Catholics and Lutherans to worship together at Reformation anniversary

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PARIS (RNS) Catholics and Lutherans have made another step toward joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 by issuing common liturgical guidelines for ecumenical services to mark the occasion.
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The guidelines, in a booklet called “Common Prayer,” provide a template for an ecumenical service, complete with suggested prayers, appropriate hymns and themes for sermons.
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Catholic leaders in Luther’s home country of Germany, where interest in the anniversary is strongest, at first balked at the idea of “celebrating” what Lutherans there had already named the “Reformationsjubiläum” (Reformation Jubilee).
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religionnews.com/2016/01/13/catholics-lutherans-worship-together-reformation-anniversary/
 
Huh? I can understand that it is something meaningful for Lutherans but what is in it for Catholics?
 
Luther was Catholic. I think he is resting more at peace knowing the damage his disobedience caused the church and to souls is nearing an end. But its true, Lutherans must align with the one True Faith and the Catholic church not the other way around.
 
Wow. Only on judgement day will we see how many people went to hell for the Protestant rebellion, and there are Catholics who have the nerve to celebrate it?
 
LordHaveMercy said:
Wow. Only on judgement day will we see how many people went to hell for the Protestant rebellion, and there are Catholics who have the nerve to celebrate it?
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A true follower of Christ wishes hell for no one. Yes, Lord have mercy. You should really change your user name :rolleyes:
 
Casilda said:
A true follower of Christ wishes hell for no one. Yes, Lord have mercy. You should really change your user name :rolleyes:
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Of course I wish hell for no one, there is no one who has ever lived or will ever live who I do not hope to see in Heaven, I hope everyone, including me, makes it.

It is precisely because of that hope that I find it very sad that Catholics are celebrating the event.
 
steido01 said:
This is weird. There’s confession, but no clear absolution. There’s (obviously) no communion. Even the rigid requirements for the sermon(s) are shallow. Neither Lutheran nor Catholic. It’s only… weird.

The service: lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/dtpw-lrc-liturgy-2016_en.pdf
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Wow. That document. It includes the statement:
The commemoration of the Reformation should be a celebration of Jesus Christ since the reformers saw their main task in pointing to Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life” and calling people to trust in Christ. Christ should be celebrated. Martin Luther and the other reformers only sought to be “witnesses to Christ.”
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To see those words said about men who made war on the mystical body of Christ, so very sad.
 
Amazing the effects the word ‘mercy’ has on different people.
:cool:
 
LordHaveMercy said:
Wow. Only on judgement day will we see how many people went to hell for the Protestant rebellion, and there are Catholics who have the nerve to celebrate it?
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That " rebellion " has led millions to Christ , views about division aside , that is something to celebrate and if you don’t care about that , then truly , Lord Have Mercy.
 
Starwarsfan2 said:
That " rebellion " has led millions to Christ , views about division aside , that is something to celebrate and if you don’t care about that , then truly , Lord Have Mercy.
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Coolest username. I’m actually tempted to just change the subject to Star Wars because it’s one of my favorite things to talk about, hopefully we can talk about Star Wars in one of the different threads. No disagreement can overcome the force! (Ok, I know the force is not real, but still).

I was raised in a protestant church, where I was validly baptized and received my protestant formation from the youth minister who was also my mom. My family continues to remain within protestantism and they are the people on this earth who I love the most, and the people who I am bound by the fourth commandment to honor. If you think I “don’t care” then I have to tell you that you’re wrong. Again, my thoughts regarding this event are precisely because I care.
 
Starwarsfan2 said:
That " rebellion " has led millions to Christ , views about division aside , that is something to celebrate and if you don’t care about that , then truly , Lord Have Mercy.
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The rebellion itself led no one to Christ. Heresy and schism only lead away from Christ. Granted, over time people not guilty of the sin of separation have later come to know of Christ and have even been incorporated into Him in these separated communities, but this is not due to the rebellion. Without the rebellion, these people would still be coming to Christ–it would just be in the one Church, not in separated communities. In fact, more people would likely be coming to Christ because Christians speaking with one voice would have much greater credibility.

Therefore the rebellion is nothing to celebrate. As Cardinal Koch, the head of ecumenism for the Catholic Church said: “We cannot celebrate a sin.” (“Wir können nicht eine Sünde feiern.”)

kirchensite.de/aktuelles/kirche-heute/kirche-heute-news/datum/2012/04/25/oekumene-kardinal-reformation-ist-kein-grund-zum-feiern/
 
LordHaveMercy said:
To see those words said about men who made war on the mystical body of Christ, so very sad.
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Interesting. What would you tell a fellow Catholic if they said something like this:
Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St Paul speaks of faith that works through love
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And a few years later, said something like this:
It is deeply moving for me to be [here]… where Luther studied theology. This is where he celebrated his first Mass. Against his father’s wishes, he did not continue the study of Law, but instead he studied theology and set off on the path towards priesthood in the Order of Saint Augustine. And on this path, he was not simply concerned with this or that. What constantly exercised him was the question of God, the deep passion and driving force of his whole life’s journey. “How do I receive the grace of God?”: this question struck him in the heart and lay at the foundation of all his theological searching and inner struggle. For Luther theology was no mere academic pursuit, but the struggle for oneself, which in turn was a struggle for and with God.
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“How do I receive the grace of God?” The fact that this question was the driving force of his whole life never ceases to make a deep impression on me. For who is actually concerned about this today – even among Christians? … Most people today, even Christians, set out from the presupposition that God is not fundamentally interested in our sins and virtues. He knows that we are all mere flesh. And insofar as people believe in an afterlife and a divine judgement at all, nearly everyone presumes for all practical purposes that God is bound to be magnanimous and that ultimately he mercifully overlooks our small failings. The question no longer troubles us. But are they really so small, our failings? Is not the world laid waste through the corruption of the great, but also of the small, who think only of their own advantage? Is it not laid waste through the power of drugs, which thrives on the one hand on greed and avarice, and on the other hand on the craving for pleasure of those who become addicted? Is the world not threatened by the growing readiness to use violence, frequently masking itself with claims to religious motivation? Could hunger and poverty so devastate parts of the world if love for God and godly love of neighbour – of his creatures, of men and women – were more alive in us? I could go on. No, evil is no small matter. Were we truly to place God at the centre of our lives, it could not be so powerful. The question: what is God’s position towards me, where do I stand before God? – Luther’s burning question must once more, doubtless in a new form, become our question too, not an academic question, but a real one. In my view, this is the first summons we should attend to in our encounter with Martin Luther.
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Another important point: God, the one God, creator of heaven and earth, is no mere philosophical hypothesis regarding the origins of the universe. This God has a face, and he has spoken to us. He became one of us in the man Jesus Christ – who is both true God and true man. Luther’s thinking, his whole spirituality, was thoroughly Christocentric: “What promotes Christ’s cause” was for Luther the decisive hermeneutical criterion for the exegesis of sacred Scripture. This presupposes, however, that Christ is at the heart of our spirituality and that love for him, living in communion with him, is what guides our life.
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I guess Catholics are hoping someday Lutherans will rejoin the Church, but I agree-doesn’t seem like Catholics would want to celebrate the Reformation.
 
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