Joint ecumenical event held in anticipation of 500th anniversary of Reformation

COQUITLAM

Lower Mainland Catholics and Lutherans are working to repair some of the division the Reformation tore into the church 500 years ago.

About 40 Christians gathered in Coquitlam March 18 and 25 to talk about what they have in common as well as their differences.

“We can’t change history, but we can change the relationship in this present situation,” said Catholic organizer Marjeta Bobnar.

“These meetings give us an occasion to meet and to talk. If we don’t have this occasion, it’s hard to understand one another,” said Bobnar, interfaith and ecumenical relations coordinator for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

She and other organizers from the two Christian branches worked from a document entitled Together in Christ produced by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada.

“It’s a very well prepared resource,” that combines Bible study, personal reflections, and history, said Bobnar.

She admitted the Reformation is a difficult topic to tackle. “After 500 years, is there any possibility to approach one another with a new understanding of Reformation, or is there still a divide?”

Yet the atmosphere in the room was receptive “Many said they were thankful to have this occasion to come together,” said Bobnar. “It’s part of our history so we need to know something about that.”

Pastor Eric Krushel of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the two events.

His church hosted the March 18 event while All Saints Parish planned to host the March 25 event. “There was a lot of very lively conversation around the tables,” said Rev. Krushel.

The relationship between Catholics and Lutherans has been growing for the past five years, he said. They annually celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity together, and with this year’s 500th anniversary of the Reformation it makes sense to continue to grow together, he said.

“It would be very easy for us to turn this year into a Lutheran ‘pride fest’ and a celebration of ourselves,” he said. Instead, it’s a good idea to use the anniversary of the “event that divided us to seek reconciliation and closer relationship.”

He noted 2017 also marks another milestone, the 50th anniversary of official Catholic-Lutheran dialogue. There has been “a lot of prejudice and ignorance on both sides,” he said, and the two local events are an opportunity to “clean the slate and begin again.”

Spiritual leaders of both churches released a video message for the occasion.

“We have come a long ways in terms of our understanding and our theology and it also opened the door to much further dialogue in these past number of years,” said Bishop Gregory Mohr of the B.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada.

Sitting beside him was Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB. “Dialogue means entering into a new kind of trust relationship, avoiding the hostile language that has been sometimes used.”

Archbishop Miller said some points of division have been erased in recent history. The concept of “justification” hasn’t been a “point of great division” since 1999, and both denominations profess to share the Gospel, baptism, and the desire to follow Christ.

Other Catholic-Lutheran dialogue groups in the region are also finding ways to commemorate the two anniversaries. St. Peter’s Parish and Mount Zion Lutheran Church plan to host a series of events based on Together in Christ around Easter.

Members of both churches are also looking forward to a joint liturgy with Archbishop Miller and Mohr Oct. 1, at the start of the month Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of All Saints Church in 1517 and sparked the Reformation. They are planning to hold a service modelled after one Pope Francis participated in to commemorate the Reformation in Sweden last year.

“There is something particularly striking about praying together,” Archbishop Miller said in his recorded remarks.

“Before words or anything, (this event) is an acknowledgement of our sharing of the Gospel, of our admitting the Lordship of Jesus Christ. These are more powerful than the documents we can come up with.”