wfn.org | LWI News in Brief

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

* Norway's Lutherans, Catholics in joint celebrations.  In Norway's
national shrine, the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, bishops Finn Wagle
(Church of Norway) and Georg Muller (Roman Catholic Church in Norway) will
jointly lead thanksgiving service for the Joint Declaration on the evening
of 31 October 1999. The Nidaros Cathedral was built in the 12th and 13th
centuries. The two bishops are preparing a sermon together and will deliver
it standing together at the pulpit. Representatives from the Church of
Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations will attend the
service. In Tromso in northern Norway, the two bishops Gerhard Goebel
(Roman Catholic Church) and Ola Steinholt (Church of Norway) will take part
in a similar service in the cathedral on 31 October in the evening. All
1312 Church of Norway parishes have been asked to mark the event during the
regular morning services that Sunday.  The Church of Norway Council on
Ecumenical and International Relations has prepared a proposed text for
prayer. A joint Catholic-Lutheran service in the Cathedral of Oslo will
take place on 28 October. Bishops Gerhard Schwenzer (Roman Catholic Church)
and Gunnar St†lsett (Church of Norway) will lead the service. After the
service the two bishops will take part in a discussion on the process to a
common understanding of the doctrine on justification. Former Secretary
General in the Lutheran World Federation, Church of Norway bishop of Oslo
Gunnar Staalsett, will attend the celebration in Augsburg on 31 October.

* Argentina's Catholic see to host joint celebration. The see of
Argentina's Catholic Bishop's Conference (CEA) will be the venue of a
"presentation" of the Joint Declaration to the religious, academic and
journalistic circles, on 27 October. On November 3 a joint "ecumenical
celebration" by both churches will take place at the temple of the Lutheran
Community "El Redentor". The Catholic Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Mons.
Mario Bergoglio, and the presidents of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
the River Plate (IERP) and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church Juan
Pedro Schaad and Angel Furlan respectively will be present at the
celebration.

* Thanksgiving service on 31 October at Paris Notre Dame Cathedral. The
Notre Dame Cathedral, a major tourist attraction in Paris, France will be
the venue of a thanksgiving service to celebrate the signing of the Joint
declaration in Augsburg. The Catholic Archbishop of Paris Jean Maries
Lustige and Bishop Michel Viot of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France
will preside over the ceremony.

* Joint services on Reformation Day in Namibia. At three places, the three
Lutheran churches in Namibia namely, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Namibia (ELCIN), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia/GELC and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) together
with the Roman Catholic church will hold a joint service on 31 October 1999.

* Churches in Canada mark historic occasion. Members of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), which is a member of the LWF, and
Canada's Roman Catholics are expected to mark the occasion with a number of
local celebrations. The ELCIC has also marked the signing by sending a
petition of support from 1,384 members of the ELCIC to the LWF. ELCIC
National Bishop Telmor Sartison wrote that the petition was being sent
"because we want to be there at Augsburg, at least in signature if not in
person, to celebrate our life in Christ as marked by the history, old and
new, that Augsburg will mark."

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