wfn.org | Lutheran, Roman Catholic Differences Fading Say Ecumenical Leaders

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 16, 1997

LUTHERAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC DIFFERENCES FADING
SAY ECUMENICAL LEADERS
97-CA-07-MS

     PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Martin Luther broke with Rome 480 years ago in
a conflict focused on a Christian doctrine of Justification (how human
beings become acceptable to God).  Voting members at the biennial
Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
will decide this week whether to declare that Justification is no longer a
"church-dividing issue."
     In Martin Luther's day, Christians in western Europe believed
assurance of God's love and favor could only be received by good behavior,
which for some included contributing money to the church.  Luther condemned
this view and quickly ran afoul of church leadership.  Condemned and
outlawed, he became the leader of a reform movement which today numbers
more than 50 million Lutherans worldwide.
     Lutherans tried to avoid a split, but the break became permanent at
the Roman Catholic Council of Trent, when Lutherans and their teaching,
that human beings are made right with God as a pure gift from God, were
condemned.
     In 1962 Roman Catholics appeared ready to overturn Trent, however.
The Vatican II Council in Rome sounded a conciliatory new tone toward
Lutherans and other Protestants.  Shortly thereafter, Roman Catholics and
Lutherans began dialogs about the doctrine of Justification. Thirty years
later, both churches are ready to decide whether their "Joint Declaration
on Justification" can heal the breach. The Declaration would move Roman
Catholic teaching closer to historic Lutheran doctrine.
     Speaking to a standing room only gathering of voting members at the
ELCA'S Philadelphia assembly, Bishop Alexander Brunett of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Helena (Montana) said, "Both Roman Catholics and
Lutherans see this moment [assuming the proposal is adopted by both
churches] as one of grace."
     The Rev. Harold C. Skillrud, Atlanta, former bishop of the ELCA'S
Southeastern Synod, recalled growing up in heavily Roman Catholic St.
Cloud, Minnesota.  "As a youth I played basketball in a Roman Catholic
school gymnasium.  Every time the local priest looked in, I instinctively
took the Lutheran pin off my sweater and hid it in my pocket.  Thankfully,
those days are past," he said.
     The Rev. Eugene Brand, until recently an ecumenical officer with the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva, Switzerland, said that consensus
will be needed from the 124 Lutheran churches which make up the LWF.
Recently returned from the LWF Assembly in Hong Kong, Brand said, "the
feeling there was overwhelmingly in support of the proposal.  If a binding
vote had been appropriate, they would have passed it with little dissent."
     Asked what the prospects for approval would be on the Roman Catholic
side, Brother Jeffery Gros, ecumenical representative for U.S. Roman
Catholic bishops, said chances are good.  "We have no problem with this
proposal," he said, adding, "Roman Catholics today are not interested in
what the Council of Trent said. Our theological reference is now Vatican
II.   The spirit of that Council is very much in tune with the Joint
Declaration."
     ELCA Lutherans are scheduled to debate and then vote on the proposal
on Tuesday of next week. The 5.2 million member ELCA is the largest
Lutheran group in North America, and the only U.S. Lutheran church
considering the Joint Declaration. Most other Lutherans in the country
belong to the smaller and more conservative Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod
or Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, neither of which is a member of
the LWF.

For information contact:

Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html