wfn.org | "Joint Declaration": New possibilities for ecumenical dialogue

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

The hard road towards church unity

GENEVA, 20 October 1999 (lwi) - The dialogue between the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church began soon after the end
of the Second Vatican Council in 1967. The Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification is so far the high point of the more than
30-year process.

The two dialogue partners confirm that they have reached "a consensus on
basic truths of the doctrine of justification" and "that the mutual
condemnations of former times do not apply to the Catholic and Lutheran
doctrines of justification as they are presented in the Joint
Declaration".

Thus, by a theologically well-founded joint action, a new interpretation
has been made with regard to the doctrinal condemnations and tensions of
the past concerning the doctrine of justification. With the confirmation
of the Declaration in a worship setting by the LWF and the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), both churches have begun
expressing their relationship to one another in a new way. For the LWF,
the decision of its Assembly in Curitiba in 1990, in which the
Federation is described as a communio of Lutheran churches, is
obviously, albeit with many reservations, being recognised by its
dialogue partner. The common goal is "to reach full church communion, a
unity in diversity, in which remaining differences would be 'reconciled'
and no longer have a divisive force".

Anyone who knows the meaning for church history of this intended
confirmation of the Joint Declaration will not really be surprised that
the text of the Declaration, as well as the announced signing of the
Official Common Statement, have led to conflicting reactions. This is
true to the same degree for both partners.

In opposition to those who have greeted the agreement with enthusiasm
stood the sceptics, who on the Lutheran side scented an unsound
compromise which did not do justice to the centrality of the doctrine of
justification as criterion for the teaching, order and practice of the
church. While a large majority of the LWF member churches affirmed the
text in their synods following its publication in February 1997, in
Germany a heated discussion arose. In January 1998 this was intensified
by a public statement from teachers of theology, in which they called
for the rejection of the Joint Declaration and 160 professors of
theology eventually signed the statement.

Impressed by this controversy, a majority of synods of the Lutheran
churches in Germany decided in favour of a differentiated approval of
the Joint Declaration. While the goal of full agreement in the doctrine
of justification has not yet been reached, they said, nevertheless the
Declaration is an important step in the right direction, and must be
followed by further clarifications. On the basis of the fundamentally
positive decisions, with a few exceptions, of the member churches, the
LWF Council adopted the text of the Joint Declaration unanimously on 16
June 1998, emphasising that agreement had been reached on crucial
issues, although some points needed to be clarified further.

But the statement of the PCPCU provoked renewed discussion. The
statement declared that there were still points in which the teaching of
the Lutheran churches did not agree with that of the Council of Trent,
for example in the interpretation of Martin Luther's observation that a
person stands before God as "being justified and sinner at the same
time" (simul iustus et peccator). There was also doubt as to whether the
synods of the Lutheran churches, represented by the LWF, actually had
authority to decide in questions of doctrine. This reaction seemed to
sustain the arguments of the Joint Declaration's critics, but could also
be seen as a reason and impetus to do further work on the questions,
which had been raised, before the signing should take place. To give
only a half-hearted approval to the Joint Declaration would not do
justice to its concerns and its meaning, and future work together would
be made more difficult.

The months which followed provided the opportunity to work on some of
the problems which had been raised. A new situation was created through
the initiative of the Bishop of Munich, the late Johannes Hanselmann,
and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. They met with two professors of theology,
Heinz Schutte from the Catholic side and Joachim Track from the
Protestant side, and worked out a five-page text, which was received and
revised by the LWF and the PCPCU. The results were an Official Common
Statement with an Annex, which were introduced during a press conference
by the PCPCU President Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy and the LWF General
secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko on 11 June 1999 in Geneva.

These texts respond to some of the questions, which have arisen in the
controversy over the Joint Declaration. These clarifications, which were
expressly supported by Pope John Paul II, have cleared away the
remaining reservations against signing in confirmation of the
Declaration. According to Hans-Georg Link, ecumenicist in Cologne,
Germany, they have "set to rights those Protestant voices which want to
nail down the Catholic Church to its 16th century positions, of the time
of the Council of Trent, and not to grant it any steps forward or
progress in its writings in the ecumenical dialogue since then". And
Eberhard Jungel, who had been so critical, evidently saw justice done to
his reservations and welcomed the two documents in a commentary in the
Deutsche Allgemeine Sonntagsblatt newspaper. But the controversy could
not be expected to end there.

For the LWF and the PCPCU, the way was now open for the signing. At the
press conference last June when the two documents were made public, Noko
and the Cassidy pointed out again the meaning of the Joint Declaration
for church history. Obviously this cannot be underlined often enough,
because many people take for granted that which has already been
accomplished in the ecumenical movement, and can hardly grasp what it
means to have overcome a 400-year history of mutual denunciations and
condemning silence within 30 years of ecumenical dialogue. Noko and
Cassidy emphasised further that the Joint Declaration opens up new
possibilities for ecumenical dialogue and for the churches to walk a
common path.

"A decisive breakthrough" was what it was called by Konrad Raiser,
General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). He said it was
the first time that the Vatican had accepted the results of a bilateral
dialogue in an authoritative form, and was prepared to express its
acceptance in a shared signing ceremony. "By closing this chapter of
church history, which has been occupied with the condemnations of the
past, the Joint Declaration frees us to turn to the problem areas of a
contemporary witness for the ecumenical movement," Raiser said in an
interview with ENI, the ecumenical news service. And he added: "When we
can express a consensus on the basic truths of the doctrine of
justification, this hopefully will speed up the process in other areas."

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat
is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)etands before God as "being justifie

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
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