DONATE
International Lutheran Council (ILC)

News

Posts tagged:

Vatican

Inaugural meeting of the Concordia Lutheran-Catholic Augustana Working Group

by | Apr 15, 2024

The Augustana Working Group holds its inaugural meeting in Rome on March 1, 2024.

On March 1, 2024, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU) hosted the inaugural meeting of the Concordia Lutheran–Catholic Augustana Working Group, which met in Rome until March 2, 2024.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, welcomed the members of the working group and encouraged them to explore the pre-confessional/ecumenical potential of the Augsburg Confession in more detail in view of the 500th anniversary of the Confessio Augustana in 2030.

The Augustana Working Group includes representatives of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and the Catholic Church. Following the conclusion of the theological conversations between the ILC, an association of Concordia Lutheran churches, and the Catholic Church (2014–2019), both sides suggested the establishment of a working group as a distinct ecumenical-theological format.

The working group is not an official dialogue commission. The aim is not to produce a document of churchly consensus. However, the publication of the results of the joint research is intended to enrich the ecumenical discussion in an indirect way.

The working group is headed by two episcopal chairmen: on the Lutheran side by Bishop Dr. Juhana Pohjola, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland / Chairman of the ILC; and on the Catholic side by Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Peter Birkhofer, Freiburg im Breisgau.

The working topic is: “Catholicity and Apostolicity in the Augsburg Confession, Examined in the Areas of Soteriology (Justification) and Ecclesiology (Ministry, Episcopate, and Ordination): a joint Lutheran–Catholic review of Augsburg Confession in a pre-confessional and ecumenical perspective.”

A total period of four years is planned for working on the topic. The next meeting will take place in Wittenberg on December 9 and 10, 2024.

Participants from the International Lutheran Council (ILC)

  • Bishop Dr. Juhana Pohjola, Helsinki, Finland (Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, ILC Chairman)
  • Prof. Dr. Joel Elowsky, St. Louis, Mo., USA
  • Prof. em. Dr. Werner Klän, D.Litt., Lübeck, Germany
  • Asst. Prof. Dr. Jonathan Mumme, Hillsdale, Mich., USA
  • Prof. Dr. Thomas Winger, St. Catharines, Ont., Canada
    ***
    Prof. Dr. Klaus Detlev Schulz, Fort Wayne, Ind., USA (ILC General Secretary) – part-time participant, but not a member

Catholic Participants

  • Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Peter Birkhofer, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
  • Prof. Dr. Markus Lersch, Siegen, Germany
  • Dr. Tim Lindfeld, Aachen, Germany
  • Asst. Prof. Dr. James Prothro, Greenwood Village, Color., USA
  • Father Dr. Augustinus Sander OSB, Vatican (Permanent Representative of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)

———————

2022 World Conference: ILC approves further ecumenical discussions with the Roman Catholic Church

by | Sep 21, 2022

Rev. Dr. Werner Klän (Germany), joined by Rev. Dr. Gerson Linden (Brazil), reports on the results of the ILC’s theological conversations with the PCPCU.

KENYA – On September 16, 2022 the International Lutheran Council’s (ILC) 2022 World Conference adopted a resolution calling for continued ecumenical conversations with the Roman Catholic Church, and approving the Final Report of the conversations of the ILC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) which was published in 2020.

Discussion of the topic began the morning of September 14, 2022, when Rev. Dr. Werner Klän of Germany reported on the results of the theological discussions between the International Lutheran Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (which has recently been renamed the Dicastery from Promoting Christian Unity). The Final Report on the conversations was jointly published by the ILC and the PCPCU in 2021, and found significant convergences between the two traditions in a number of areas.

In a written response to the report, Cardinal Kurt Koch of the PCPCU expressed pleasure at the warming of relations between the churches of the ILC and the Roman Catholic Church. On the basis of the report’s “valuable theological contribution to Concordia Lutheran-Catholic ecumenism”, he went on to encourage “the founding of a joint Concordia Lutheran-Catholic working group” as a forum for continued conversation between the PCPCU (now the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity) and the International Lutheran Council. In particular, he suggested such a working group take on the task of providing a joint rereading of the Augsburg Confession (AC) between Roman Catholics and the ILC in the leadup to the 500th anniversary of the publication of the AC in 2030.

ILC Chairman Hans-Jörg Voigt likewise welcomed the results of the international discussions after the Final Report was released, writing that the “process of reception [of the Final Report] in the churches of the ILC has already begun.” He concurred with Cardinal Koch’s suggestion of the founding of a working group, calling it a “very appropriate way of deepening common theological work.”

Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue

In his report to the conference, Dr. Klän went on to note the positive response to the Final Report already seen in ILC churches in Germany and Australia, while Rev. Dr. Gerson Linden of Brazil—another member of the dialogue group—likewise commented on its usefulness in the Latin American context. Dr. Klän encouraged the 2022 World Conference to receive the suggestions of Cardinal Koch and ILC Chairman Voigt, and adopt a resolution committing to continued ecumenical conversations with the Roman Catholic Church.

That resolution came before the World Conference on September 16, during which time the ILC adopted a resolution “To Approve the Report of the ILC/PCPCU Dialogue Group and to Carry Forward their Work.”

In the resolution, the 27th ILC World Conference notes “its sincere thanks both to the Roman Catholic and the confessional Lutheran representatives in this dialogue for their efforts and preparation of the Final Report.”

“The ILC herewith approves the Final Report and supports the continuation of contacts and conversations in appropriate ways and formats,” it continues.

“The 27th ILC World Conference expresses hope that further theological work be done between representatives of the ILC and the PCPCU in the leadup to the 500th Anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 2030,” the resolution goes on to say. To that end, it instructs the ILC’s board “to begin planning (including funding appropriation) for our Council to continue this theological engagement between confessional Lutherans and the Catholic Church,” encouraging “particular focus on the issues of apostolicity and catholicity.”

You can download the full resolution here.

———————

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the International Lutheran Council (ILC) to Hold Informal International Dialogue

by | Nov 19, 2013

Prof. Dr. Werner Klan, Rev. Dr. Robert Bugbee, Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, Monsignore Dr. Matthias Türk

Prof. Dr. Werner Klan, Rev. Dr. Robert Bugbee, Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, Monsignore Dr. Matthias Türk

VATICAN CITY – The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the International Lutheran Council (ILC), an organization for the purpose of encouraging, strengthening, and promoting confessional Lutheran theology, met to discuss the possibility of extending local and regional informal discussions into an
informal ecumenical dialogue process on the international level. The meeting between the PCPCU and the ILC primarily occurred after several informal discussions between some ILC members and Roman Catholic organizations resulted in positive outcomes, especially those held between the Lutheran Theological Seminary Oberursel of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) and the Johann-Adam-Möhler Institute for Ecumenism in Paderborn, Germany. Other informal discussions that contributed to the meeting between the PCPCU and the ILC included those held between The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, and those between Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) and representatives of the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Dicastery, and Monsignore Dr. Matthias Türk represented the PCPCU. Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, Chairman, Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, Executive Secretary, Rev. Dr. Robert Bugbee, Vice-chairman, and Prof. Dr. Werner Klän, Lutheran Theological Seminary Oberursel, represented the ILC.

The discussion had three primary points: A Presentation of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) including its history and priorities, Ecumenical Relations between ILC members and the Roman Catholic Church, and Future Ecumenical Goals.

After a productive discussion, it was proposed that the local and regional informal discussions may be extended to an informal international dialogue process between the ILC and the Roman Catholic Church. These international series of consultations would be delegated to the ILC executive committee and to the Johann-Adam-Möhler Institute for Ecumenism. The goals of these discussions would be to define more unity between the churches represented by the ILC and the Roman Catholic Church and to offer a deeper understanding of the work already accomplished by the Lutheran – Roman Catholic dialogue on the international and regional level.

Cardinal Koch and Bishop Voigt expressed gratitude for the meeting and looked forward to a deepening of relationships between member churches of the ILC and the Roman Catholic Church.

The ILC and the Johann-Adam-Möhler Institute for Ecumenism after an organizational meeting, propose to hold two meetings a year for the next three years with the results of these discussions to be presented to the PCPCU.

———————

About the International Lutheran Council
The ILC is a worldwide association of established confessional Lutheran church bodies, consisting of 34 member churches, which proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as the true and faithful exposition of the Word of God. (www.ilcouncil.org)

About the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
The Pontifical Council is entrusted with the promotion of Christian Unity. It carries out this task in liaison with the various departments of the Roman Curia and through ecumenical relationships and theological dialogues with the other Christian Churches and ecclesial Communities on the world wide level. (www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/)

 

Signup for ILC Updates