Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue focuses on death, judgment, resurrection

by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service

Participants in the second meeting of the 11th round of the
Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States focused
their academic and theological discussions on death, judgment and
resurrection. The meeting was held April 20-23 in Phoenix.

The theme of the 11th round of the dialogue is "The Hope for
Eternal Life."
"Within the first two meetings of Round XI of the U.S. Lutheran-
Roman Catholic Dialogue, the members of the dialogue team have
established solid foundations for further discussion and
development. Clearly, the topic has profound pastoral and
personal dimensions," said the dialogue's Lutheran co-chair, the
Rev. Lowell G. Almen, secretary, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA).

The Roman Catholic co-chair is the Most Rev. Richard J. Sklba,
auxiliary bishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee. "For
me one of the more illuminating and instructive aspects of the
meeting was the manner in which both Lutheran and Catholic
scholars were able to reflect on the developing history of their
own respective practices over the centuries since the
Reformation. The various ways in which each of our traditions has
imagined and described the state of the justified immediately
after death inevitably reflected the various currents of thought
in vogue at the time," Sklba said.
The next meeting of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue is
planned for Oct. 12-15 in Baltimore.

Links

Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue:
http://www.ELCA.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/romancatholic/i
ndex.html

the Rev. Lowell G. Almen:
http://www.ELCA.org/secretary/almen.html
the Most Rev. Richard J. Sklba:
http://www.archmil.org/bishops/bishopsklba.asp
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee:
http://www.archmil.org/default.asp
Reformation: http://www.ELCA.org/communication/roots.html