity, and we acknowledge
 them in a spirit of gratitude and respect.  Their commitment to the
 cause of Christian unity will be a source of encouragement to the
 next generation of ecumenists."
     Lindbeck and Hotchkin have served the Lutheran-Roman Catholic
 Dialogue for more than 30 years.  They participated in the
 publication of important studies such as "The Gospel and the Church"
 (1972), "The Eucharist" (1978), "Ways to Community" (1980) and
 "Ministry in the Church" (1981).  Both signed "Facing Unity" (1988),
  which examined how Christians might find practical ways of promoting
  Christian unity.
     The Joint Declaration in 1999 is considered by many scholars to
 be among the most important church documents since the Protestant
 Reformation, which began in the 16th century.  For example, the
 National Catholic Review calls the Joint Declaration  "a blockbuster
 agreement, a crowning achievement of the ecumenical dialogue."
  -----

  *Katrinka Walter is director of public relations, Franciscan Friars
  of the Atonement.

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