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BY PRISCILLA GREEAR
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--A week after representatives of the Catholic Church and Lutheran
World Federation signed “The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification” in Augsburg, Germany, Lutherans and Catholics of North
Georgia gathered Nov. 7 in Atlanta to celebrate the turn-of-the-century
agreement marking a significant step down the long road to Christian unity.
The joint declaration states that Catholics and Lutherans agree
justification, or salvation, is a totally free gift of God and cannot be earned
by performing good works, but rather, is reflected in good works.
The declaration’s signing held on Oct. 31 in Augsburg, a city chosen
for its place in the history of Lutheran-Catholic relations, marked the 482nd
anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The declaration was originally
approved in 1998 and an “annex” document was added to it in 1999 to
further elaborate on areas of agreement and points that need more
clarification.
According to the annex, “Justification is forgiveness of sins and being
made righteous, through which God imparts the gift of new life in Christ. 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 work.”
Those presiding at the signing in Augsburg included Cardinal Edward I.
Cassidy and Bishop Walter Kasper, respectively president and secretary of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Lutheran Bishop Christian
Krause and Ishmael Noko, respectively president and general secretary of the
Lutheran World Federation. The event marked the first time a declaration of
this kind has been recognized officially and jointly by the church bodies.
Lutheran and Catholic worshippers filled the Cathedral of Christ the King
for the ecumenical prayer service of healing. Archbishop John F. Donoghue and
Bishop Ronald Warren of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America-Southeastern
Synod presided at the service along with about 75 priests and male and female
Lutheran ministers. Archbishop Donoghue welcomed attendees to the celebration
of the agreement, which, he said, was brought forth by God’s love.
“It gives me great pleasure this afternoon to welcome all of you here,
Catholics and Lutherans united to celebrate with great joy this joint agreement
on the Doctrine of Justification which was recently signed.”
Bishop Warren then prayed for the Christian Church. “Renew its worship,
empower its witness, heal it. Make visible its unity … so that united in
One Body we may together witness to the unity of your love.”
The two bishops then sprinkled holy water throughout the building. Directed
by cantor Hamilton Smith, the congregation sang “A Mighty Fortress Is Our
God” by Martin Luther and “The Church’s One Foundation.”
The first Scripture reading from the Book of Romans focused on achieving
righteousness through faith in Christ.
Bishop Emeritus Harold Skillrud, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America-Southeastern Synod, was present at the service. He was one of about 450
official delegates to witness the signing of the declaration in Augsburg which
he helped fashion during the four years he served as co-chairman of the
dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics. He shared his experience of working
on the agreement with those gathered.
Comparing Germany’s Berlin Wall to the division between Catholics and
Protestants, he described how both came down, not through military might, but
through God.
“Last Sunday in a small city in Germany just a few 100 kilometers
southwest of Berlin in the city of Augsburg, Germany, a 2,000-year-old city,
another wall collapsed, a wall that had been built in stages.”
Bishop Skillrud, who chaired the planning committee for the service, spoke
of how the Protestant Reformation began when the young Catholic monk, Martin
Luther, on Oct. 31, 1517, posted his famous 95 Theses on a church door in
Wittenburg. One of his key complaints was that he believed the Catholic Church
put too much emphasis on people’s deeds. Justification, or salvation,
according to Luther, was a gift of God and could not be earned. The Peace of
Augsburg arrangement was made in 1555 where it was determined that the two
sides could no longer exist as one body, after which Lutherans and Catholics
began to condemn and “to lob shells against each other.”
“Those shells were hurled from both directions,” said the Lutheran
bishop.
Worst of all, the churches have had a history of animosity and conflict over
the centuries through wars and persecution.
Referring to contentious issues that arose in Luther’s day over
justification, he said that many came to believe that their own contrition and
satisfaction determined their rejection or forgiveness by God while others sold
indulgences, giving the impression that salvation had a price tag. Other
misunderstandings and abuses that arose were, for Catholics, that faith is
assent and not trust and, for Lutherans, that good works don’t matter.
“No one will deny that even then we were still one family … We are
all part of the same family. We have all been nourished by word and sacrament.
We have confessed one faith by word in the Apostles Creed and the Nicene
Creed.”
Healing began following the Second Vatican Council when dialogue opened up
between Lutherans and Catholics that included the crucial issue of
justification. Bishop Skillrud said that the agreement hasn’t been brought
about by political correctness or compromise, but “has come about because
of candles and prayer.”
“The Holy Spirit has worked in his church.”
Yet he also noted that “when we say that there is a oneness among us we
first say that we are ashamed (of the lack of unity) and confess before
God.”
Bishop Skillrud then recounted the Augsburg celebration filled with hymns
and prayers. Following a rainy Saturday, on the glorious Sunday the crowd
processed down a cobblestone street from a Catholic cathedral to a Lutheran
church.
“What the Holy Spirit has accomplished in this, his church, is nothing
more than miraculous.”
“For that entire distance there were lines of people. It looked like
the Peachtree Road Race … I couldn’t tell whether they were Lutheran
or Roman Catholic because in Augsburg it’s right at 50/50, but I saw many
smiles, many smiling faces.”
While the biggest wall has been broken, Bishop Skillrud acknowledged that
many other walls of division stand firm. These differences include the number
of sacraments both churches practice, church authority, teachings on the
Eucharist, the relationship between justice and social ethics and how neither
church recognizes the other’s ordained ministry.
Yet there is a will, he concluded, to continue working toward full communion
with all Christians who believe in the Triune God. He closed by calling the
congregation to share the Gospel so that people may come to know “the
Triune God, salvation through Jesus Christ and the wonderful privilege of
living out our life in service to him and the God of life eternal.”
Father John Anderson, Catholic representative on the Christian Council of
Metropolitan Atlanta and co-ecumenical director of the archdiocese who served
on the event’s planning committee, then offered a reflection. Pastor at
Prince of Peace Church, Buford, Father Anderson said he was in seminary in Rome
while the document was being ironed out. He was able to take a class with
Lutheran theologian Dr. Harding Meyer, who worked on the declaration. Meyer had
said its beauty is that it emphasizes common ground and that it may be the
first time that two mainline denominations agree to disagree on less important
issues in a spirit of tolerance. Christian tolerance, Father Anderson said,
involves entering into and holding up the other’s burdens and respecting
differences while letting go of prejudices, which brings growth and new
understanding. With this respect, he said, Lutherans and Catholics may live
with increased unity in their diversity, just as Jesus prayed to his disciples
that they may all be one.
“We know how much our world needs tolerance, our cities and schools
need tolerance, transformed living. Justification comes from transformed living
and that’s really what it’s all about to be a follower of Jesus. How
will we be transformed in the likeness and the love that is Jesus? How will we
find ways to go into our homes, our schools, and witness by work or common
witness to transform other communities that have yet to find common
ground?”
He said the document won’t do anything if it’s not used to build
up God’s kingdom and, in that spirit of unity and tolerance, called
Catholics and Lutherans to work together and set a Christian example.
“Together may we contribute to building the church into a living
community of hope--realizing differences but also living out of our transformed
hearts so that the life of discipleship may be an appealing option that is
attractive to everyone.”
Closing the service, Bishop Warren made a petition for unity of the church
of God and that all may grow in faith, hope and love.
“Send your blessing upon your church so that what we have begun in this
spirit may be brought to completion in your power,” he said.
Archbishop Donoghue then asked that church leaders be enlightened in wisdom
and strengthened in faith to build up the Body of Christ. He called attendees
to go out and live their prayers as instruments of peace and reconciliation.
Following the prayer service, David Jenkins, executive director of the
Christian Council, said that the document is a significant part of the
Christian ecumenical movement underway worldwide. The Christian Council works
to support all movements toward Christian unity, he said, noting that in
addition to doctrinal differences many factors such as race, class and politics
divide those within denominations.
“This is one of the many ways that we work towards church unity in the
world, a kind of theological, doctrinal agreement, and there are five or six
different ways that the church is moving towards unity and this is one …
it is terribly important to be here,” he said.
“The credit goes to Archbishop Donoghue, Bishop Warren and Bishop
Skillrud for bringing it here together truly to the local congregation right
away. It has to get celebrated. There are a number of ways that churches are
moving towards unity because we are divided by so many differences, really, and
one of the differences is doctrinal.”
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