Food for Thought

Catholic and Lutheran bishops gathered in Chicago March 2 for a prayer service commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Oct 12, 2017

Catholic and Lutheran bishops gathered in Chicago March 2 for a prayer service commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

In a joint statement, the bishops said, "While the past cannot be changed, we rejoice in the healing of memories we have already seen, and we ask God's guidance toward a transformed future, renewed in our relations to one another and in our witness to the world."

The bishops met during a joint meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Conference of Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.

"We join our work, our prayers and our commitments to the efforts of Christians around the world who this year are commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation," the bishops continued.

Lutherans and Catholics in the U.S., the bishops said, "have long affirmed the ecumenical principle that 'what unites us is greater than what divides us,'" and that the work of reconciliation is for "the sake of healing in the whole body of Christ, into which all of us are incorporated through baptism."

"We see ourselves already 'on the way' together, even in the complex and unfinished areas such as church, ministry and Eucharist. We continue to grow in the relationships of friendship and trust," which the bishops noted, are as essential to unity as is theological dialogue.