Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Reviews Rough Drafts

BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- The 10th round of talks in the United States between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reviewed rough drafts of sections that would eventually become a statement on "The Church as Koinonia of Salvation: Its Structures and Ministries." Representative teams from both churches met here Dec. 6-9.
"Koinonia" is an anglicized Greek word that appears several times in the Christian Bible and is translated as "fellowship, a close mutual relationship; participation, sharing in; partnership; contribution, gift." The dialogue is taking up issues of koinonia as they relate to "ordained ministry and structures of church unity."
"I continue to be encouraged by the depth and fruits of our work in this effort to appreciate the significance of priest, pastor and bishop in God's work of salvation," said the dialogue's Catholic co-chair, the Most Rev. Richard J. Sklba, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
"In the course of our four days this time, it's become increasingly clear that there are five or six points of clear convergence, which we can all recognize around the table, whose descriptions still need refinement," said Sklba. A major development of the meeting came through the dialogue's study of church history to illustrate how similarly the two traditions have structured their ministries, he said.
The Rev. Charles H. Maahs, former bishop of the ELCA Central States Synod, Overland Park, Kan., is the Lutheran co-chair. "We have come to a point where we can acknowledge one another's strengths while being clear about those issues that continue to separate us in our relationship," he said. "The way we are working as a group is something that is exemplary and needs to be affirmed."
Members of the dialogue presented rough drafts of papers, analyzed the wording and discussed ways of organizing the papers into a final report. In addition to the chairs, the dialogue teams include six participants from each church and staff from both church offices.
Participants developed a tentative outline that would divide the report into two sections -- a common statement and supporting materials. The common statement would include an introduction and a presentation of the dialogue's findings about areas of agreement and areas still needing study. Supporting materials would give deeper explanations of the findings in biblical and historical research, as well as in recent developments and confessional positions.
The co-chairs gave a four-member drafting committee the assignment to put the papers into a draft the dialogue could review at its next meeting, May 2-5 at St. Paul's College, Washington, D.C. Lutheran members of that committee are the Rev. John H.P. Reumann, Philadelphia, and Dr. Michael Root, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio; Catholic members are the Rev. Michael Slusser, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and Dr. Susan K. Wood, SCL, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn.
Maahs said the group will not have a final draft in May "but will have a draft that will probably be able to clarify for us the places where we can arrive at some consensus terms about our structures and our ministries and the places where we will need to continue to do some work."
"We recognized agreement," said Sklba. "We also discovered that the other party in the dialogue may be saying the same thing we are saying in different words that don't deny our own affirmations," he said.
"I find it an enormous grace to be working together in this project and discovering the communion that already exists," Sklba said. There are Lutheran pastors and Catholic priests serving the same neighborhoods who prepare their homilies together. "That's the kind of communion we recognize already existing and a sign of what should and still could come in the future," he said.
"We continue to keep in mind, perhaps even in a growing kind of way, that what we hope to do will provide some missiological opportunities as well," said Maahs. "What we do together can be helpful to the mission and the evangelism for both our churches in partnership," he said.
The ELCA has 5.13 million members in 10,816 congregations across the United States and Caribbean. Those congregations are organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop.
The Roman Catholic Church has more than 62 million members in the United States. Its 187 dioceses or archdioceses oversee almost 20,000 parishes.
The USCCB and the U.S.A. National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation initiated the first round of the "bilateral" dialogue in 1965. It has produced a number of common statements on such topics as Scriptures, saints and justification by faith. The 10th round of talks began in September 1998.
In addition to prayers to open and close each day of the meeting, dialogue members worshiped together Dec. 8 at the Roman Catholic Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Dec. 9 at Christ Lutheran Church, both in Baltimore. Maahs brought greetings at the National Shrine; Sklba preached during both worship services.
Maahs said dialogue members have found St. Paul's biblical blessing for the church in Rome to be "foundational, uplifting and encouraging" for their work: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"The Holy Spirit challenges us to understand, listen to and respect the faith we have and share in Jesus Christ," said Maahs.
Advent, the church season preceding Christmas, shows Christians they must constantly repent and reform -- individually and corporately, Sklba said. Preparation for the coming of Christ is more an attitude than a calendar item, he said.
Sklba called the dialogue an example of God's constant work of reformation -- "a sign of this fresh new beginning of God in our world."
"Reunion, reconciliation is possible. We look forward to that," said Sklba, "for the kingdom of God is at hand."

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