wfn.org | Wartburg Seminary Faculty Supports Full Communion Proposal

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 27, 1999
PROPOSAL

WARTBURG SEMINARY FACULTY SUPPORTS FULL COMMUNION PROPOSAL
99-187-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The faculty of Wartburg Theological Seminary,
Dubuque, Iowa, added its support for a proposal the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) is considering that outlines a relationship of
"full communion" with The Episcopal Church.  Wartburg is one of eight
seminaries of the ELCA.
     "Called to Common Mission: A Lutheran Proposal for a Revision of
the Concordat of Agreement (CCM)" must be approved by two-thirds of the
ELCA Churchwide Assembly, meeting Aug. 16-22 in Denver, before it can be
offered to the Episcopal Church.
     "We trust that the adoption of the full communion proposal,
'Called to Common Mission,' will strengthen the mission opportunities of
the ELCA," said the Wartburg faculty, which includes 15 seminary
professors.
     Full communion opens possibilities for the exchange of clergy and
other cooperative ministries.  "The cooperation and support given by the
Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, to the
preparation of the students of the Lutheran Seminary Program in the
Southwest is a significant example of how our deepening unity has served
the church's mission," said the Wartburg faculty.
     Wartburg established the Austin program in 1974.  Lutheran courses
taught on the Episcopal campus and at the Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary are accredited through Wartburg.  The Lutheran
School of Theology at Chicago also supports the program.
     A round of Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues that began in 1983
developed a proposal for full communion between the two churches, "The
Concordat of Agreement," and issued it in 1991.
     A convention of the Episcopal Church approved the Concordat in
1997.  The proposal failed to win a two-thirds majority of the ELCA
assembly that year by six votes.  The assembly asked that the Concordat
be revised, taking its debate into account and clarifying the technical
language of the dialogue.  CCM was issued in November 1998 as that
revision.
     Wartburg's faculty pointed out four revisions that it affirmed as
improving the proposal: dropping a statement that the
bishop-pastor-deacon structure of the Episcopal Church would be a 
"future pattern" for the ELCA; asserting that bishops are a "sign, though 
not a guarantee, of unity and apostolic continuity;" clarifying that the "historic
episcopate" is necessary for the Episcopal Church but not for the ELCA
to have full communion; and revising the proposed ceremony for
installing Lutheran bishops to downplay the involvement of Episcopal
bishops.
     Lutherans and Episcopalians agree on the doctrine of "apostolic
succession," an ongoing faithful proclamation of Christ.  Episcopalians
bring to the relationship the "historic episcopate," a succession of
bishops as a sign of unity back to the earliest days of the Christian
church.
     Many critics of CCM oppose the idea that the ELCA incorporate the
historic episcopate.
     "We have, together with the whole Church, been particularly
concerned with questions surrounding the 'historic episcopate.'  We find
it an important clarification that the ELCA does not regard the historic
episcopate as 'necessary' to the being of the Church or essential for
'full communion,' even though we are willing to adopt it for the sake of
unity and mission" with the Episcopal Church, said the Wartburg faculty.
     Wartburg's statement joins similar affirmations from the faculties
of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.; Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia; Trinity Lutheran Seminary,
Columbus, Ohio; and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia,
S.C.  Trinity's president, the Rev. Dennis A. Anderson, and Southern's
president, the Rev. H. Frederick Reisz Jr., also issued personal
messages of support for the proposal.

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