Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8—The Georgia Bulletin, October 23,1980
Reformation - Reconciliation Sunday
Archbishop Thomas Donnellan
... to preside
common issues o£ Saith
Dr. John Johnson
... to deliver homily
The Reverend Gerald S.
Troutman, D.D.
(jo first aru) be
c JrcctiixcAled
vYitk y<rur brother
Traditionally, Reformation Sunday was a day when
Lutherans celebrated their differences with the Roman
Catholic Church, said Pastor Paul Doellinger of Lord of
Life Lutheran Church in Stockbridge.
Since the Second Vatican Council, however, with its
fresh air sweeping within the Catholic Church, and
extending to dialogues with others, the emphasis on
Reformation Sunday has been “more and more on
reconciliation,” he said.
This year, on the 450th Anniversary of The Augsburg
Confession, the service in Atlanta will be held jointly for
the first time with the Catholic Church.
The service, coordinated by Pastor Doellinger, will
include members of the four national Lutheran Synods in
Atlanta. It will be held at the Cathedral of Christ the King
and Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan will preside. The
homily will be given by Dr. John Johnson of St.
Petersburg, Florida, a member of the National
Catholic-Lutheran Dialogue.
The invitation from the Archdiocese to hold a joint
service this year drew a unanimous response from
Lutheran clergymen, said Father John Mulroy, secretary
to the Archbishop for Religious Unity. “But,” he said,
“they requested that we call the day Reformation -
Reconciliation Sunday.”
Last December, the Religious Unity Commission
sponsored a dialogue between Lutheran and Catholic
clergy of metropolitan Atlanta, involving 26 Lutheran
ministers and 49 Catholic priests. In March an informal
forum involving Catholic and Lutheran laity was held at
Father Mulroy’s parish in Marietta, Holy Family.
This service is particularly appropriate, Father Mulroy
said, because it is the 450th Anniversary of a statement
“written by Catholics and addressed to the Catholic
Church.”
“The entire Lutheran movement was a movement
within the Roman Catholic Church,” at that time, Father
Mulroy said. “It was appropriate for marking this
anniversary for Lutherans and Roman Catholics to be in
dialogue again.”
“When you look through The Augsburg Confession,
many people say it was addressed to the Catholic Church
and the Catholic Church wasn’t listening,” he said. “We’re
saying, we are listening. We’re looking forward to the day
when we are reconciled according to the will of Christ.”
Pastor Doellinger said that generally among Lutherans
“there has been a considerable amount of excitement”
about the emphasis on reconciliation in recent years,
citing the remarks of a Lutheran writer who now views
the split as “a tragic necessity or a necessary tragedy,”
rather than as a moment of celebration for Lutherans.
“The ripples of Vatican II are still rolling out,” he said.
Those representing Lutheran Synods at the service will
be Pastor William Corkish of Rock of Ages Church in
Stone Mountain, from the American Lutheran Church;
the Rev. Edgar Trinklein of Faith Lutheran Church in
Marietta from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod;
Bishop Gerald S. Troutman of the Southeastern Synod,
Lutheran Church in America. The fourth Synod
participating will be the Association of Evangelical
Lutheran Churches. Joint Lutheran and Catholic choirs
will lead the congregation in song.
Lutheran
Salvation is a gift of God’s grace or free favor. We have our
relationship to God solely because of His saving work in the life,
ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We receive
this saving work through faith—a faith which clings to God’s
own work on our behalf and is therefore utterly confident of His
goodness. This is the Gospel, the chief article of faith, and the
true treasure of the Church. (CA 4)
Confident of God’s goodness and set free from the need to
secure God’s favor, we turn our attention to efforts to benefit
our neighbor, effect justice in society, and bring peace in the
world. (CA 6,20)
In order that persons may come to faith and grow in obedi
ence, God has provided the Ministry of Word and Sacrament
through which He gives the Spirit of Christ. Through the Word
with the water of Baptism, God joins us to Christ in his death
and resurrection, and makes us members of the Body of Christ.
Through Word with the bread and wine of Communion, God
strengthens us in faith, hope, and love. Wherever the communi
ty of faith gathers about the presence of Christ in Word and
Sacrament, there is the one Church which will remain until
Christ’s coming. (CA 5,7)
In accordance with the words of institution, the true body and
blood of Christ are present under the forms of bread and wine
in the Sacrament. Thereby, believers receive what the words
proclaim: forgiveness of sins. (CA 10,13; L/RC 3, p. 192)
On the basis of God’s unfaiiing love proclaimed in the Gos
pel, believers offer themselves as servants of God in all the
involvements of their daily lives. Our self-offering is joined to
the once-for-all, unrepeatable, and fully sufficient sacrifice of
Christ that we might be participants in God’s will to establish
His rule in the world. (CA 24:24-27; L/RC 3, p. 189)
Roman Catholic
There is no dichotomy between faith/works. These are not
seen as opposing forces vying for the believer’s attention.
Rather, they are seen as intimately related, “In order tp estab
lish peace or communion between sinful human beings and
Himself, as well as to fashion them into a fraternal community.
God determined to intervene in human history in a way both
new and definitive...Jesus Christ was sent into the world as a
real Mediator between God'and men...He is the new Adam,
made head of a renewed humanity. This universal design of
God for the salvation of the human race is not carried out ex
clusively in the soul of a man...“rather it finds expression in
mission - the unity of fellowship and service. (D.M.A.C. 3)
The Church flows from Jesus Christ: Christ, the one Media
tor, established and ceaselessly sustains here on earth His holy
Church, the community of faith, hope and love, as a visible
structure. Through her He communicates truth and grace to all.
By her relationship with Christ, the Church is a kind of sacra
ment or sign of the intimate union with God, and of the unity of
mankind. She is also an instrument for the achievement of such
union and unity. Through the Church all believers have access
to the Father through Christ in the one Spirit. (D.C.C. 1,4,5,8)
The Eucharist is the pivotal sacrament flowing from Christ’s
i life and action. “At the Last Supper, on the night when He was
betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His
Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice
I of the Cross and so to entrust to His beloved spouse the
I Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament
s of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet, in
I which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a
I pledge of future glory is given to us.”
The Eucharist...contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth,
| that is, Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through
:: His very flesh, made vital and vitalizing by the Holy Spirit - He
i offers life to men. They are thereby invited and led to offer
themselves, their labors and all created things together with
Him. (C.S.L. 47; D.M.L. P.5)
The Word of God in Holy Scripture is normative for all procla
mation and teaching in the Church. The ecumenical creeds and
the Lutheran confessions—especially the Augsburg Confession
and Luther’s Catechisms—are regarded as faithful witnesses to
the Gospel and guides for authentic proclamation. While it is
recognized that the canonical Scriptures are themselves the
result of a traditioning process, they hold the primary position
with regard to authority in the Church. (FCSD, Basis, Rule, and
Norm, 1-13; L/RC 6, p. 18)
The Word of God is normative and formative of the faith life:
“Faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of Truth through
which the believer accepts not the word of men but the very
Word of God. It clings without fail to the faith once delivered,
penetrates it more deeply by accurate insights, and applies it
more thoroughly to life.” Decrees of the Councils, Dogmatic
formulations on faith and morals become the authentic teach
ing authority by which God’s Word is also articulated and pro
claimed in every age. (D.C.C. 12-29)
CA Augsburg Confession, the chief document of the Lutheran
church.
1
Documents of Vatican II
: Ap Apology of the Augsburg Confession, a supportive Lutheran
D.M.A.C. - Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity.
s document.
. 2 i
D.C.C. - Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.
FCSD Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, another suppor-
. 2 1
C.S.L. - Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
t tive Lutheran document.
D.M.L.P. - Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests.
1 L/RC Reports of Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogues held in
f the United States since 1965.
8 I
-
by rev. thomas spencer by fir. alex brunett
“there is one body and one spirit,
just as you were caiied to the one hope
that belongs to your call,
one lord, one Saith, one baptism,
one god and Sather oS us all,
but grace was given to each oS us
according to the measure
oS christ f s gift. 99 (Ephesians 4:4-7)
Martin Luther Preaching the Gospel from the stone pulpit of the Castle Church in
Torgau. Detail from the “Predella” of the altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the elder,
1547.
We wish to thank The Michigan Catholic, and news
editor Jim Stackpoole, for permission to use material
and photographs from a 24-page tabloid, “A Time for
Healing,” published to mark the 450th Anniversary
of the Augsburg Confession. The comparison table,
used in part, was prepared by Father Alex Brunett
and the Rev. Thomas Spencer.
In addition, The Michigan Catholic acknowledged
help from the Lutheran Joint Ecumenical Committee,
Michigan Synod of the Luthean Church in America,
Michigan District of the American Lutheran Church,
English Synod of the Association of Evangelical
Lutheran Churches and the Archdiocese of Detroit
Sub-committee on Roman Catholic-Lutheran Affairs.