wfn.org | LWI 2009-063 Dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholics Has Paid Off

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Dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholics Has Paid Off
Tribute to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification

AUGSBURG, Germany/GENEVA, 31 October 2009 (LWI) – "It was one of
the most moving days in my life." With these words, the Presiding
Bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany
(VELKD) Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich (Munich, Germany) recalled
the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification (JDDJ) between the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
and the Roman Catholic Church ten years ago in Augsburg, Germany.

In his greeting at a festive ceremony on 30 October in the
Golden Hall of Augsburg town hall, Friedrich said, "Today we are
celebrating the fact that the decades of patient dialogue between
Lutherans and Catholics have paid off and we can now together
subscribe to a differentiated consensus in the doctrine on
justification. There are thus no longer any church-dividing
differences regarding what is for Lutherans the central core of
the biblical message."

On Reformation Day in 1999, the LWF and the Vatican agreed - in
a festive act of worship in Augsburg - that the mutual
condemnations on the crucial question of justification, repeated
for centuries, were no longer the subject of present teaching in
the respective churches. The World Methodist Council affirmed the
JDDJ at their 2006 assembly in Seoul, South Korea.

Going beyond theological dialogue, the VELKD presiding bishop
emphasized spiritual ecumenism. "All that is already possible in
the broad field of spirituality, prayer and worship must be done
together to the praise and glory of God." Friedrich underlined
that "with the Joint Declaration we can say together that it is
an indispensable criterion seeking to focus all the church’s
teaching and practice on Christ." He added that the festive
ceremony was an opportunity for “committing ourselves” to open up
the message of justification again and again for the present day.
"I am grateful for the opportunity together to recall the
importance of the Joint Declaration and to soak up new motivation
for ongoing work on the questions it raises."

At the ceremony on 30 October, Bishop Dr Walter Mixa of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Augsburg stated in his greeting: “Of
course, Augsburg also stands for an eventful history with respect
to church unity. The year 1530, with the Augsburg Confession
(Confessio Augustana), marked a final attempt to avoid church
division between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Unfortunately
this attempt failed. Nevertheless, Augsburg does not just stand
there as a city of division but also as a symbol of successful
efforts to bring Christians of different denominations closer to
one another again.”

In his greeting at the ceremony, Augsburg's Lord Mayor Dr Kurt
Gribl emphasized that the day on which the JDDJ was signed ten
years ago had been a day of hope for many Christians the world
over. This day in 1999 had not represented an ecumenism of the
lowest common denominator, but the endeavor to perceive and
recognize other confessions in their full form and uniqueness.
Not all hopes had been fulfilled since then or "could be
fulfilled in one decade after centuries of separation," said
Gribl. Yet "many doors have opened," he added.

In other addresses the President of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), Walter Cardinal Kasper
(Vatican) and LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko paid
tribute to what the JDDJ had been able to achieve ecumenically. 

Prof. em. Eberhard Juengel (Tuebingen) delivered the keynote
lecture on “What Does Our Happiness Have to Do with Our
Blessedness?” He emphasized that “for Christian theology - seen
from its core, i.e. the articles on justification - the issue of
human happiness is unavoidable.”

For Martin Luther, the meaning of "God‘s incarnation was to make
true human beings from unhappy, proud gods, to people who
recognize that they are sinners dependent on God‘s grace," stated
Juengel. "The gospel of God's becoming human leads the person
wanting to be like God back to the humanity of the homo humanus,"
Juengel explained.

He pointed out that "the content of happiness cannot be pinned
down. It is indefinable. Feeling happy is not just another
experience, it is one we have along with other experiences - thus
an experience with experience."

"Anyone who has found their home in truth," Juengel continued,
"will no longer ask questions about something like the meaning of
life. For the happy ones, there is no point in asking about
meaning."

For Juengel, “human happiness consists of being able to say an
unqualified yes to oneself and to all that is. Human blessedness,
however, consists in still being able to say yes even when you
have reason to complain: Ach ja – you then sigh. The Ach [alas]
does not detract from the yes. It does not make it a less
absolute yes, but gives it depth.”

The celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the JDDJ
signing will be followed on 31 October by a symposium with
lectures by the long-serving bishop of the Evangelical Methodist
Church in Germany Dr Walter Klaiber (Tuebingen) and the former
chairperson of the German Bishops' Conference Karl Cardinal
Lehmann (Mainz). Cardinal Kasper and Dr Noko will give short
closing addresses. The LWF general secretary and the PCPCU
president will be the main celebrants at concluding festive
ecumenical service in the Augsburg Cathedral, which will be
followed by a reception in the Michael Sailer hall. (894 words)

For further information on the JDDJ see the LWF Web site at:
www.lutheranworld.org 

*      *      *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of 68.9 million. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information
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