A seminar inaugurated at the 2018 annual meeting of the North American Academy of Liturgy to forge a contribution to Catholic-Lutheran ecumenical dialogue has concluded its work with the publication of “On the Way to Full Communion: Thinking About Christian Unity from Liturgy” (29 June 2023).
John F. Baldovin, S.J. and Thomas H. Shattauer, conveners of the Seminar on the Way, guided the several-year project of scholarly papers oriented to Catholic-Lutheran ecumenical dialogue toward creation of this document, which they have now sent to national and international ecumenical offices of both churches.
The seminar grounds the statement’s work on the considerable ecumenical convergences realized by the century-and-a-half-long Liturgical Movement, as well as “The Joint Statement on the Occasion of the Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the Reformation” (Lund, 31 October 2016), which affirms, “… we have learned that what unites us is greater than what divides us.”
The statement examines three issues “from the Viewpoint of Liturgy” – Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry – articulating for each points of strong agreement but also ways in which Lutherans and Roman Catholics may each better appropriate strengths from their dialogue partner’s tradition of practice. Notable is the manner in which the second section, “Eucharist from the Viewpoint of Liturgy,” tackles head-on the thorny issue of sacrifice.
Purposely succinct, with each of the three sections averaging just four paragraphs, the statement reaches the following vigorous conclusion:
As together we explored and identified solutions for the remaining differences between our two communions, the positive results of our seminar lead us to invite both of our churches to consider taking bold action. On the basis of our liturgical methodology (lex orandi/lex credendi) we have found that agreement between Lutherans and Roman Catholics is such that there should be no obstacle to eucharistic sharing and that there are no significant obstacles to the mutual recognition of ministries. These conclusions are founded on a liturgical ecclesiology rooted in baptism. Today as the Christian world faces considerable challenges, we can no longer fear to take those steps which will witness to the world our reconciliation and our unity for which Christ prayed (John 17:22).
Signatories include the seminar’s two dozen participants – Roman Catholics, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, plus one Presbyterian (PC:USA) – as well as two denominational consultants and a half-dozen guests – likewise Catholic, Lutheran, and Presbyterian.
With the publication of the statement on the NAAL’s website, the conveners encourage its broad dissemination, study, and discussion.