Greeting to the Council of the Lutheran World Federation

Geneva, 13 June 2019

Father Augustinus Sander, OSB
(Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity)

President Archbishop Dr. Panti Filibus Musa,
General Secretary Rev. Dr. Junge,
Sisters and brothers of the community of all baptised,

On the occasion of your Council meeting this year I bring you warm ecumenical greetings and wishes for blessing from Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Bishop Brian Farrell, his secretary.

Probably many of you will miss the familiar face of Monsignor Matthias Türk, who – after 20 years in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity - has taken on responsibilities in his home diocese in Würzburg.

Let me now briefly introduce myself as his successor. I am a Benedictine from the Maria Laach Abbey and, for a long time, I was a free collaborator with the Johann Adam Mohler Institute for Ecumenism in Paderbom. As a member of an order of the undivided church and as a Catholic Luther researcher with a special theological interest in “ministry and Eucharist”, I would like to make a contribution to further Catholic-Lutheran understanding in my new area of responsibility - both as an ecumenical Benedictine and as a Benedictine ecumenist. I am grateful to follow in the footsteps of Monsignor Türk, and know I am sustained at the same time by the “ecumenical virtues” of the Benedictine rule: honor/appreciation; discretio/ discernment; and humanitasIhumanity. I am looking forward to our future cooperation and thank you very much for your kind invitation.

We have covered decisive stages together on the road to greater Catholic-Lutheran community. The “miracle of Lund”, as I would like to call it, has engraved itself indelibly in our memories as a milestone in the history of Catholic-Lutheran reconciliation.

This would hardly have been possible without the previous reassurance through the document “From Conflict to Communion”. Yet the liturgical reception and the joint service of worship in Lund gave new quality to our growing unity.

This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The question of how we come to salvation and remain therein has – finally - found a common answer. Next Sunday we will bear witness to this at a joint service. “We” means not only Lutherans and Catholics, but also our Methodist, Reformed and Anglican sisters and brothers. 20 years after Augsburg 1999 we will celebrate in great ecumenical fellowship. The joint meeting of representatives of the Lutheran World Federation, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the World Methodist Council, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Anglican Communion at the end of March this year in Notre Dame, lndiana, was a strong sign of multilateral ecumenical bonds.

Living out the reality of the one baptism is both an ecumenical responsibility and a promise. The present document “Baptism and Growth in Communion” deepens theological consensus with respect to baptism as a sacrament of unity, and shows – leading on from there – more far-reaching lines of ecclesiology. The document opens our eyes to the existing and implicit ecumenical potential, explaining it in a way that makes look forward very much to the ongoing discussion and reception. It will certainly give impetus to the upcoming dialogue on Church, Eucharist and Ministry.

Sisters and brothers, your agenda contains a host of topics for discussion or decision. It is my prayer that you can find good responses to the internal and external challenges of these days.

Let us remain together in listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd (John 10:4). Let us listen with the ears of our hearts; let us remain quick to hear. For the sake of one another, for our mission in the Church and the world. Let us not close our ears to the cries of victims of violence and injustice. Let us hear what the Spirit wants to say to the churches today (Revelations 2:7), and let us listen ever more intently within the community of all baptized.

^{(Translated by Elaine Griffiths)}