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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 30.11.1999 |
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| News in brief - November 1999 |
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- ‘Joint Declaration’ celebrations in New Zealand
- University of Natal hosts thanks giving service for ‘one step in reconciliation’
- Special events in London mark the signing of the “Joint Declaration”
- Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria retires
- New office bearers for the German Luther Association
- Focussing 50 years after the signing in Augsburg
‘Joint Declaration’ celebrations in New Zealand
“I never thought I would see the day when the Lutheran President preached in a Roman Catholic Cathedral. … It was good. ” These remarks from New Zealander, 91-year-old life-long Lutheran Oscar Burmeister, probably best describe the significance of the confirmation of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church on 31 October 1999 in Augsburg, Germany. Burmeister was among worshippers attending a thanksgiving service at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Broadway, Palmerston North, New Zealand, on 31 October. Bishop Peter Cullianne, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Bishop of Palmerston North and Dr Steen Olsen, President of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand jointly presided and preached at the service. The message from Bishop Cullianne and Dr Olsen was: “We rejoice in the completion of this Joint Declaration. This is a significant step in the relationship between Catholics and Lutherans around the world.” The Lutheran Church of New Zealand is a district of the LWF associate member church, Lutheran Church of Australia.
University of Natal hosts thanks giving service for ‘one step in reconciliation’
At the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, nearly 200 people came to witness on 13 November a joint celebration in recognition of the 31 October 1999 signing of the “Joint Declaration” in Augsburg, Germany. The event organized by the Catholic church’s St Joseph’s Seminary and the Lutheran House of Studies (LUTHOS) at the university was an occasion to thank “God for one area of reconciliation between Lutherans and Roman Catholics,” according to the LUTHOS director, Rev. Georg Scriba and colleague Maxi Nürnberger. During the celebration worship, two students, one from St Joseph’s the other from the LUTHOS, read selected texts from the Joint Declaration and the congregation responded with the confession: “By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.” They also prayed jointly a liturgy of repentance in which representatives of each denomination confessed the shortcomings of each in their relationship to one another. This prayer concluded with a confession together that as Christians, “we have gone our separate ways in callous disregard of our Lord’s prayer for his followers: ‘That they may be one’. Our witness and Christ’s work has suffered badly as a result.”
Special events in London mark the signing of the “Joint Declaration”
A panel discussion at the Lutheran Council of Great Britain on 30 October 1999 presented the broader ecumenical significance of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, recently confirmed by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church in Augsburg, Germany. The Rev. Dr Paul Avis, General Secretary, Church of England Council for Christian Unity, described the declaration as a ‘major ecumenical breakthrough’ and expressed hope that it would give an impetus to the reception of documents agreed by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). The Rev. Geoffrey Roper, General Secretary of the Free Church Federal Council and a Reformed minister said he believed that the Reformed would be influenced by the declaration, though “what is said about grace coming through baptism would have to be looked at very carefully by the Reformed.” Mrs Gillian Crow, Secretary of the Diocese of Sourozh of the Orthodox Church noted that it is sometimes said that Catholics and Protestants Sourozh of the Orthodox Church noted that it is sometimes said that Catholics and Protestants have different answers to theological questions. The Orthodox, she added, do not even have the same questions. Meanwhile the Lutheran Council of Great Britain and the Catholic Bishops’Conferences in England & Wales and Scotland organized a joint service at the Swedish Church in London on Sunday, 31 October, which was attended by various church leaders including Bishop Phillip Pargeter from the Bishops’ Conference and Dean Lennart Sjöström, chairperson of the Lutheran Council of Great Britain. The Swedish ambassador to the United Kingdom attended the worship and welcomed guests at a reception after the service.
Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria retires
A special worship service was held at Munich’s St. Matthew’s church on October 31, 1999, to bid farewell to Bishop D. Hermann von Loewenich of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Germany. During a state reception in Munich following the service, Bavaria’s Premier Edmund Stoiber, from the Christian Socialist Union, thanked the bishop who “always spoke up for the Church”. Von Loewenich headed the 2.7 million member Bavarian church since 1994. In his last report as bishop, von Loewenich listed the following issues as priorities of his work: being present in ecumenism and in the congregations; promoting equal rights and equal presence of women in the Church; as well as promoting the Protestant presence in the context of the government, society and media. During the celebration worship, Friedrich Cardinal Wetter, Catholic Archbishop of Munich and Freising, thanked von Loewenich for his “openness in the ecumenical dialogue” and his active support for the development of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. Johannes Friedrich, von Loewenich’s successor, was installed into office on November 21 in Nuremberg’s St. Lawrence church.
New office bearers for the German Luther Association
Prof. Dr. Johannes Schilling, who has been pro-vice chancellor of Kiel University since 1999, is the new First President of the German Luther Association .This was announced at the association’s general meeting in Torgau last September. Others elected as members of the new managing committee include Oberkirchenrat Dr. Reinhard Brandt of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) who becomes the Second President and Dr. Andreas Pawlas, a minister of a congregation in Klein-Offenseth-Sparrieshoop, who was reelected Secretary.
Focussing 50 years after the signing in Augsburg
For two youth members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), witnessing the confirmation of the Joint Declaration in Augsburg was one way of saying: “We are ready, our generation wants to take part in the work of the church. We love the church, and want to be a part of the church, just invite us.” Melanie Zentner from Minneapolis and Meredith Lovell from Pennsylvania, both 19 year-old university students and members of the Board of the Lutheran Youth Organization (BLYO) in the ELCA, said they were excited to have participated in the history making event of the signing of the Joint Declaration in Augsburg. The history and German language student, Zentner, emphasized that it is important for her that in 50 years to come, “I can look back and say ‘I was there’ (in Augsburg).” Lovell a religion and elementary education undergraduate emphasized that her role as a young church member in Augsburg was significantly to say “we are ready.”
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