Converting to Catholicism and JDDJ

[sensori]

I am a Lutheran from Finland where Lutheranism is the mainline religion. I have investigated joining the Catholic Church, partly because the Lutheran state church tolerates ever worse heresies, partly because I have been convinced that Lutheranism has abandoned a bit too much valuable Tradition. I think there are ever less and less reasons why I could not join, for example, I now understand the importance of lively sense of the communion of saints and I consider their invocation in prayers at least imaginable. I am still unsure about some prayers in folk spirituality but the form of invocation in the liturgy no longer seem objectionable.

There are still some issues I would like to get clarified. In particular, I am still convinced that the Lutheran formulation of justification by true and living faith is at least not wrong. There is this Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which “does encompass a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification and shows that the remaining differences in its explication are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations”. What is actually the status of this document in the Catholic Church? I know that the declaration has been subject to much criticism in both sides. Does the declaration mean that it is allowed to hold the the Lutheran position expressed in the document even as a member of the Catholic Church?

 

[po18guy]

Welcome to the forums! You have a keen sense of the truth, and this has caused your search for the fulness of God’s truth. There is a website for those considering conversion to the Catholic Church. The founder of that organization has recently interviewed several Swedish and Norwegian Priests, and even a Bishop, I believe. Their testimony may very well help you in your inquiry, since they also come from a background of Lutheranism as the state religion.

chnetwork.org/

Christ’s peace be with you.

 

[po18guy]

Also, I think the status of the JDDJ is that the Lutheran declaration is true as far as it goes, as long as it does not exclude the works of faith working through love. The Pope’s words have been widely misrepresented so as to declare that Luther was 100% right as to justification. Not so.

 

[laszlo]

41.Thus the doctrinal condemnations of the 16th century, in so far as they relate to the doctrine of justification, appear in a new light: The teaching of the Lutheran churches presented in this Declaration does not fall under the condemnations from the Council of Trent. The condemnations in the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church presented in this Declaration.

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html

The Joint declaration sees the theoretical issue as two sides of the same truth. You can keep your view.

The practical problem is the acceptance of the Sacraments especially the confession as the way for the salvation.