VOICE OF TIFPEC

The Protestant faith has never accepted the Seventh Ecumenical Council as true. Protestantism has accepted the first four Councils, and the fifth and sixth insofar as they refine the formulations of the first four. The Protestant faith corrects the errors of Rome and Orthodoxy on this point, and after nearly 500 years the tradition of the Protestant faith has as much weight as any of these other traditions. We share a common heritage as catholic churches of the Reformation. Despite our previous geographic, linguistic and cultural differences, in recent years we have discovered in one another a shared faith and spirituality. This discovery has called us into a search for more visible unity in mission and ministry.

We recommended "that where between two Churches not of the same denominational or confessional family, there is unrestricted communio in sacris, including mutual recognition and acceptance of ministries, the appropriate term to use is 'full communion,' and that where varying degrees of relation other than 'full communion' are established by agreement between two such churches, the appropriate term is 'intercommunion.'

 On October 31, 1517, the German monk, Martin Luther unleashed centuries of disputes with the Roman Catholic Church. One of the chief arguments had to do with how a believing Christian earned salvation -- through belief called justification by faith or living a good life called justification by works.  The two churches ( Catholic and Protestant ) declare that justification is achieved by faith, but good works matter, too. Christians are reminded to embrace an ethic of earthly duty to humanity.  I think the way we need to look at this is more in terms of the symbolic significance rather than the sort of practical or political significance. This is, after all, an agreement between church leaders. And frankly speaking, I doubt that it will have an immediate tangible impact on the average layperson and his or her parish community. However, having said that, I nonetheless think that any kind of agreement on an issue that has kept people apart for close to 500 years, represents a major stepping stone towards further healing of a very, very deep of long lasting rift in European society.  It seems to me the Roman Catholic Church is indeed agreeing with Martin Luther 500 years or almost 500 years after the fact, saying that we are justified by grace through faith, and that was certainly one of the touchstones of the Protestant reformation.  I guess my perspective is more the perspective of the historians. So I look less at how this impacts the future than to my mind how it reflects how far we've come in the past 482 years.  I think that the ecumenical movement certainly has been an important movement within Protestantism, not so much between Protestants and Catholics but within Protestantism within the last 30 or 40 years. There's no question about that. I question whether or not it has really significantly advanced the kingdom of God. But that's perhaps another matter.  Well, there are many conversations going on now between churches that aim not to bring them under a similar umbrella, but to bring them into communion with each other, to make it less difficult for couples where one is from each denomination, to marry, so that they might share the sacraments; that people who are ordained clergy in these denominations could also preach in each other's pulpits. Does this help bring that a day closer?  It probably does. I think that sort of unity is probably a good thing. But I do worry somewhat... I worry a great deal, in fact, about Protestant ecumenism, that is, the blending of differences theologically in particular. It seems to me that main line Protestantism in America in particular suffers appallingly from a lack of theological definition. And the ecumenical movement, this drive for theological unity, has, I think, even further diminished those differences.   most of the world's Lutherans and Catholics are outside the United States, and we sometimes tend to look at developments like this through a very American lens. In Germany, for instance, the sort of seed bed of this 500 years of argument, a place that has fought wars over this -- are we at a point where Germany is going to pay much attention to this?  I think Germany will. And I think that just the last perspective we had on the sense that there is a sense of a loss of plurality among Protestantism in this country strikes me as a very valid point but also as a particular American perspective, because I do think that kind of ecumenical dialogue just has a fundamentally different place in European life. If I can just for a moment also bring in my persona as someone who has grown up in one of the strongholds of Catholicism in Germany, I certainly feel very attuned to the long lasting social and political legacies of these doctrinal conflicts that were in Europe not just doctrinal but resulted in so many massive changes, so that, for example, in my hometown, in fact one could not be a resident if one were a Protestant, until the 19th century, and could not hold office until the early 20th century. So, in light of the fact that doctrines were also instruments of political exclusion, of social discrimination, to me these doctrinal changes, this coming together is a very welcome move.  I think that sort of unity between doctrine and political life that once existed in Europe and shaped it for centuries is just not as tangible in this late 20th century American society anymore.