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EvangelCatholic
Guest
There is no ecclesial jurisdiction among Lutherans aside from the bishops/ archbishops/ synod presidents. Lutherans are united only in our faithful adherence to holy Scripture and the Confessions. It doesn’t matter who or what organization represents the Lutheran partner in dialogue with the Roman Catholic church. It is because we believe Augustana is Catholic. For example, even the Missouri Synod accepts and fully participated in the Dialogue up until recently.I don’t really see the significance. Not that you necessarily believe that, but many people think that LWF has ecclesial jurisdiction. It does’t. If the LWF makes a statement, its member churches can ignore it completely if they so wish.
This makes the Catholic–Lutheran Dialogues a bit weird, since we have one Church (the Roman Catholic Church) in discussion with a federation without any real jurisdiction to speak on behalf of its member churches.