THE LUTHERAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE TOWARD VISIBLE UNITY

Jeffrey Gros

The October 31, 1999 signing of the Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith between the Roman and the Lutheran World Federation, represents the culmination of over thirty years of dialogue, a historic stage in the reception of the modem ecumenical movement, and the beginning of ecclesial changes oriented toward full communion.' It affirms together this element of the apostolic faith once considered church dividing. This formal action by the churches enables the reconsideration of some of the condemnations of the sixteenth century as not applicable to one another. For this reason it has implications for all of the churches of the West, and for the hermeneutics of our historic affirmations in this new ecumenical context.' The overview in this essay will review the dialogues that stand behind the Declaration, and the hopes beyond this step. The churches of the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church have been in dialogue and relationships in a variety of contexts since the , in 1965. Through the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, on the global level, through the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and its predecessor bodies and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (which is not a member of the LWF), on the US level, and similar dialogue processes in various other places like Brazil, , Sweden and Australia, these dialogues have been most fruitful in laying a ground work for full communion. This essay will review only the US and international dialogues, for brevity's sake.

1 'Joint Declarationon the Doctrineof Justificationby Faith,' 'Cardinal Edward Cassidy Press Conference Statement,' 'Official Catholic Response to the Joint Declaration,' Origins, July 16, 1998, 28:8, 120-132also, Catholic International, 10:4, April, 1999, 179-196. Cardinal Edward Cassidy, Ishmael Noko, 'Official Common Statement RegardingJoint Declaration on Justification,' 'Annex Statement,' 'Press Conference,' Origins, June 24, 1999, 29:6, 85-91. Karl Lehmann, Michael Root, William Rusch, eds., Justificationby Faith: Do the Sixteenth-CenturyCondemnations Still Apply?, New York: Continuum,1997. Karl Lehmann,Wolfhart Pannenberg (eds), TheCondemnations of the ReformationEra, Do they Still Divide?, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. 2 Faith and Order Commission, A Treasure in Earthen Vessels:An Instrumentfor an EcumenicalReflection on Hermeneutics,Faith and Order Paper No. 182, Geneva:World Council of Churches, 1998. 24

As a result of the 1983 work in the US dialogue on justification by faith, and the German work on the condemnations of the sixteenth century, it was decided in the mid 1990s to begin to move from dialogue to ecclesial action. In 1995 the idea of a Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith was proposed and the Lutheran World Federation and the Holy See entered into a process of evaluation and action, eventuating in the decision, announced June 11, 1999, to go forward with the signing of the Declaration. The first part of this essay will survey the nine rounds of world level dialogues and the nine rounds of US dialogues and their results. The second section will briefly focus the contents of these dialogues by themes to show how these dialogues interrelate in one unified process contributing to the pilgrimage toward full communion in the Church Christ wills for us. The context of this discussion takes place within the larger World Council vision of Conciliar Communion,' articulated, with their own emphases, in the 4 foundational documents of both partners.'

I The Course of the Dialogues

A World Level Dialogues

The first meeting of the Joint Lutheran - Roman Catholic Study Commission, sponsored by the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation took place in 1965. The first report was issued in February, 1972 following the final meeting of the Commission in Malta, under the title The Gospel and the Church.' It touched on a variety of issues, most treated in more depth in subsequent dialogues: tradition, the world, the office of ministry, and the unity of the Church. This first encounter produced a level of agreement that surprised many in the churches, and provided questions that helped later dialogues come to deeper agreement.

In 1976 a three way dialogue group from the Vatican Secretariat, the Lutheran World Federation and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches,

3 Harding Meyer, That All May Be One, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1999. Faith and Order Commission, The Nature and Purpose of the Church: A Stage on the Wayto a CommonStatement, Faith and Order Paper No. 181, Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1998. 4 Jens Holger Schjorring, Prasanna Kumari, Norman Hjelm (eds), From Federation to Communion:The History of the Lutheran World Federation, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997. Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, Origins, Vol. 23: No. 9. 5 Lukas Vischer and Harding Meyer (eds), Growth in AgreementReports and Agreed Statementsof Ecumenical Conversationson a WorldLevel, New York: Paulist Press, 1984, 168-189.