News that Pope Francis will travel to Sweden in October for
an event marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant
Reformation underlines the fact that the Catholic
Counter-Reformation is over. Whether Protestants are prepared
to say the same about the Reformation is for them to decide.
A Catholic can only hope.
To say that these two momentous movements, Reformation and
Counter-Reformation, are over is certainly not to deny their
lasting impact on religion and the world. But except for
isolated pockets of resistance on both sides,
Catholic-Protestant hostility is a thing of the past.
This relationship is in a new era and has been for some time.
The Oct. 31 commemorative event Pope Francis will attend in
Lund, Sweden is testimony to that.
It was on Oct. 31, 1517, that an obscure monk and theology
professor named Martin Luther posted 95 theses - on a church
door, so it's said - setting out his views on controverted
religious issues of that day. The ceremony in Lund, site of
the founding of the Lutheran World Federation, will mark the
opening of the anniversary year.
The general secretary of the Lutheran federation, Martin
Junge, describes its approach to the anniversary as
"ecumenical accountability." Catholic Bishop Anders
Arborelius of Stockholm, a convert from Lutheranism, voices
hope that the gathering in Lund will help Lutherans and
Catholics be "witnesses of Jesus Christ and his Gospel in our
secularized world" - a redirection of religious energy from
fighting each other to presenting a united front against a
common adversary.
By no means is this a Christian reunion, which remains a goal
Catholics and Protestants haven't reached yet. But it is well
beyond mere friendly mutual toleration.
Even in saying this, though, it's important to realize that
actual reunion, when and if it ever comes, will call for
agreement on the essentials of faith, something that
Catholics and Protestants still appear to be far from
achieving. And even before that can happen, there must be
consensus on what those essentials are. To judge from recent
statements of ecumenical dialogue groups, we have a long way
to go just reaching that point.
Consider the relationship between Lutherans and Catholics.
Catholicism and Lutheranism really do share many important
doctrinal positions, but they are divided sharply on others,
with no way of closing that gap currently in sight. The same
is true of Anglicanism, so like Catholicism in many ways, so
disastrously distant in others.
A recent joint statement by representatives of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops illustrates the problem.
It spoke of agreement between the two sides that "the Gospel,
proclaimed in the Holy Spirit by the apostles" is the
"normative origin and abiding foundation" of the church on
earth. But what is this Gospel - this message of Christian
good news - and how are we to know for sure what it says? In
seeking the answer, Catholics look to the Magisterium - the
teaching authority of the pope and the bishops in union with
him. But precisely this view of teaching authority,
especially the authority of the pope, lies at the heart of
Catholic-Lutheran differences, with "no promise of imminent
resolution," as the joint statement acknowledged.
In the end of course, the reunion of Christians will be the
work of God. But we Christians have much heavy lifting to do
by way of cooperating with Him. Here's hoping the event in
Sweden next October and all the other commemorations of the
Reformation's anniversary during the months ahead will
contribute to that.
Shaw is a freelance writer from Washington and author of
American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and
Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America (Ignatius Press).