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JDDJ Tenth Anniversary
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Call for Spiritual Ecumenism at
Joint Declaration’s Tenth Anniversary
Celebrations in Augsburg, Germany, marking the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) ended on Saturday, 31 October, with a festive ecumenical service. Methodists, Lutherans and Roman Catholics underlined how much had been achieved in ecumenical dialogue over the past ten years.
Walter Cardinal Kasper |
31.10.2009 | We Need a Spiritual Ecumenism
In his sermon in the Augsburg Cathedral, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) Walter Cardinal Kasper stated that the JDDJ was a sign of the workings of the Holy Spirit. “We cannot be thankful enough for that and for many, many other steps that have been possible since. More...
Click here for the full text of the sermon of Walter Cardinal Kasper in German. 
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko. © LWF/D.-M. Grötzsch |
31.10.2009 | Walls of Separation Are Broken Down
The second preacher at the festive ecumenical service, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), evoked “our sharing in [God’s] mission through the power of the Holy Spirit.” This enables Christians “to overcome the ever-present forces of division in church and in society. It helps us to seek responsible ways of reducing the enemy images that isolate and separate us from the gift of communion with God and with one another.” More...
Click here for the full text of the sermon of Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko.
Tribute to the Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification
Karl Cardinal Lehmann |
31.10.2009 | Need to Continue the Ecumenical Dialogue on the Basis of the JDDJ
Karl Cardinal Lehmann emphasized the need to continue the ecumenical dialogue on the basis of the JDDJ. “Even if open questions still remain, the Joint Declaration is a very important step by the two churches toward removing the tension from the divisive core area when it comes to the way the churches understand the message of justification. More...
Click here for a summary of the lecture of Karl Cardinal Lehmann in German.
Bishop em. Dr Walter Klaiber |
31.10.2009 | Message of Justification Frees People from Destructive Compulsion
In his paper, Dr Walter Klaiber, former bishop of the Evangelical Methodist Church in Germany underscored the timeless significance of the message of justification. “It frees people from the destructive compulsion to have to justify their own lives through success, performance or possessions, and from the fatal despair of thinking that for lack of such self-justification, their life is a failure and without value and meaning,” he said. More...
Click here for the full text of the lecture of Bishop em. Dr Walter Klaiber in German.
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko. © LWF/D.-M. Grötzsch |
31.10.2009 | New Quality of Relationship
When signing the JDDJ ten years ago, "we committed ourselves to a joint ecumenical journey," said LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko. On 31 October 1999 "we did not doubt that we will walk together on new ways. We acted in full awareness of the remaining difficulties between us," Noko recalled. More...
Walter Cardinal Kasper |
31.10.2009 | Ecumenism Need Not Be Reinvented
For Walter Cardinal Kasper a new beginning does not mean starting all over again. "We do not need to reinvent ecumenism," he declared. "It has been successful as consensus ecumenism and it shall remain so. It builds on the consensus that remains between our churches, despite all painful divisions: the confessing of one Lord Jesus Christ as the one Savior and Mediator between God and us human beings, as testified to in Scripture and our common Apostolic Creed." More...
Ceremony on 30 October in the Golden Hall of the Augsburg "Rathaus" |
30.10.2009 | Ten Years Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification
Several commemorative events were held in Augsburg, Germany on 30 and 31 October to celebrate the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) between the LWF and the Roman Catholic Church ten years ago. One highlight of the commemorative celebrations was a ceremony on 30 October at 19:30 hrs in the Golden Hall of the Augsburg "Rathaus." More...
Prof. em. Eberhard Jüngel (Tübingen) |
30.10.2009 | For the Happy Ones, There Is No Point in Asking about Meaning
Prof. em. Eberhard Jüngel (Tübingen) delivered the keynote lecture on “What Does Our Happiness Have to Do with Our Blessedness?” He emphasized that “for Christian theology - seen from its core, i.e. the articles on justification - the issue of human happiness is unavoidable.” More...
VELKD Presiding Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich © LWF/D.-M. Grötzsch |
30.10.2009 | Dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholics Has Paid Off
"It was one of the most moving days in my life." With these words, the Presiding Bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich recalled the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) between the LWF and the Roman Catholic Church ten years ago in Augsburg, Germany. More...
Bishop Dr Walter Mixa of the Diocese of Augsburg © LWF/D.-M. Grötzsch |
30.10.2009 | Eventful History with Respect to Church Unity
At the ceremony on 30 October, Bishop Dr Walter Mixa of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Augsburg stated in his greeting: “Of course, Augsburg also stands for an eventful history with respect to church unity. The year 1530, with the Augsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana), marked a final attempt to avoid church division between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Unfortunately this attempt failed. More...
Augsburg's Lord Mayor Dr Kurt Gribl |
30.10.2009 | Day of Hope for Many Christians the World Over
In his greeting at the ceremony, Augsburg's Lord Mayor Dr Kurt Gribl emphasized that the day on which the JDDJ was signed ten years ago had been a day of hope for many Christians the world over. This day in 1999 had not represented an ecumenism of the lowest common denominator, but the endeavor to perceive and recognize other confessions in their full form and uniqueness. More...
From left: Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko and Bishop Dr Walter Kasper sign the JDDJ. |
15.10.2009 | Ten Years Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
Celebrations on 30-31 October in Augsburg, Germany, will mark the tenth anniversary of one of church history’s boldest ecumenical developments.
With the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), the LWF and the Roman Catholic Church agreed that past condemnations on the decisive question of justification no longer applied to the teaching of their respective churches. The World Methodist Council affirmed the JDDJ in 2006. More...
