Ecumenism

Ecumenism lis at the heart of the gospel, the unity of all believers in Christ.

Michele Gatta – Women of peace at the frontiers – Copy

24 October 2025 No Comments

XXIII Plenary Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General

Women of peace

at the frontiers

Michele Gatta

As cardinals converged on Rome for the Conclave, the Superiors General (UISG) held their XXIII plenary assembly (May 5-8) at the Hotel Ergife. In her introduction, President Sister Mary Barron expressed hope that the plenary in this jubilee year would “represent a unique moment of listening, communion and renewal. It is a time to walk together as consecrated women at the service of the Church and the world.” More than 900 superiors general from 75 countries discussed the theme, “Consecrated Life: A Hope That Transforms.” The methodology adopted in the groups was that of “conversation in the Spirit.”

Referring to UISG’s 60th anniversary, Sister Barron recalled the spiritual legacy of Pope Francis and the importance of personal encounter with Christ, authority as service, vulnerability as a resource, the power of prayer and the value of synodality. Together with Sister Patricia Murray, UISG secretary general, the 2022-2025 Report was then presented. It highlighted key initiatives over the past three years: leadership and synodality training, the Talitha Kum network against trafficking, the Catholic Care for Children International project and other initiatives inspired by the encyclical Laudato Si‘.

On the second day, Sister Simona Brambilla, a Consolata missionary appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on Jan. 6, 2025, encouraged the sisters to consider how “consecrated life is called to shine like the moon: not with its own light, but reflecting the light of Christ, in the company of the stars, inhabiting the sky of communion.” In her reflection, Sister Brambilla pointed to the fragility and smallness of religious life as the source of its prophetic power in a world that privileges power and visibility.  Particularly valuable were the moments of participant sharing and questions about prophetic leadership and authentic formation. Emphasis was placed on the importance of “creating safe spaces in which to open the suitcase of the heart.”

The strategic plan for the sexennial (2025-2031) will rest on three priorities: to give centrality to consecrated life, to enrich the Church with the gift of charisms, and to be a prophetic voice in the world. Among the most notable achievements at the Assembly was the launch of the new foundation The Anna Trust, designed to support the care of elderly sisters, which is a growing concern for many congregations.

The Assembly’s Plenary Declaration reaffirmed the role of consecrated women as “bearers of a hope that transforms” in a complex global context. “Women who freely offer the gift of their lives by being present at frontier places, who refuse exclusion and discrimination and who give consolation and attention to those who are rejected… with ‘strings of hope’ stretched toward one another, we have created an international network that connects us with all peoples and with the whole of creation.”

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Ecumenism

Spirituality of Unity

Men and Women: Together
April to June 2025
No 27 – 2025/2

Heike Vesper – Ecumenical Conference “Called to Hope – key players of dialogue”

25 September 2025 No Comments

Ecumenical Conference “Called to Hope – key players of dialogue”

Called to Hope

Heike Vesper

The year 2025 is full of significant anniversaries for all of Christendom. This jubilee year of the Catholic Church with its theme of Pilgrims of Hope reflects 1700 years since the Council of Nicaea, 60 years since the abolition of mutual excommunications between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople (December 1965), and 100 years since the first ecumenical Faith and Constitution Conference in Sweden in 1925. Moreover, it is not mere coincidence that Christians from East and West celebrated Easter on the same date this year. Rather it appears as a prophetic sign, a “divine” witness together to unity in an increasingly fractured and polarized world. Not surprisingly, one publication even described it as the courage to proclaim that Jesus unites1.

From March 26-29, 2025, the ecumenical conference Called to Hope – Key Players of Dialogue was held in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. It was sponsored by the international secretariat of the Focolare Movement for Christian Unity, “Centro Uno”. There were more than 250 participants, belonging to 20 Christian Churches and some 40 countries, including Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, the Philippines, Great Britain, Ireland, Lebanon, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, USA, Ukraine, and Venezuela. There were simultaneous translations in 14 languages, with eight streamed in order  to connect four thousand live listening points2 worldwide.

“Today, more than ever, in the world in which we live, so full of divisions, tragedies, conflicts, where people struggle to dialogue, coming together has a very great meaning,” said Margaret Karram, the president of the Focolare Movement, in an interview published in Vatican News.

To deepen and actualize the above-mentioned historical events, Msgr. Andrea Palmieri, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and Prof. Dr. Martin Illert, representative of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, spoke, with historical reflections offered by Drs. Sandra Ferreira (Catholic) and Mervat Kelli (Syrian Orthodox) of “Centro Uno” and Dr. Kostas Mygdalis (Greek Orthodox).

The conference, opened by Jesús Morán, co-president of the Focolare Movement, and Callan Slipper, an Anglican theologian, posed the central question: Does Christian unity still have urgency in today’s world? Morán had no doubt about this, saying: “Unity rather than union, and Christianity as a way of being rather than doctrine, can be two fruitful paths for ecumenism, in response to what history demands of us today. In the face of the world’s great challenges, division among Christians is inappropriate, inconvenient, anachronistic, and even scandalous.”  Similarly, Callan Slipper affirmed:  “Ecumenism, by repairing our personal interactions within the Christian community, allows the Church  to be itself. What serves humanity also serves us. Our spiritual health diminishes without it, just as every other dimension of human life cannot reach its fulfillment without the reconciliation brought by Jesus.”

Methods for a path to unity were shared in a dialogue of life, dialogue of the people, and receptive ecumenism used in theological dialogue. According to Presbyterian pastor Karen Petersen Finch, lecturer at Montréal Presbyterian University, there is a need for lay people to also dialogue about doctrines still dividing the churches. Mutual knowledge opens horizons and keeps the desire for unity alive.3

These reflections were complemented by accounts of many ecumenical initiatives involving churches, priests and laity, theologians and scholars, adults and youth, individuals and groups. Speakers included: Dr. Natasha Klukach from the Global Christian Forum , a video message from Dr. William Wilson (Pentecostal World Fellowship); the ecumenical youth training program “Ikumenì “4 in Latin America; and the ecumenical network Together for Europe.  Likewise, national initiatives such as the Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue Somus Um in Brazil and the John 17 movement (USA) were also presented, while Msgr. Derio Olivero, president of the CEI Episcopal Commission for Ecumenism, outlined ecumenical activities in Italy. Testimonies from the Philippines, Northern Ireland, Serbia, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Germany and Uganda were also presented.

An in-depth look at synodality and ecumenism through the testimony of five participants of the Synod of the Catholic Church: fraternal delegates Archbishop Khajag Barsamian (Armenian Apostolic Church), Rev. Dirk G. Lange (Lutheran World Federation) and Dr. Elizabeth Newman (Baptist World Alliance), Msgr. Brendan Leahy (Catholic Bishop of Limerick-Ireland) and Focolare president Margaret Karram.  Their experience of the Synod and the fraternal relationships which had been built were contagious and prophetic for a vision of the One Church.

On the second day, a pilgrimage to the Rome Basilica of St. Lawrence Martyr and the Abbey of the Three Fountains – which tradition situates as the place of the martyrdom of St. Paul – was an encounter with the first martyrs of the undivided Church. By their authenticity of life and faith and their witness, they instilled the courage to proclaim Christ today. Then, the pilgrimage concluded with an ecumenical prayer for reconciliation and peace at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Many echoes afterwards spoke of the fruits of the conference, of offering an experience of fraternity “in presence” and thus one of mutual knowledge. Participants also spoke of the challenging richness of diversity that gave new inspiration and renewed hope, all serving as fuel in becoming protagonists in dialogue in every sphere.

1      L’Osservatore Romano del 28 March2025.

2      The program is still available on the Focolare Movement’s YouTube channel:

       https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKhiBjTNojHqagL3wOalryEL0CqjEjWpy&feature=shared

3      He wrote a book about this experience with the title Grassroots ecumenism published by New City Press.

4      Cf. B. Isola, Ikumèni. Un laboratorio di formazione al dialogo e alla diaconia, in «Ekklesía» 6 (2023/1) n. 18, p. 60.

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Men and Women: Together
April to June 2025
No 27 – 2025/2

Dorothea Greiner – Woman Bishop in the Lutheran Church

25 September 2025 No Comments

Experience of a Lutheran Bishop

"You will be a blessing"

Dorothea Greiner

The author invites us to broaden our perspective through the experience and practice of the Evangelical Church. In the years after World War II, and especially beginning in the 1960’s, a process was undertaken in some Regional Lutheran Churches that gradually paved the way for the ordination of women. For the Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Germany), it is exactly 50 years since the Regional Synod allowed woman’s ordination as pastors. The author herself was a pastor, and then a regional evangelical bishop until recently retiring.  

During the two weeks before my ordination, I heard a constant refrain in my heart. It was not a song, as sometimes happens, but those words from the Book of Genesis, where God promises Abraham: “I will bless you, and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 2:12)

At my ordination, and in accord with custom, I was on my knees while Bishop Johannes Merz and assistants laid hands on me. One after the other, they spoke a biblical word over me. And I was deeply touched when one of the assistants said, “God says, I will bless you and you will be a blessing.” Spontaneously, my body moved from kneeling upright to resting on my heels, because I perceived these words as a promise about my life.

Family, parish, studies…

God has kept his promise. In retrospect, my childhood was already a blessing for me. I grew up in a family that followed the Pietistic tradition in Lutheranism. We went to church every Sunday morning and returned in the evening for the so-called “hour”, where my father was one of the lay preachers. In the Christian Youth Association (YMCA) I learned to pray for myself, to read, and to meditate on the Bible. I knew that my life belonged to Jesus Christ, and I silently told him so on my knees in my room, at the age of 16.

Then, a year later, on a bright summer Sunday morning, as I was about to return home from morning service after also musically accompanying the parish community on the pump organ—a dreadful instrument – my pastor called me across the street: “Dorle, you could become a pastor. Study theology.”

My studies began four years after our Church introduced the ordination of women. There, I met my husband Gottfried, also a theology student. He has always supported my path, and I was able to complete my formation, even with the birth of two children.

A young pastor

After ordination, my husband and I together took over the care of the  Pfuhl/Burlafingen parish (in the deanery of Neu-Ulm, Germany). Soon, however, we were called to the Seminary of Preachers in Bayreuth to devote ourselves to the formation of vicars  (future pastors). Then, two years later, I took a sabbatical and wrote my doctoral thesis in systematic theology on the topic of ‘blessing’. In 1996, we moved together to the parish of Holzkirchen in Upper Bavaria. At that time, the parish was building a new church. It was to be named, the Church of the Blessing, without me having given the slightest indication of any kind…

The call to regional service

I was in great need of God’s blessing when, after two years in my first pastorate in Holzkirchen, the then regional bishop of Bavaria phoned to ask if I would be available for an interview with the committee on church appointments.  At the age of 39, I was the first woman called to serve on the regional church council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. My responsibilities included initial and ongoing formation, and after three years I was also given the responsibility for personnel for theological and theological-pedagogical roles in our Church.

They were intense years, because we were not used to economizing. During the Church’s process of economic consolidation, I needed to generate substantial savings in personnel expenses. And I also needed to learn then to take care of my soul. Since that time, in fact, I started taking time for an annual retreat, such as for a week in silent retreat at the Christusbruderschaft in Selbitz (Germany).1

This deepening of my spiritual journey was necessitated by the weighty responsibilities entrusted to me, and it has become a source of lasting joy and strength. It changed the way I provide guidance and put Christian spirituality at the center of human resource development. In fact, this directional shift has been welcomed positively by almost everyone in our Church, and is a part of the blessing that God has granted.

After ten years of responsibility for personnel, I was grateful that the way was paved for me to become the regional bishop of Bayreuth. I happily moved to Upper Franconia in Spring 2009, not least because my husband is from this region. Over these past 15 years now, this ministry has been a source of deep joy and fulfillment: ordinations, the accompaniment of people and communities, and decision making at the Regional Church Council. All of these have never become a boring routine.

Two experiences remain powerfully with me.

Assisting refugees

First, in 2015, large numbers of refugees arrived to our country, including Christians of varied languages and nationalities. For this reason, and together with a large team in Bayreuth, I initiated a monthly “International Celebration”, which was welcomed with growing participation by these Christians of differing backgrounds. But also Muslims participated, including some who were about to become Christians. After intensive courses of faith and baptismal preparation, more than 170 people were baptized. However, officials in the government offices and courts often did not know how to account for conversions of Muslims to Christianity, and thus there was a great risk that these new converts would be deported to countries where they could be killed by their families or imprisoned by the government. Thanks to positive relations with the Bavarian  government, many were able to be saved from deportation processes that had already begun. I am convinced that God entrusted me with this task in Bayreuth, also to help these young Christians.

A Passion for unity

A second experience regards my own journey, in that from early on I was increasingly led towards ecumenism. Catholics were “heretics” in my family of origin because they prayed not only to God but also to the saints, and their piety – so the prejudice went – was oriented towards external rites rather than an interior bond with Christ.

But Prof. Joachim Track2, with whom I did my doctorate, had an impact on me already during my earliest studies.  He was “at home” in ecumenical dialogue, and I learned to recognize the dimension of truth in other confessions and see it as a richness. Then, the fraternal attitude and Christ-centered devotion that I found in several Catholic ministers in Holzkirchen and in Bayreuth swept away any last prejudices.

Inertia and, especially the authoritative claims of various denominations, still prevent mutual recognition and ecclesial communion. But heart-felt compassion, with Christ in the midst, will prevail in the Churches, because Christ prayed to the Father for the unity of all (!) those who believe in him (cf. John 17:20-21).

This is also the reason why, since being invited to meetings of Bishop-Friends of the Movement, I felt intimately connected to members of the Focolare Movement. Here we meet pastors and committed lay people who live rooted in their own denominations first, and at the same time carry in their hearts this yearning of Jesus for unity.  They have as an integral part of their own spiritual practice what Chiara Lubich called “knowing how to lose”.  It is a knowing how to lose, a giving up their own power, as people set free by Christ on the cross to self-giving and humility. I would like to continue this journey with the focolarini, together with my husband. The promise of being blessed, and of being a blessing, is fulfilled in the life of faith and in an ecumenism of the heart.

1 The Christusbruderschaft of Selbitz is a community of sisters and brothers, founded in 1948 by Pastor Walter Hümmer and his wife Hannah within the Lutheran Church of Bavaria. It includes celibate and married persons in the style of the Third Order.


2 Joachim Track (1940-2023) was a professor of systematic theology. As a member of the Council and Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation he was deeply involved in ecumenical discussions, including dialogue with the Catholic Church that led to the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in 1999.
[See https://lutheranworld.org/resources/publication-joint-declaration-doctrine-justification]

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Men and Women: Together
April to June 2025
No 27 – 2025/2

Christian Krause – Lutheran Bishop

3 August 2025 No Comments

focus | insights

At the crossroads of history

Lutheran Bishop Christian Krause

Dieter Rammler

Bishop Christian Kruse

Shortly before his 85th birthday, Bishop Christian Krause returned to the Father’s house. A well-known leader in the Lutheran world and past president of the Lutheran World Federation (WFL), he signed the Joint Lutheran-Catholic Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in Augsburg on October 31, 1999. Author Dieter Rammler is a scholar of church history, a Lutheran pastor, and was Christian Krause’s closest collaborator for six years. He is editor of his 2023 biography in German1, which will be published in English in the coming months.

Guided by a vision to the end

 

“Fear not, for I have called you by name” (Is 43:1) was the biblical verse assigned to Christian Jakob Krause for baptism2. For him, this motto connected with a vision that inspired him to the end: “From the east I will bring forth your seed, from the west will I gather you. I will say to the north: Return! and to the south: Do not withhold; bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the uttermost part of the earth, … You are my witnesses-oracle of the Lord!”(Isaiah 43:5-6,10). For Christian Krause this vision signified hope in a “momentous turning point” wrought by God. United in witnessing to God, the call not to entrench ourselves behind old or new frontiers resonates powerfully.

 

The news that came during the last weeks of his life left him troubled and broke his recollection. However, Krause did not want to give up. “”We are once again back to square one! We need Christians especially now! … With their hope, commitment to peace and against war, against racism and in defense of human dignity, and especially also for refugees!” he said in a last interview a few weeks before his death on November 28, 2024.

 

He recounted one day how childhood images returned to him in a dream: “It was the spring of 1945; the sky was red-hot all day and night because of the continuous bombing and burning of Berlin. My mother wanted to take us children to safety and then return immediately to Döberitz. But that did not happen. I don’t remember how we finally managed to get on the overcrowded train. People were sitting on each other. Some were crying. Most with their eyes lost in nothingness, exhausted.” He never forgot those scenes throughout his life, and once remarked, “One should not underestimate how famine, injustice and fear leave a mark on people and are passed on from generation to generation. But thank God this happens also through solidarity and proximity as well!”

 

Wherever Christian Krause was, he had two things at hand: the Losungen book 3 from Herrnhut and family photos. These were the sources from which he drew. Already as a youth leader in Göttingen, he came across this elementary biblical piety, which he practiced for the rest of his life. He had learned it from animators who had been in the war, as it had been their source of comfort in the darkest hours. God’s Word, trust in his guidance, forgiveness and healing presence – all had served to mature in him an ever-deepening faith: “To be on the way, trusting in God’s Word, more and more each day! For life in fullness comes not from our sowing and reaping, but from the miracle of God’s love. Without roots in the soil of God’s goodness and mercy, our hope dies, and every longing turns into despair.”

 

 

“Following the Star”

 

Born on January 6, 1940, in Dallgow-Döberitz near Berlin on the Epiphany, Christian Krause was a child of Epiphany and remained so throughout his life! He loved the biblical story of the Magi coming from the East. And They Followed the Star, is the title of a book dedicated to him. His whole existence was a journey toward this broad horizon. As a young theologian he worked at the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva and upon being ordained pastor, he followed the call to move to Tanzania (1971) to work in the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service.

 

At that time, the peoples of the Global South were struggling for freedom and independence. Civil wars were raging in many places, forcing thousands to flee, including to neighboring Mozambique. This period of commitment to refugee camps along the border occupied only a brief stretch in his life, but it had an enormous impact on him.

 

Finally, the colonies became independent states and the former missionary societies, partner churches. During that time, Christian Krause was a pioneer of international ecumenism for the Lutheran Churches in Germany (1972-1985), helping to shape many of the newly emerging partnerships. This would later serve him well during studies in Chicago, where he had learned the skill of translator. “As an interpreter, you must first understand yourself before you can make others understand,” he said. This characterized his attitude toward foreigners and his irrepressible curiosity in approaching unknown territories.

 

 

Bridge builder from east to west, north to south

 

He had a special way of connecting with people and helping them find clarity in themselves and on their own path. He valued personal freedom and therefore honored it in others as well.

 

Christian Krause was a great storyteller. He was like a magnet that attracted the life stories of others. There are many who became his lifelong friends. “Each of us can be a final witness to many things, and to people and experiences that will inevitably disappear with him or her,” writes Rüdiger Safranski in his book entitled ‘Time’. In this sense, Bishop Krause witnessed the lives of many people at crucial points in recent history.

 

Now, in the memory of so many, he is part of that “cloud of witnesses” (cf. Heb. 12:1). Friends from his time at the Secretariat of the large gatherings of the German Evangelical Church (Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag)4, of which he was secretary general (1985-1994), recall his push for “political action in Christian responsibility.” Friends of the once-divided Germany remember him as a bridge-builder and diplomat, even before the fall of communism in 1989, and even more so afterward. The Federal Cross of Merit with Star (2001) awarded to him by Federal President Johannes Rau explicitly referred to his efforts for East-West dialogue. The Braunschweig Regional Church remembers him as the bishop (1994-2002) who took an interest in people’s lives. “If you want to be a bishop, take a donkey and ride through the country. There is one who has shown us the way,” publicist Heinz Zahrnt had written to him for his installation in the Braunschweig cathedral. Fellow travelers worldwide, and particularly from Africa, have not forgotten his surprising election as Lutheran World Federation president in Hong Kong in 1997. They wanted him at the helm, because he had not left them alone in their time of struggle. This was also the reason why, in 2009, President Motlanthe awarded him the highest honor the Republic of South Africa bestows on deserving foreigners.

 

President of the Lutheran World Federation

 

From then on, Christian Krause represented the Lutheran World Communion on trips to Latin America, East Africa, Eastern Europe, India and Southeast Asia. He sensed the historical significance of the Joint Declaration on Justification and made significant contributions to its implementation during the delicate final stage. In his October 31, 1999 homily on the day of the signing at St. Anne’s Church in Augsburg, he said: “It is a precious thing, in following Jesus, to belong to a universal community that is able to spend itself for one another even at the level of the whole world. The message of peace from Bethlehem needs those who proclaim it. How can this be done if we did not begin with ourselves?”

 

After the celebration concluded, Catholic sisters and brothers were waiting for him in front of the church with the desire to invite him to meet their ecumenical movement: Chiara Lubich, president of the Focolare Movement, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk of Prague and others. “We no longer want to let go of the hands we hold out to each other,” he had just said in his sermon at St. Anne’s. And indeed, they never let go again! In fact, the award in Aachen Cathedral of the Klaus Hemmerle Prize, established by the Focolare Movement in 2006, would later give vivid witness to this special relationship.

 

For more than two decades, Bishop Christian Krause was intimately connected to the Focolare Movement in multiple ways, such as through the shared commitment of the Together for Europe network.  This was a result of the prior events in Augsburg and that of the Focolare’s ecumenical group of bishop friends. He liked to call them the colorful bishopsbecause of their colorful robes and encouraged them to continue to “globalize” themselves as witnesses of unity in Christ.

 

Already for some time he had been feeling a sense of restlessness that hinted at the fact that Christianity and the Churches were grappling with a change of epoch. His encounter with the Focolare reinforced that impression of something within Christendom that was hidden but that was blossoming as new life. He could not yet name it, but he sensed it in the “fire” of the Focolare. How much he longed that we could arrive to share the Eucharist as communion at God’s table with His people throughout the world: “It would be a sign that would unite Christians, that the world could not ignore!”

 

From global action to a Baltic Sea island.

 

When Christian Krause retired from active service, he continued in numerous honorary roles where his international experience was needed: The Protestant Development Service, in whose reorganization he played a key role as board chair (1999-2005); the Luther Center in Wittenberg (Germany), of which he was co-founder and president (1999-2007); and as chairperson of the Hermann Kunst Foundation for the promotion of research on New Testament texts. 

 

When even these later tasks started fading into the background and there was time, he stumbled upon his beloved vacation island in the Baltic Sea. His memory remains alive in this island community, too. He sometimes said, “Here I can be myself without major commitments, sitting in the church pew on Sundays as part of a community.” He had experienced so much that he now needed time to reflect, taking long walks on the beach. Events, travel, and encounters came back to him as in an interior movie. Every now and then he would stop to catch his breath, greet someone, or make small talk. This, too, was Christian Krause, a person to whom one could entrust a story, confident that he would cherish it.

 

Bishop and brother

 

His ‘sendoff’ bore witness to the person of Krause. He was a true witness of faith! He was a pilgrim between borders and a bridge builder, an interpreter and a storyteller. A bishop, but for many he was simply Brother Christian. He traveled throughout his life and placed his trust in God.

 

At the time of the blessing of his body, many were reminded of the Elder Simeon. When Joseph and Mary arrived at the temple with Jesus, he was overwhelmed with joy. He took the child in his arms and said, “Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your Savior!” (cf. Lk. 2:29-30). Bishop Christian departed in peace. What he saw in his life, he conveyed through many stories. They speak of the Star that is worth following, from east and west, north and south. This is what unites us! As Christians, we are made for one another! And lest we find ourselves back to square one!

 

__________________________

1 D. Rammler, Christian Krause. Weite wagen, Neue Stadt, München 2023.

2 Editorial note: In the Lutheran Church, as well as other Reformed churches, it is customary to assign people a Bible verse at baptism and also at confirmation.

3 Die Losungen [Keywords] are a collection of biblical texts and daily meditations prepared annually since 1731 by the Evangelical Church of the Moravian Brethren (The United Brethren of Herrnhut). They are translated into approx. 60 languages.

4 Lay body of the Evangelical Churches in Germany that organizes major biennial events of faith, culture and political discussion. The counterpart in the Catholic Church in Germany is the biennial Katholikentag. In 2003 and 2010 the two events merged into an ecumenical assembly. 

 

 

Migration: challenges and opportunities
January to March 2025
No 26 – 2025/1

Mervat Kelli – Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church dialogue

27 July 2025 No Comments

focus | Church in dialogue

The Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in dialogue

Mervat Kelli

A tested and rediscovered friendship

The Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in dialogue

For eleven years, Pope Francis and the Coptic Orthodox Pope, Tawadros II, have woven a deep fraternal relationship. Already from the time of Pope John Paul II and Pope Shenouda III, there had been lively contact, especially when John Paul II, at the beginning of his February 2000 Jubilee pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, wanted to visit Shenouda III in Cairo, marking the first visit of a bishop of Rome to the Coptic Orthodox patriarch.

 

Tawadros II, elected in 2012 after the 41 years of the pontificate of Shenouda III, made his first visit abroad to Rome in May 2013, on the 40th anniversary of that of his predecessor. During that occasion, Tawadros II proposed to Pope Francis to forge a close perennial spiritual bond of friendship in Christ. Since then, May 10 is the Day of Friendship between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church. Pope Tawadros II was the first Coptic Orthodox Patriarch to attend the enthronement of a Coptic Catholic Patriarch – Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak – in January 2013 and promoted the creation of a National Council of Christian Churches in Egypt in February 2013.

 

In April 2017, Pope Francis went to Egypt. During his visit with Pope Tawadros II, they signed a new Joint Declaration of a pastoral nature. It expressed, among other things,  both the hope to find a common date for the Easter celebration, and not to repeat baptisms administered in the respective Churches. Further conversation with Pope Francis followed in July 2018, when Pope Tawadros II participated in the meeting of reflection and prayer for peace in the Middle East organized in Bari (Italy).

 

Then, this past year, controversy arose following release of the Declaration Fiducia supplicans of the Catholic Church. It created consternation in the Coptic Church, so much so that the Holy Synod of the Coptic Church, on March 7, 2024, issued a Declaration reiterating the rejection of ‘so-called homosexual marriage’. According to some, the Church must not put its head in the sand as if these situations did not exist but face them with courage. Others wondered what the blessing of homosexual couples is for.  Is it to heal their relationships and help in a return to the Church, or is it so that those blessed might have their souls at peace and say the Church has blessed us? 

On May 22, 2024, Pope Tawadros II received Card. Victor Fernandez, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Cardinal brought the greetings of Pope Francis, recalling the various meetings that took place and in particular Pope Tawadros’ last visit to the Vatican on May 10, 2023. On this occasion, the 50th anniversary of the bilateral joint Christological agreement signed by Pope Shenouda III and Pope Paul VI was celebrated, as well as the tenth year of the annual day of Friendship.

 

The meeting between the cardinal and Pope Tawadros II focused on Fiducia supplicans. After recalling that both in Fiducia supplicans and the subsequent Doctrinal Declaration of the Dicastery, Dignitas infinita, it is reiterated that marriage is only a union between a man and a woman open to the transmission of life, Card. Fernandez confirmed that the Catholic Church is also opposed to same-sex marriage, and therefore shares the teachings of the Declaration of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Church of March 7.

 

He also clarified that union between people is not blessed. If they come together, they bless the people, making a sign of the cross on each one and adding a short prayer. But this must take place in a brief, spontaneous way, without any rite, without liturgical vestments and without any external manifestation that could confuse that blessing as a marriage. These types of simple, spontaneous and pastoral blessings, explained the Cardinal, can also be imparted on the street, on pilgrimages, and be received by everyone, in whatever condition they find themselves. In fact, in this case it is not a question of ‘sanctifying grace,’ but of those aids of the Holy Spirit that Catholics call ‘actual graces’, pushing the sinner towards conversion and maturation.

 

For his part, Pope Tawadros II explained to Fernández the historical, cultural and societal ethos of the Egyptian people.

 

The cardinal also shared that he had provided a comprehensive clarification on this issue in a detailed letter, as requested by the Oriental Orthodox Church delegation, in the Committee for Dialogue with the Catholic Church, held in January 2024.

 

At the conclusion, Pope Tawadros II asked the cardinal to bring his greetings of love and appreciation to His Holiness Pope Francis.

 

This served as a witness to many of how sincere relationships of friendship also help to overcome inevitable challenges and difficulties.

 

 

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A Synodal Way: Mysticism and Method
July to September 2024
No 24 – 2024/3

Callan Slipper – How to dialogue?

30 June 2025 No Comments

focus  |  insights

Callan Slipper

How to dialogue?

Receptive Ecumenism: A Path to Unity

Dialogue between Christian churches by Anglican priest Callan Slipper
There are various expressions of dialogue between the Churches: from theological dialogue to common prayer and joint commitment to the service of society. At the heart of all there cannot fail to be the dialogue of life, which means mutual acceptance and reciprocal gift, and which makes us experience the living presence of Christ who gathers his own into one and makes them his Body. The author is an Anglican priest and was until 2022 nationally responsible for the ecumenical relations of the Church of England.

In a famous piece of writing, “If we are united, Jesus is among us”, Chiara Lubich affirms that this is the hour of Jesus in the midst of people gathered together (cf. Mt 18:20):

It is he who, inspiring his saints with his eternal truths, makes history in every age.

This too is his hour: not so much the hour of a saint but of him, of him among us, of him living in us as we build up – in the unity of love – his Mystical Body and the Christian community.[1]

 

What a gift for the world this is! In this very moment, in a world torn apart by bloodshed, dissension, and criminality on a global scale, Jesus can be present and act for the good of humanity. With Jesus in our midst, the Church is, in the here and now, the instrument of God’s outstretched arms of love.

 

The tragedy is that this united Church exists mostly in prophetic experiences. Despite the many historic advances in reconciliation among Christians, at the moment our divisions make it impossible for us to reach anything like our full potential really to be the living body of Christ. It is as if we were a large rose window, one of those windows sparkling with multicolored glass that you find in some large churches, stunningly beautiful when the sun shines through. But with our divisions that window is broken, its pieces scattered on the ground. Each piece is indeed still beautiful, but all lack the splendor they would have if joined together and were back in place where the light can stream through.

 

And the world needs that light. It longs for Christ.

 

A style of dialogue

 

Against this background, I would like to speak of a style of dialogue that is increasingly used as the Churches grow together ecumenically. It is called receptive ecumenism.

 

Receptive ecumenism began to be explored in 2003 with the arrival of Paul Murray at the Catholic Studies Centre of the University of Durham. The university website says:  ” The essential principle behind Receptive Ecumenism is that the primary ecumenical responsibility is to ask not “What do the other traditions first need to learn from us?” but “What do we need to learn from them?”[2]

 

It is deceptively simple. It has been found fruitful in several official dialogues. For instance, the Third Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III), used it in the largest of its documents so far, called Walking Together on the Way. This document says of ecumenism:

We suggest that the current twofold task, as we seek to walk the way towards full communion, is (i) to look humbly at what is not working effectively within one’s own tradition, and (ii) to ask whether this might be helped by receptive learning from the understanding, structures, practices, and judgements of the other.[3]

 

Two attitudes to take

 

This asks us to do two things. The first is an act of profound humility. We recognize our need to learn. In this we find that all the things that we tend to be ashamed of, our defects and difficulties, are our friends. They show us our need to learn. As divided Christian communities, therefore, we can look the problems in our own traditions in the face without fear. How necessary this is in an age of abuse scandals, institutional cover-ups, authoritarian misuse of power, in-fighting, and ethical and doctrinal confusion!

 

The second thing is that we are asked to learn from others. Within the whole body of Christ there are the gifts we need for our healing. The ARCIC document says:

We must explore what God has given to our partners which, as Pope Francis has said, “is also meant to be a gift for us” (EG §246). This is particularly so when such “treasure[s] to be shared” address difficulties in one’s own tradition.[4]

 

Through receiving the gifts we find in other traditions, our own Churches can grow in the life of Christ. As we come closer together, we become spiritually more alive. And, of course, as we grow in Christ, we become more united.

 

Readiness to learn and sharing of gifts

 

Each of these two pillars of receptive ecumenism is reflected in the charism of unity. Our humility finds a decisive model in Jesus Forsaken, as Chiara Lubich wrote in 1949:

It is necessary to put ourselves before everyone in an attitude of learning, for we really have something to learn. And only nothingness gathers all into itself and clasps to itself each thing in unity: it is necessary to be nothing (Jesus Forsaken) before each brother or sister in order to clasp Jesus to ourselves in them.[5]

 

This readiness to learn from each person, in the practice of receptive ecumenism, opens a way of genuine dialogue among Churches. It is also an essential attitude for developing love among Christians. It is love that makes us able to enter into a deeper communion when the second pillar of receptive ecumenism, the sharing of gifts, takes effect. As Chiara said in 1997, during the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz, when speaking about a spirituality for reconciliation at the service of ecumenism:

Love and mutual love, therefore, between Christians and mutual love between the Churches. That love which leads to putting everything in common, each one becoming a gift to the others, so that we can foresee in the Church of the future that one and only one will be the truth, but expressed in various ways, observed from various angles, enriched by many interpretations.[6]

 

A threefold pattern

 

Receptive learning, which is at the heart of receptive ecumenism, is in fact a spiritual discipline of conversion. It is more than just a methodology. Rather, it is an attitude of welcome in our approach to each other, a way of thinking, taking place in relational encounters. It has three moments.

 

In its first moment, it begins, as we have seen, with a recognition of reality: we have a lot to learn. This honesty is a conversion to humility and already changes our relationships. We cannot be harsh, judgmental, or too quick to teach. This is in no sense to deny any of the gifts there may be in each of us, just as among Churches there is no need to deny any of the spiritual, doctrinal, ministerial, liturgical, institutional, or practical gifts that exist in each specific Christian communion. But we need to be realistic and acknowledge our frailty. We come to the party, as it were, just as we are.

 

Next there is the reception of the gifts of the other. It is above all an attitude of appreciation for all the good the other brings. This appreciation together with our self-awareness channels our approach to the other away from merely instrumentalizing them as a means for self-improvement. It is a practice of respect that welcomes the other as other, seeking to perceive their gifts. It is a look of love. Of course, such a love can only be a gift from the Holy Spirit. It too is a moment of conversion.

 

The conversion intensifies in the third moment of receptive learning, which can be called restoration. We engage in restoration when we take what we have learned and apply it in our own lives or, among Churches, within our own communion, in ways suitable to the integrity of our identity. Among Churches, given that all Christian communions belong to the one body of Christ, whatever riches exist in any part of that body in principle belongs to all and so receiving these gifts is, in fact, restoring something that belongs to those who receive. More than likely in some way, perhaps undeveloped and unrecognized, the gifts already exist in those who learn, but they are now found afresh, with greater understanding. In any case, it is a conversion that respects our identity, indeed it makes us more authentically ourselves.

 

Receptive Learning & Mission

 

Possibly one of the most attractive things about receptive ecumenism is that it points to a receptive learning that applies beyond the internal dialogue of Christians among themselves. It is fruitful for mission. We can approach others who do not have faith in Christ 1) knowing we always have a lot to learn, 2) ready to appreciate their gifts, and 3) willing to change in the light of what we learn. This threefold conversion liberates love in us. But it is also an invitation to the others to do likewise. They are made able 1) to relate to us just as they are, without needing to put on a good face, 2) to appreciate our gifts, which are above all the riches of the gospel, Christ in us, and 3) to apply those gifts in their own lives according to the integrity of their own identity.

 

This approach, although it is not the only way to evangelize, has enormous potential because it is respectful of Jesus in us and of Jesus in those we meet. And it is rooted in Jesus crucified and forsaken, to whom we bear witness right from the start with our radical openness and acceptance of the other.

 

It is also consoling that receptive mission, as it could be called, can be practiced by imperfect persons or Churches. A seminal Anglican document, Mission-shaped Church[7] at one point quotes a theological statement from the Church of England’s House of Bishops which asserts that the Church is more than a voice speaking about divine things but is rather the living experience of them, making the powerful and beautiful claim:

The church does more than merely point to a reality beyond itself. By virtue of its participation in the life of God, it is not only a sign and instrument, but also a genuine foretaste of God’s Kingdom, called to show forth visibly, in the midst of history, God’s final purposes for humankind.[8]

 

But an awareness of the facts means that Mission-shaped Church immediately goes on to say:

As such it [the Church] is always incomplete. The inevitable weakness and sinfulness of the Church at any particular time cannot simply be excused, but it is, through God’s grace, the place where forgiveness and the power for a change of life can be seen and experienced.[9]

 

Receptive learning copes very well with the double nature of Christian experience: both the lofty gifts of grace and the struggle we all have of living up to it, both holiness and failure. Such learning takes us beyond superficial relationships and, together with others, enables us to discover wonderful and transformative things.

 

Our Opportunity

 

What is more, each of us in our everyday lives can enter into “receptive” relationships, free to acknowledge the truth of our experience in all its dimensions and, at the very same time, to discover the beauties that exist in everyone. In this genuine meeting of love we will experience the presence of Jesus among us and, with him, we will revive the body of Christ, the one Church to which we all belong, in its vocation of service to humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________

1 Commentary on the Word of Life: “The eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is pure, your whole body will be enlightened” (Lk 11:34). November 1949, Paradise ’49, cpv 897-898. Cf. C. Lubich, The Spiritual Doctrine, Città Nuova, Rome 2006, p. 161.
2 <https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/catholic-studies/research/constructive-catholic-theology-/receptive-ecumenism-/>
3 Walking Together on the Way: Learning to Be the Church – Local, Regional, Universal, An Agreed Statement of the Third Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (Arcic III), Erfurt 2017, Section III, 78. English translation: Walking together on the road, 
https://iarccum.org/archive/ARCIC3/2018_ARCIC-III_Camminare-insieme-sulla-strada_Il-Regno-2019-01_it.pdf. This translation has been slightly revised. Italics in original.
4 Ibid., 17.
5 28 August 1949, Paradiso ’49, cpv 540.
6 Chiara Lubich, A Spirituality for Reconciliation, Address to the Second European Ecumenical Assembly, Graz (Austria), 23 June 1997 <https://www.focolare.org/1997/06/23/una-spiritualita-per-la-riconciliazione/>
7 The Archbishops’ Council, Mission-shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Context, Church House Publishing, London 2004.
8 Ibid., p. 95.
9 Ibid., p. 96.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One Christian People
October – December 2023
No 21 – 2023/4

Chiara Lubich – One Christian People

30 June 2025 No Comments

focus  |  spirituality of unity

Chiara Lubich

One
Christian
People

Chiara Lubich - Ecumenism - One Christian People

On 17 January 1998, on the eve of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Chiara Lubich gave a speech in the Palermo Cathedral entitled, ‘A Spirituality for Dialogues’. Below are two key excerpts relevant to the ongoing ecumenical journey.

… Thus, we need love and mutual love between Christians, and mutual love between

the Churches. The love that leads people to put everything in common, each Church to

be a gift for the others, so that we can foresee in the Church of the future that there will

be just one truth, expressed in different ways, seen from different viewpoints, made more beautiful by the variety of interpretations.

 

In his book “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”, Pope John Paul II wrote, “It is necessary for humanity to achieve unity through plurality, to learn how to come together in the one Church, even while presenting a plurality of ways of thinking and acting, of cultures and civilizations.” (p. 167)

 

It is not that one Church or another will have to “die” (as is sometimes feared), but each Church should be reborn as new in unity. Living in this Church in full communion will be something marvelous, as fascinating as a miracle, which will attract the attention and interest of the whole world.

 

Mutual love, however, is truly evangelical, and therefore valid, only if it is practiced in the measure wanted by Jesus: He said: “Love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends” (see Jn 15:12-13).

[…]

 

An ecumenical spirituality lived in this way can produce exceptional fruits.

 

But we can foresee that it will have one effect above all. Since it is communitarian, it will bind into one all those who live it, so that there will be solidarity amongst them and they will be, in a certain way, already one. They will realize that they form, so to speak, one Christian people, and that together with all that is being done in so many other ways through the action of the Holy Spirit in this ecumenical age, they can be a leaven helping to bring full communion among Churches.

 

In fact it will be the living out of a fourth ecumenical dialogue, in addition to the dialogues of charity and of prayer and the theology. It will be the dialogue of the people. Not a people formed only of laity, of course, but the whole people of God. It is a dialogue which will enable us to discover more clearly, and more effectively, the rich heritage already shared by Christians, including Baptism, Sacred Scripture, the first Councils, the Fathers of the Church, etc.

 

We are eager to see this people. Already here and there it can be glimpsed, and we long to see this people in every Church.

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One Christian People
October – December 2023
No 21 – 2023/4

Hubertus Blaumeiser – Ecumenical Synodality – Editorial

30 June 2025 No Comments

editorial

Hubertus Blaumeiser

Ecumenical
Synodality

Hubertus Blaumeiser - Ecumenical synodality

At a time in which it might appear that ecumenism has lost its initial momentum, the synthesis report of the recent Synodal Assembly of bishops had the courage to speak of an ecumenical Kairos (7a), that is, of a favourable moment to reaffirm that “There can be no synodality without an ecumenical dimension” (7b).

Listening to other Christians has been very much part of the worldwide synodal process of the Catholic Church from the very beginning. Pope Francis has missed no opportunity to stress its importance: “I would like to emphasize that today, for a Christian, it is not possible or feasible to go about alone with one’s own denomination.” “Never alone. We cannot do it.” (May 6, 2022; see more in the article in this issue: Pope Francis – Never Alone).

As is well known, at the suggestion of the Prior of the Taizé Community, the Synod Assembly was preceded for the first time by an Ecumenical Vigil attended by a good number of church leaders and their respective faithful. Twelve ‘fraternal’ delegates then participated in the Assembly itself: a presence that was greater than in the past and, according to the synthesis report, should also increase in number in the future. This would fulfil the desire to “continue to involve Christians of other denominations in Catholic synodal processes at all levels” (7m). The proposal to “convene an ecumenical synod on common mission in the contemporary world” was also put forward (7n).

These are not side issues. The Good News of reconciliation, fraternity and hope rooted in the resurrection of Jesus will resound in the world in an entirely different way if we understand how to overcome the contrasts and indifference among ourselves. The People of God, then, will be able to be much more of an instrument of unity with God and amongst humanity which is called to be – as foreseen by the Second Vatican Council and the New Testament before it – if the Churches walk together.

The reality is that a lot has happened in the past one hundred years. Apart from as few painful exceptions, the advance of the ecumenical movement has seen a rediscovery of fraternity among Christians. Among many churches there is now a mutual recognition of baptism. Various theological dialogues have brought about points of convergence and contributed to the healing of past hurts. In some instances, genuine agreements have been reached, as happened in the 1970s with the various Eastern Orthodox Churches regarding Christological matters. 1999 also saw and Lutherans and Catholics reach an agreement on the doctrine of justification which three other communions – the Reformed Churches, the Methodists and Anglican Churches – put their name to so much so that, based on the 2013 Catholic-Lutheran document From Conflict to Communion, the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation could be commemorated together in 2017 in an atmosphere of renewed fraternity.

Now it is a matter of going a step further and giving birth to true ecumenical synodality. If the worldwide process of the Catholic Church aiming to ensure that the synodal style is recognized and practiced as “the specific modus vivendi et operandi of the Church, the People of God,” the same needs to be done in the ecumenical sphere: to ensure that sharing and cooperation cease to be sporadic and casual, intensifying only in particular moments such as the Week of Prayer for Unity, and become instead a fundamental dimension of being Church.

Witnessing that this is not only possible but is already the reality in a wide variety of places is the purpose of this issue of Ekklesía and which we were able to draw on the expertise and generous cooperation of Centro Uno, the Focolare Movement’s Ecumenical Secretariat. In the process of putting this issue together we identified prophetic figures to highlight such as Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I and Igino Giordani; did an interview with the President of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Card. Kurt Koch and reflected with Callan Slipper on one of the new frontiers: receptive ecumenism. Above all, we tried to include several experiences which demonstrate an ecumenism of life in action.

Of course, a lot depends on how we look at things. If we look at them from an earthly perspective, we see the gulfs that have been created historically, the wounds and differences, the struggle to agree…; but if we look at them from above, from the heart of God, we see that the values of the Gospel everywhere have been spread everywhere; that by common baptism we belong to each other and that we can correct and complete each other; that we can learn from each other and that an exchange of gifts is possible that leads not to uniformity but to the miracle and fascination of plural unity.

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One Christian People
October – December 2023
No 21 – 2023/4

Five Christian World Communions in Consultation – Heike Vesper

23 April 2025 No Comments

A people journeying together

focus | ecumenism

Two decades after the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

Five Christian World

Communions in Consultations

Heike Vesper

Last October 31, 2019, marked twenty years since the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) in the evangelical church of Saint Anne in Augsburg, Germany. It was a solemn act signed by the then presidents of the Lutheran World Federation, Dr. Christian Krause, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Edward Cassidy.

Gathering the fruits of several decades of theological dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics, the JDDJ wonderfully resolved one of the principal conflicts that had led to mutual excommunications at the time of the Reformation. It is both interesting and significant that since then, three other Christian World Families adhered to the Declaration: The World Methodist Council (WMC), the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and the Anglican Communion. Thus, there is now a fundamental theological document held in common by five global Christian Families. But that’s not all. The JDDJ allows us to jointly proclaim our core belief in the triune God and the grace of salvation in and through Jesus Christ, even if various forms and expressions remain within each Church according to their own traditions.

To ensure the JDDJ will continue as more than just a historical document, representatives of the five world Communions came together in March 2019 for a consultation at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana (USA). It was a first step in seeing how relations between them had developed, how to make their friendship and mutual trust more visible, and what a message of reconciliation between Christians can offer to a divided world. Thus, a journey together towards deeper ecclesial communion and a more visible witness of collaboration began, one that encompasses and goes beyond initiatives for social action. In fact, among the meeting topics were mutual recognition of ministries; cooperation in pastoral ministry; catechetical tools; and deepening the bond of common baptism. Rather than a focus on past, present, and future divisions, there is the desire to give priority to traveling along a path of consensus in the basic truths, as found in the Joint Declaration, while allowing for legitimate differences in confessional expression.

Participants also upheld the first of the ecumenical imperatives agreed to by Pope Francis and Lutheran Bishop Yunan on 31 October 2016 in Lund (Sweden) during the 500th anniversary commemoration of the Protestant Reformation: namely, to always start from the perspective of unity rather than division. In fact, the Consultation’s concluding, public panel discussion was called, From Conflict to Communion: The Future of Christians Together in the World, a title that proved deeply meaningful in this regard.

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A people journeying together
July to September 2019
No 4 – 2019/3

By virtue of Baptism – Stefan Tobler

23 April 2025 No Comments

A people journeying together

focus | insights

A contribution from the evangelical perspective

By virtue of Baptism

Stefan Tobler

The author is an Evangelical theologian. Born in Switzerland, he completed his theological studies in Zurich, earned his doctorate in the Netherlands and began teaching in Tübingen (Germany). Professor Tobler currently teaches systematic theology at Lucian Blaga University’s Institute for Ecumenical Research of Sibiu (IERS), in Romania. He is also a member of the Abba School, the interdisciplinary study center of the Focolare Movement.

The link between the priesthood of all the faithful and ordained ministry is fundamental for understanding synodality in the life of the Churches of the Reformation. Beginning with his 1520 address, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Martin Luther developed the concept that every Christian received, by virtue of baptism, the full dignity and power necessary in order to proclaim the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. According to Luther, the fact that it was permissible only for ordained ministers to exercise this authority publicly was a matter of order, not of (sacramental) quality. Therefore, all faithful are called to participate in the election of ministers, ensure faithfulness to Gospel teachings, and the establishment of ecclesiastical order. A synodal Church governance in which a given number exercise these powers on behalf of all the faithful, is therefore the most appropriate structure.

While this principle was shared by all reformers, its development was different for the Lutheran and Reformed churches.

In the German Lutheran territories, civil rulers (municipal councilors, nobility, etc.) were generally delegated to exercise their authority on behalf of all the faithful. Thus, a close bond between Church and State developed, one of episkopé (supervision) exercised by civil governing bodies.

Even in the Reformed territories, civil authorities played an important role in establishing new ecclesiastical structures. But these structures were generally synodal at both the local and national level. This offered much greater autonomy with regard to the State. These synods were always a mix of theologians/ministers and lay people, with the laity being in the majority.

Beginning with the nineteenth century, synodal structures gradually began to develop in the German territories (Lutheran and other) inspired by, among other things, the many Huguenot refugees from France, and this served to reduce the State’s influence on Church affairs. Mixed synods were formed between ordained and lay ministers. After 1918, synods were established and entrusted with full governing power regarding ecclesiastical rules, election of bishops and collegial councils of governance (Kirchenrat), finances, etc. throughout Germany.

Although this synodal form of governance uses democratic procedures, it is not enough to speak of a “democratic” governing of the Church. Rather, emphasis needs to be on the element of royal priesthood: each member of these bodies who exercises a function on behalf of all the faithful is to be conscious of the dignity conferred upon them through baptism. Therefore, each is a messenger of the Gospel, called to consider and weigh every decision through the Word of God and its interpretation as contained in the Confessions of faith. The synod, if it is authentic, is an expression of Gospel sovereignty over the Church.

Synodal structures are always combined with the collegial and personal elements of episkopé (supervision). The combination of these three forms and the weight given to each element vary markedly among the Churches of the Reformation. But ecumenical dialogue has served to reveal the coexistence of these three elements and is most certainly a point upon which progressive approaches to various positions can also be envisioned. There never exists a “synodal system” alone. Thus, democracy is not the question here and “hierarchy” is not a happy word either. It serves little purpose to discuss and contrast these two if we desire that it is truly God in his Spirit who reigns over his Church, and more precisely, reigns in the form of Christ, that is, in kenosis (the act of self-emptying).

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A people journeying together
July to September 2019
No 4 – 2019/3