Lutheran, Roman Catholic Differences Fading Say Ecumenical Leaders

PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Martin Luther broke with Rome 480 years ago in a conflict focused on a Christian doctrine of Justification (how human beings become acceptable to God). Voting members at the biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will decide this week whether to declare that Justification is no longer a "church-dividing issue."
In Martin Luther's day, Christians in western Europe believed assurance of God's love and favor could only be received by good behavior, which for some included contributing money to the church. Luther condemned this view and quickly ran afoul of church leadership. Condemned and outlawed, he became the leader of a reform movement which today numbers more than 50 million Lutherans worldwide.
Lutherans tried to avoid a split, but the break became permanent at the Roman Catholic Council of Trent, when Lutherans and their teaching, that human beings are made right with God as a pure gift from God, were condemned.
In 1962 Roman Catholics appeared ready to overturn Trent, however. The Vatican II Council in Rome sounded a conciliatory new tone toward Lutherans and other Protestants. Shortly thereafter, Roman Catholics and Lutherans began dialogs about the doctrine of Justification. Thirty years later, both churches are ready to decide whether their "Joint Declaration on Justification" can heal the breach. The Declaration would move Roman Catholic teaching closer to historic Lutheran doctrine.
Speaking to a standing room only gathering of voting members at the ELCA'S Philadelphia assembly, Bishop Alexander Brunett of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena (Montana) said, "Both Roman Catholics and Lutherans see this moment [assuming the proposal is adopted by both churches] as one of grace."
The Rev. Harold C. Skillrud, Atlanta, former bishop of the ELCA'S Southeastern Synod, recalled growing up in heavily Roman Catholic St. Cloud, Minnesota. "As a youth I played basketball in a Roman Catholic school gymnasium. Every time the local priest looked in, I instinctively took the Lutheran pin off my sweater and hid it in my pocket. Thankfully, those days are past," he said.
The Rev. Eugene Brand, until recently an ecumenical officer with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva, Switzerland, said that consensus will be needed from the 124 Lutheran churches which make up the LWF. Recently returned from the LWF Assembly in Hong Kong, Brand said, "the feeling there was overwhelmingly in support of the proposal. If a binding vote had been appropriate, they would have passed it with little dissent."
Asked what the prospects for approval would be on the Roman Catholic side, Brother Jeffery Gros, ecumenical representative for U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, said chances are good. "We have no problem with this proposal," he said, adding, "Roman Catholics today are not interested in what the Council of Trent said. Our theological reference is now Vatican II. The spirit of that Council is very much in tune with the Joint Declaration."
ELCA Lutherans are scheduled to debate and then vote on the proposal on Tuesday of next week. The 5.2 million member ELCA is the largest Lutheran group in North America, and the only U.S. Lutheran church considering the Joint Declaration. Most other Lutherans in the country belong to the smaller and more conservative Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod or Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, neither of which is a member of the LWF.

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Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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