wfn.org | Roman Catholic theologians repudiate criticism of Joint Declaration

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

GENEVA, March 10, 1998 (KNA-KI/Kipa/lwi) - According to Swiss bishop of the
Roman Curia, Jean-Claude Perisset, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification will bring ecumenism a step forward. Despite the recent
protests of some 150 mainly German Protestant theologians, he is optimistic
with regard to acceptance of the document by the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF), the Swiss Roman Catholic news agency Kipa reported Feb. 25.

The kinds of protest point to a need for further clarification and
discussion on the Protestant side, Perisset said in an interview. But,
according to Kipa, he excludes "new negotiations on the document": "Having
worked together on the document for so many years, this would not make
sense. I believe that this text will be signed by the LWF and the Roman
Catholic Church or else a whole new start will have to be made."

Roman Catholic dogmatics professor, Gerhard Ludwig Muller, from Munich also
stands in defense of the Joint Declaration. In a contribution to the latest
issue of the Freiburg journal Christ in der Gegenwart, Muller writes that
Protestant colleagues' rejection of the document developed by the Vatican
and LWF did not contain any indication as to how ecumenism was to continue.
Unlike the Joint Declaration, it would appear that the theologians have
come to terms with the fragmentation of the one church of Jesus Christ, the
Roman Catholic professor says.

He objects to the Protestant theologians having attempted to guarantee
confessional identity "merely by resorting to old confessional formulae".
In so doing, they failed to take into account the changed historical
situation and the ecumenical process in this century. These days, Muller
says, Roman Catholic and Protestant Christendom have the "selfsame task":
to clarify what is Christian, not in opposition to each other, but to
jointly relate it to today's people.

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