ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 16, 2005

Lutherans, Roman Catholics Begin Planning for 2017
05-224-FI

     VATICAN CITY (ELCA) -- Lutherans and Roman Catholics began
planning for 2017 with recognition of their movement toward
reconciliation during the past 500 years and with a renewed
commitment to continue in that direction.  2017 will be the 500th
anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which traditionally
began Oct. 31, 1517, when Dr. Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to
the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.
     Ecumenical staff of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and
of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
(PCPCU) held their regular meeting here Nov. 7-8.  The Rev. Mark
S. Hanson, LWF president and presiding bishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Chicago, participated.
     The international dialogue, the Lutheran-Roman Catholic
Commission on Unity, is finishing its fourth round of talks and
plans to have a final document on "The Apostolicity of the
Church" ready for publication in 2006.  The staff meeting
considered details for concluding the fourth round and possible
topics for the fifth round of dialogue.
     The meeting followed a private audience Nov. 7 for a seven-
member Lutheran delegation with Pope Benedict XVI.  Hanson opened
the audience with a formal statement; the pope read a formal
statement in English; and the audience closed with an informal
conversation in English and German.
     "The pope knows Lutherans and Lutheran theology very well,
since he comes from Germany, the country of the Reformation, but
this was a special event that representatives of the Lutheran
World Federation met the former Cardinal Ratzinger for the first
time as Pope Benedict XVI," said the Rev. Theodor Dieter,
director, Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France.
     Hanson emphasized that Lutherans confess "the one faith of
the holy and catholic and apostolic Church" in the creeds and the
Lutheran Confessions, Dieter said.  Hanson pointed to the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which the LWF and
Vatican signed in 1999, as an example of Catholic-Lutheran
consensus that may be possible on other topics.
     The pope also referred to the Joint Declaration, "which is
very important because it shows that the pope also sees this as a
still important, basic agreement with the Lutherans," Dieter
said.  "The pope emphasized the continuous and ongoing commitment
of the Catholic Church to the dialogues," he said.
     "On the other hand the pope spoke of some concerns he had
that a common heritage between Lutherans and Catholics could in
some areas be undermined.  This is a concern the Lutherans should
take very seriously," Dieter said.
     Dieter and the Rev. Joachim Track, German theologian and
chair of the LWF program committee for ecumenical affairs, raised
two theological questions in German during the informal portion
of the audience.
     "The questions related to a talk which the pope had given at
the World Youth Day in Cologne when he met with representatives
of other Christian churches in Germany," Dieter said.  The pope
had said differences between Lutherans and Catholics were less
about the orders of ministry and more about the Word of God,
those who bear witness to the Word and interpreting the Word
according to the "rule of faith."
     Dieter and Track asked Pope Benedict XVI to explain those
differences.  "The pope smiled and said that precisely this is
the task of the dialogue -- to define the differences and also
the possibility of overcoming the differences more clearly and in
a more detailed way," Dieter said.  "He seemed very interested to
hear of the results of such an investigation."
     The pope's comments gave the following staff meeting two
additional topics -- "what the pope could have meant by areas
where the common heritage could be undermined or taken into
question" and what he meant by his comments in Cologne, Dieter
said.

Planning for 2017 and a New Round of Dialogue
     The staff meeting's agenda considered details for concluding
the fourth round of international dialogues, particulars for the
fifth round and plans for the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation.
     The fourth round of talks took 10 years to develop "The
Apostolicity of the Church," which will be issued in the fall of
2006, said the Rev. Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, Geneva.
The conclusion of the fifth round will probably coincide with the
500th anniversary in 2017, he said.
     "Our idea is that the commission would take up at the
beginning of its mandate a deep, profound study of what the
Reformation meant and what it has meant down the centuries and
what it actually means today for both of us," said Bishop Brian
Farrell, PCPCU secretary.
     "That should lead us then to the essential questions which
are still at the heart of our relationship," Farrell said.  "We
will obviously have to revisit the theme of justification and
those points that still remain to be developed" as well as items
Pope Benedict XVI raised during the audience, he said.
     "Lutherans look at Catholics from the point of view of the
16th century, and we define ourselves vis-a-vis the Catholic of
the 16th century, which is not correct," Noko said.  "The Roman
Catholic Church has moved since that time as much as we have
moved toward a new expression of self-understanding of the
Lutheran church," he said.
     Noko said he thought it was important for Lutherans and
Roman Catholics to prepare for the 500th anniversary together,
"so that we are not commemorating that we became Lutherans, but
we are commemorating that through the reformers the Church was
constantly renewed."
     Staff agreed there should be a special working group of
Lutherans to coordinate events surrounding 2017 and to plan one
or two international events, Noko said.  The working group will
explore what can be done ecumenically to observe the anniversary.
     The audience with Pope Benedict XVI clarified the ecumenical
commitment of the Vatican and pushed the Lutheran-Roman Catholic
dialogue forward, Noko said.
     The "visitation" of church leaders is more than a photo
opportunity, Noko said.  "It does keep alive the apostolicity of
the church and its traditions.  Visiting one another is an old
apostolic tradition."
     Farrell pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI contributed to
the earlier Lutheran-Roman Catholic discussion on justification.
"At the beginning of his pontificate, the leadership of the
Lutheran World Federation was here to visit and, although
briefly, to discuss with him the future of our relationship," he
said.
     "It commits us more than ever to continue along this path
and to deepen, if possible, this path of mutual discovery of all
that we have in common, the things that divide us and, as the
pope himself said in his words, to see what gifts we have to
exchange with one another," Farrell said.
     "We have a lot of work to do," Farrell said.  "It is a great
human adventure in which we are living under the impulse of God's
grace.  So, we're excited about doing it," he said.
     Farrell and Noko co-chaired the staff meeting.  Lutheran
participants were Karin Achtelstetter, LWF deputy general
secretary, Geneva; Dieter; Hanson; the Rev. Sven Oppegaard, LWF
assistant general secretary for ecumenical affairs, Geneva; and
Track.  PCPCU staff participants were the Rev. John A. Radano and
the Rev. Matthias Tuerk.
-- -- --
     The official text of Bishop Hanson's presentation during the
Nov. 7 papal audience is in a PDF file at
http://tinyurl.com/ajzj7 on the LWF Web site.  The official text
of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks is at http://tinyurl.com/dboj6 on
the Vatican Web site.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
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