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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2017
When the young Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, affixed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517, calling for the reform of the church, he could hardly have anticipated the succession of events that would lead to the division of Western Christendom. Luther had no intention of creating a “Lutheran” Church, nor could he have foreseen that his initiative would give rise to an ecclesial divide that would persist for half a millennium. The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, which acknowledged the need for continual reform and renewal in the church, created the conditions for the Catholic Church to enter in earnest into a dialogue “on equal footing” with other Christian communities. The Lutheran-Catholic Commission on Unity, as it is known today, was established in 1967 and was the first commission for official bilateral dialogue. Thus, as we commemorate five hundred years since the Reformation, we also mark with gratitude fifty years of official dialogue and growth in communion.
12 Second Vatican Council, Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), §9, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html. On renewal and reform: “Every renewal of the church essentially consists in an increase of fidelity to the church's own calling. Undoubtedly this is the reason for the movement towards unity. In its pilgrimage on earth Christ summons the church to continual reformation, of which it is always in need, in so far as it is an institution of human beings here on earth” (§6).
13 Lutheran-Catholic Commission on Unity, From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017, 2nd ed. (Leipzig: Bonifatius und Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2013), §§5–6, 11–12 Google Scholar.
14 From Conflict to Communion, §221, 80.
15 From Conflict to Communion, §§238–45, 87–89. See also Liturgical Task Force, Lutheran Catholic Commission on Unity, Common Prayer: From Conflict to Communion—Lutheran-Catholic Commemoration of the Reformation (2017), https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/dtpw-lrc-liturgy-2016_en.pdf.
16 Declaration on the Way.
17 Ibid., 11.
18 See ELCA Churchwide Assembly, 2016, “Reports and Records: Assembly Minutes, Session 2,” 52–53, and “Session Five [motion and vote],” 144–46, http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/CWA2016.pdf?_ga=2.184361382.104013461.1499283261-1819000471.1499283261.
19 See, for example, William G. Rusch, “‘Commemorating’ the Reformation: Churches Looking Together toward 2017—and Beyond,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 52, no. 2 (2017): 220–30, at 228–30.
20 Declaration on the Way, 13.
21 “Reformation Anniversary: Statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,” January 17, 2017, http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5826/reformation-anniversary-statement-from-the-archbishops-of-canterbury-and-york.
22 “Association of the World Communion of Reformed Churches with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by Faith,” http://wcrc.ch/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/WCRC-Association-to-JDDJ-EN.pdf.
23 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification; World Methodist Council, “Statement of Association with the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification,” Seoul, South Korea, July 23, 2006, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20060723_text-association_en.html.