Conflict to Communion series planned

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WAPAKONETA — Oct. 31, 2017, will mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Pope Francis is inaugurating the yearlong commemoration with a visit this October to the Lutheran community in Sweden, with activities planned for the next 12 months as well.

From Conflict to Communion is a document created jointly by the World Lutheran Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity to help Roman Catholics and Lutherans better understand one another and appreciate how far they have journeyed together toward unity since 1517.

This week members of local Catholic and Lutheran congregations will inaugurate five-session small group studies of From Conflict to Communion. The effort is organized by the Northwest Ohio Synod of the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (for Auglaize and Mercer counties’ participation).

Local Catholics and Lutherans currently have the opportunity to participate in one of two tracks:

• Weekly on Tuesdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m., beginning Oct. 11 at First English Lutheran Church, Wapakoneta, (five sessions from Oct. 11 through November 8.); os

• Monthly on Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m., beginning Thursday, Oct. 6, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Moulton. (Five sessions on the first Thursday of each month from October through February.)

Participating congregations include First English Lutheran Church (Wapakoneta), St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (Wapakoneta), Trinity Lutheran Church (Moulton), and the Petersburg Parishes of Botkins Immaculate Conception, Fryburg St. John, Rhine St. Lawrence and Wapakoneta St. Joseph.

Those interested in participating may still sign up by contacting the church office of any participating congregation. There is no charge to participate, but organizers ask for RSVPs in order to prepare enough reading materials.

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Staff report

5 ‘ecumenical imperatives’

A foundational basis for From Conflict to Communion and Lutheran-Catholic understanding is found in in what are termed the five “ecumenical imperatives” included in the From Conflict to Communion document.

The first imperative: Catholics and Lutherans should always begin from the perspective of unity and not from the point of view of division in order to strengthen what is held in common even though the differences are more easily seen and experienced.

The second imperative: Lutherans and Catholics must let themselves continuously be transformed by the encounter with the other and by the mutual witness of faith.

The third imperative: Catholics and Lutherans should again commit themselves to seek visible unity, to elaborate together what this means in concrete steps, and to strive repeatedly toward this goal.

The fourth imperative: Lutherans and Catholics should jointly rediscover the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ for our time.

The fifth imperative: Catholics and Lutherans should witness together to the mercy of God in proclamation and service to the world.

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