ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 28, 2006  

ELCA Delegation Visits Cardinal Kasper, Ecumenical Leadership
06-049-JB

     VATICAN CITY (ELCA) -- Focusing on "spiritual ecumenism,"
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for
the Promotion of Christian Unity, the Vatican, said the Roman
Catholic Church is preparing a booklet on ecumenism with
suggestions for how Catholic parishes can express commitment to
ecumenism in their local settings.  Kasper made the comment in an
hour-long meeting March 21with an 18-member delegation from the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     The delegation visited here as part of an extended
ecumenical journey, organized every three years by the ELCA
churchwide organization. The Lutherans met earlier with world
church leaders in Geneva and Istanbul, and traveled to London
March 25 for the final part of their trip. Most the delegation's
meetings here were with officials of the Vatican.
     Leading the delegation were the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA
secretary, Chicago, and the Rev. E. Roy Riley, bishop of the ELCA
New Jersey Synod, Hamilton Square, and chair of the ELCA
Conference of Bishops.
     Kasper has spoken before of spiritual ecumenism, a term he
uses to suggest that Lutherans and Roman Catholics can make a
spiritual connection with one another by putting their faith into
practice together through local initiatives and ministries.
     "The spiritual dimension of ecumenism is very important to
us," Kasper said.  Documents and events are important "but the
very heart of ecumenism is spiritual ecumenism," he said.
     Kasper emphasized that ecumenical work for Roman Catholics
"is changing a lot at this moment."
     "We're no longer where we were 40 years ago," he said. "The
new pope (Pope Benedict XVI) has decided that ecumenism and the
unity of the church for him is a priority."
     A key ecumenical moment for Lutherans and Roman Catholics
occurred in 1999 when leaders of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF), a global communion of Lutheran churches including the
ELCA, and the Vatican signed the Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) in Augsburg, Germany.  Through
the JDDJ the LWF and the Vatican agreed to a basic understanding
of the doctrine of justification and declared that certain 16th
century condemnations of each other no longer apply.
     This summer a world assembly of Methodists will take place
in Seoul, South Korea, at which the Methodists will consider
affirming the JDDJ, Kasper said. The cardinal characterized that
as an "important step" for Roman Catholics.
     Among the ecumenical challenges ahead for the Vatican are
its relationships with Pentecostals and so-called "evangelicals,"
Kasper said.  These movements are growing in the Southern
Hemisphere, particularly Latin America, Africa, Asia and now
Europe, he said.  Dialogue is difficult, because there is no
central church structure, he said.
     Kasper noted that, in November, Pope Benedict XVI will visit
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the world Orthodox leadership in
Istanbul, Turkey, which the ELCA delegation visited earlier
during the ecumenical journey.
     The cardinal added that for the Vatican, the decision to
engage in ecumenical work was "an irreversible decision."
Churches have a common task to stand for fundamental values such
as human dignity, peace and justice, he added.
     Speaking for the ELCA delegation, Almen, who is Lutheran co-
chair of the current round of Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in
the United States, thanked Kasper for the "gracious hospitality"
the Vatican had extended to the Lutherans.
     "From the very beginning, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America's commitment to ecumenical endeavor has been forthright
and unambiguous," Almen said.  The ELCA declared its commitment
in an official statement adopted by its 1991 Churchwide Assembly,
"Ecumenism: The Vision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America," he said.
     The ELCA hosted visits to the United States by Kasper's
predecessor, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, and by Kasper in 2002 and
2004.  The 2004 event was a celebration of the 5th anniversary of
the JDDJ, and included a formal presentation by Kasper to the
ELCA Conference of Bishops in Chicago.
     ELCA delegations visit the Vatican regularly.
     "As we reflect on all of those visits, they have been
significant for the individual participants in gaining a first-
hand understanding (of) the historic significance of this place,
as well as the magnificent opportunity to visit St. Peter's,"
Almen said.  "But they have served at the same time as a reminder
to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that the ELCA
really belongs (to) and has it roots within the Western Rite of
the church.  The visits ... served as a healthy antidote to some
of those forces of Protestant sectarianism that also threaten the
(lives) of some of our parishes."
     "We are here to affirm our God-given unity, and at the same
time we, with you, grieve that we have not found more fully ways
to express that unity," Almen said to Kasper.
     Almen said he was grateful for the "clarity" in which Kasper
addressed issues of ecumenical concern for the whole world,
adding that the ELCA affirms its gratitude for Kasper's
ecumenical leadership.
     While visiting the Vatican, the ELCA delegation met with
leaders of several other groups with specific leadership
responsibilities.  They were the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue, the Congregation for Bishops, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical
Council for Social Communications and the Pontifical Council of
San Tommaso d'Aquino.
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     Information about Lutheran-Roman Catholic relations is at
http://www.ELCA.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/romancatholic/
on the ELCA Web site.

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