wfn.org | LWI 2009-065 LWF General Secretary Noko: New Quality in Lutheran-Roman Catholic Relationship

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LWF General Secretary Noko: New Quality in Lutheran-Catholic Relationship
Cardinal Kasper Says Ecumenism Need Not Be Reinvented

AUGSBURG, Germany/GENEVA, 1 November 2009 (LWI) - When signing the Joint  Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) ten years ago, "we  committed ourselves to a joint ecumenical journey," said Rev. Dr Ishmael  Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). He was  speaking at celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the JDDJ signing  in Augsburg, Germany, on Saturday 31 October in the Golden Hall of  Augsburg's town hall.

On 31 October 1999 "we did not doubt that we will walk together on new  ways. We acted in full awareness of the remaining difficulties between  us," Noko recalled. "And yet," he added, "we did not allow the remaining  theological disagreements to keep us from taking this significant  step."

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

"The mutual condemnations from the past remain a part of our history; that  history cannot be changed," Noko stressed. "Ten years ago, in this city of  Augsburg, we said that these memories of separation and hostility would  not be the memories of our children," he added.

"Even when we disagree with one another, even when our remaining difficulti es are irreconcilable, the very sharpness of our disappointment shows the  new quality of our relationship," Noko concluded.

For Walter Cardinal Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for  Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), a new beginning does not mean starting  all over again. "We do not need to reinvent ecumenism," he declared. "It  has been successful as consensus ecumenism and it shall remain so. It  builds on the consensus that remains between our churches, despite all  painful divisions: the confessing of one Lord Jesus Christ as the one  Savior and Mediator between God and us human beings, as testified to in  Scripture and our common Apostolic Creed."

"That is not the old hat nor is it a matter of splitting theological  hairs," Kasper went on to say. "That is the Christian response to the  questions about the ultimate meaning, happiness, and where we come from  and where we are going in life."

"Quite a few people have expressed the criticism that the Joint Declaration  has had no consequences for the teaching and practice of the church,"  commented the PCPCU president. He cautioned, however, "It is simply not  true that nothing has happened and that there have been no steps forward.  The last joint Lutheran-Catholic document on the apostolicity of the  Church, deliberately built on the Joint Declaration and made notable  progress in so doing." This document was adopted at the March 2007 LWF  Council meeting in Lund, Sweden, after eight years of deliberations.  "Admittedly, we have not experienced a great breakthrough to date," Kasper  conceded.

In Kasper's view, "we should soberly add that much remains to be done. We  will need patience but also impatience on the rest of the way. Both are  part of God's Kingdom. There are many people - not just in Germany - who  are waiting with longing and impatience for the one Church at one Lord's  Table, who pray for it and work hard that all may be one." (576 words)

Further information on the celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of  the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification may  be found at: www.lutheranworld.org

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(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.)

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