wfn.org | Catholics and Protestants to start talks on doctrinal agreement

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Note #6942 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

07-November-2001
01423

Catholics and Protestants to start talks on doctrinal agreement 

Reformed body joins Lutheran-Catholic talks on justification 

by Frauke Brauns 
Ecumenical News International 
              
BRUNSWICK, Germany - The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are
to start discussions next month with other Protestant denominations about
the doctrine of justification - one of the most contentious issues of the
16th century Reformation.

The Vatican's top ecumenical official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, suggested
recently that the talks with Reformed and Methodists could broaden a
consensus already reached in 1999 between the Vatican and the LWF.

Two years ago in a "joint declaration on the doctrine of justification," the
Vatican and the LWF agreed there was "a consensus in basic truths" about the
doctrine and that doctrinal condemnations from the Reformation era no longer
applied to the teaching of the two communions.

It is believed to be the first time that the Vatican ever declared that
Catholic doctrinal condemnations no longer applied to a Protestant
communion.

This month's talks will take place in Columbus, Ohio, with the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches - of which the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a
member - and the World Methodist Council. The Anglican Communion will be
present as an observer.

Cardinal Kasper was speaking before an ecumenical service on Oct. 28 at
Brunswick Cathedral, in northern Germany, to mark the anniversary of the
signing on Oct. 31,1999 of the joint declaration.

He had been invited to Brunswick by Christian Krause, who is the Lutheran
bishop of Brunswick and president of the LWF.

Bishop Krause and Cardinal Kasper took part in the service in Brunswick's
Lutheran cathedral, filled with Lutherans and Catholics coming not only from
the Brunswick area but from all over Germany.

The venue itself is highly symbolic since the cathedral is a former Roman
Catholic cathedral that became Lutheran during the Reformation. The last
Catholic service was held here about 500 years ago.

Speaking at a press conference before the service, Bishop Krause and
Cardinal Kasper reaffirmed their intention to work together and continue
their dialogue.

Cardinal Kasper insisted that the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to
ecumenism was "irrevocable and irreversible."

A controversial Vatican document published last year angered many
Protestants by restating firmly the Catholic belief that Protestant
denominations are not churches in the proper sense of the word. Observers
have also suggested that the Vatican has been giving greater priority to
relationships with Orthodox churches.

However, Cardinal Kasper rejected such suggestions and denied that dialogue
with Orthodox churches had a higher priority for the Vatican than its
relationships with Protestants.

Bishop Krause told the press conference that the signing of the joint
declaration was only the beginning. For German Christians, one of the most
important issues was the question of the ecumenical sharing of the
Eucharist. There are equal numbers of Catholics and Protestants in Germany -
roughly 27 million of each - and many mixed marriages, Bishop Krause pointed
out, where couples wanted to be able to share the Eucharist together.

"As pastors we have to see to it that they can do so soon," Bishop Krause
said.

Cardinal Kasper, who is German and the former Catholic Bishop of
Rottenburg-Stuttgart, agreed that this was an urgent problem. But the
Vatican, he said, first wanted to discuss the issues of ministry, the nature
of the church and the "common faith."

Pointing to the practice of Scandinavian churches, he suggested blessing the
members of other churches when they attend the Eucharist.

The doctrine of justification was one of the main reasons for the
16th-century breach between Martin Luther and other Protestants, and the
papacy. Protestants described as unbiblical what they believed to be the
Catholic teaching about the role of good works in winning salvation.
According to Protestants, human beings are justified through faith by the
grace of God, and not because of good works.
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