c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Lutheran and Roman Catholic leaders are gathering in Augsburg, Germany _ for many the historic home of the Protestant Reformation _ to sign a joint statement declaring one of the key doctrines separating the two faith families is no longer a cause for separation.

The action will bring the Roman Catholic Church and the world Lutheran movement at least a small step closer to potential reunion although both sides note that many perhaps even more intransigent differences remain. Still, it is the first time the Roman Catholic Church has reached a formal doctrinal agreement with a Reformation church.

The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, called the agreement _ The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification _”a significant milestone in the reconciliation of our two church traditions”while Roman Catholic Archbishop Alexander Brunett of Seattle described the agreement as”a powerful gift from God.””By acknowledging that there is agreement on this crucial article of the Christian faith,”Anderson said,”our two churches have bridged a theological divide that has separated us for nearly 500 years.” The doctrine of justification describes how people are saved. In simple terms, historically Lutherans have stressed that salvation comes from God’s grace alone while Catholics have seen an important role for the acts, or works, people perform during their lives.

The 16th century Reformation-era debate over the issue was prompted in part by what some believed was widespread abuse of the practice of selling indulgences _ the pardon of punishments, or remission, for sin. The practice of selling indulgences was banned by the Council of Trent, a reform council of Catholicism. In September, the Vatican published a new manual on indulgences stressing the role of prayer, reception of the sacraments, works of charity and acts of penance.

The Joint Declaration to be signed in Augsburg is an effort to go beyond the hardened positions that developed as a result of the Reformation.

It says both churches agree on a fundamental reading of the doctrine that it summarizes as:”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.” Roman Catholic and Lutheran theologians have been examining the issue for the better part of a decade, both in an effort to reach a”consensus in basic truths”about the doctrine and to find grounds on which to lift the mutual condemnations and excommunications the two sides hurled at each other during the early years of the dispute.”The deepest significance of our common understanding of the grace of Christ as central in our lives, in a culture dominated by competition, by status, by merit and self-reliance, is that what we receive as a gift we must recognize also comes to us as a common task and challenge,”Brunett told U.S. Lutherans earlier this summer.”What we understand anew we must teach anew and live out together anew,”he said.”There are many aspects of our life together in the church which, over time, I am confident will be touched and reshaped as a result of the accord expressed in the Joint Declaration.” Ceremonies leading to the signing of the Joint Declaration are set for Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 30-31). Oct. 31 is historically celebrated by Lutherans and many other Protestants as Reformation Day, marking reformer Martin Luther’s nailing of 95 theses challenging Catholic teaching on the castle church door at Wittenberg, Germany.

At an ecumenical prayer service on Saturday evening, Vatican and Lutheran officials will first pray at the sepulchral church of the patrons of the diocese of Augsburg. On Sunday, the ceremony will continue with a liturgy of repentance in the Roman Catholic cathedral after which the congregation will walk to the Lutheran Church of St. Anna, where the actual signing will take place.

Leading the Roman Catholic signers will be Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Bishop Walter Kasper, secretary of the council. On the Lutheran side, the Rev. Ishmael Noko of Zimbabwe, secretary general of the Lutheran World Federation, and Bishop Christian Krause of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick, Germany, and president of the LWF, will lead a delegation including Anderson and a number of other Lutheran leaders from around the world.

The LWF, the Geneva-based international organization of Lutheran churches, has 128 members in 70 countries.

The joint declaration was warmly welcomed by other ecumenical bodies, including the World Council of Churches, but a number of Lutheran denominations and theologians remain adamantly opposed.

The Rev. Dagmar Heller of the World Council of Churches called the accord”a small but significant step”toward healing a major division that has marked Christian history, especially in Europe.”In a sense, this declaration simply sets the seal on a development that has long since become a reality in the parishes,”she added.

But the agreement is criticized by the Rev. A.L. Barry, president of the 2.6 million-member Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the second largest Lutheran body in the United States.

Barry called the agreement”an ambiguous statement whose careful wording makes it possible for the pope’s representatives to sign without changing, retracting or correcting anything that has been taught by the Roman Catholic Church since the time of the Council of Trent in the 16th century.” He said the agreement was”a surrender (by Lutherans) of the most important truth taught in God’s word.” In Europe, 240 Protestant theologians have signed a petition objecting to the declaration, saying they believed it explains only the Catholic interpretation of the doctrine.

DEA END RNS