LCNZ Roman Catholic – Lutheran Dialogue Commission
Roman Catholic – Lutheran Dialogue Commission
The Roman Catholic – Lutheran Dialogue Commission was commissioned at the Ecumenical Worship commemorating the Reformation in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Wellington on Sunday 4th June 2017. During this service we undertook to fulfil these five commitments –
- Catholics and Lutherans should always begin from the perspective of unity and not from the point of view of division in order to strengthen what is held in common even though the differences are more easily seen and experienced.
- Lutherans and Catholics must let themselves continuously be transformed by the encounter with the other and by the mutual witness of faith.
- Catholics and Lutherans should again commit themselves to seek visible unity, to elaborate together what this means in concrete steps, and to strive repeatedly toward this goal.
- Lutherans and Catholics should jointly rediscover the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ for our time.
- Catholics and Lutherans should witness together to the mercy of God in proclamation and service to the world.
At the Reformation Cantata Vespers service held at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul on Sunday 29th October 2017, Cardinal John Dew and Bishop Mark Whitfield, signed the document Dialogue for Unity as Reformation Remembered to affirm our mutual commitment to dialoguing together. We said this –
We therefore commit ourselves to that on-going renewal that will take us to the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to know and appreciate its power and relevance for our times.
As living stones (cf 1 Peter 2:5), chosen for the building of God’s house, we have not always cooperated with the Builder. Now we must take hold of the opportunity given us by the Holy Spirit, and with generosity of heart and deep compassion set ourselves to be built into a spiritual house for the glory of God and the good of our world.
Unity is indeed the gift of God and the will of Christ in whom all things hold together (cf Colossians 1:17). We gratefully acknowledge the unity we already share. Together we confess one faith, one Lord, one baptism. We encourage all members of our two communities, Roman Catholic and Lutheran, to hear God’s call for continued transformation, meeting together whenever possible and witnessing the joy and power of the gospel in daily life.
Over the last synodical term, the Dialogue Commission has applied itself to these commitments. The Dialogue Commission completed its work on baptism early in its existence and provided to the Church a joint statement, He Tāngata Iriiri Ngātahi i Roto i te Karaiti – Baptised Together in Christ – recognising the unity of each other’s baptisms. Last year encouragement was given and resources provided to every congregation in the LCNZ, so that Catholics and Lutherans could celebrate a Festival of New Life together in joint worship and conversation. Earlier this month, refreshed resources were provided to all LCNZ congregations and encouragement given again to seek opportunity to celebrate a Festival of New Life, and to worship and meet with our Catholic sisters and brothers. This happened in Christchurch last year and will be happening again this year.
The Dialogue Commission is now applying itself to preparing a similar statement regarding the Eucharist (The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion). Again, it is the aim of the Dialogue Commission to provide the means by which Catholics and Lutherans can seek visible unity, jointly rediscover the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our time and witness together to the mercy of God in proclamation and service to the world (from The Five Commitments, see above).
The Roman Catholic Bishops Conference and I, as one of the Lutheran representatives on the Dialogue Commission, have also encouraged priests, parishes, pastors, congregational leaders and congregations where Lutherans and Catholics are in the same location, to meet for Ash Wednesday worship. This is happening in Wellington and in Christchurch.
We prepared and made a submission on the Treaty Principles bill, and two of our representatives, Professor Jim McAloon (Roman Catholic) and Dr Petrus Simons (Lutheran) were invited to address the Select Committee. We may have been the only ‘two-church/denomination’ representation to the Select Committee; another visible witness to the unity we share in Christ.
We studied the report prepared in the Australian (LCA) dialogue on Scripture and Tradition before we started on the Eucharist, albeit without having prepared a final report on it. In our work together we continue to discover the power of the Word of God to unite us on issues such as climate warming and evolution. In this respect, we acknowledged that the late Pope Francis made a great contribution on a Christian approach to environmental issues with his encyclical ‘Laudato Si’.
In all of our conversation we aim to ensure that the work we have been invited to do will serve you the Church in your public witness to the Gospel and in our desire to seek the unity we share with our sisters and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church, through Christ.
The Dialogue Commission is made up of the following people – Sr Kathleen Rushton, Fr James Lyons, Fr Tom Rouse and Prof Jim McAloon (Roman Catholic) and Dr Petrus Simons and Rev Mark Whitfield (Lutheran). We are aiming to add at least one more Lutheran to the Dialogue Commission in this coming synodical term. We meet four times a year.
Respectfully submitted –
Mark Whitfield
