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A joint response by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELKB) and the Roman Catholic dioceses of this southern German state to the document "Called to be the One Church" was given to the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit on 15 March in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WCC presented the document at its 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2006, and called on member churches around the world to submit their responses.
Although Bavaria's two major churches have developed good relations of trust and dialogue over several decades and have kept each other informed of their ecumenical initiatives, this is the first commentary on an ecumenical document to be jointly written by Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians, said representatives of both churches while meeting at the WCC offices in Geneva.
"I am pleased that your joint response is to this paper," the WCC general secretary told the Bavarian delegation, "because reminding the churches of their call to be one is the core task of the WCC."
"This paper is ideal for restarting the dialogue on ecclesiology, because it asks concrete questions" said Rev. Michael Martin, director of the ELKB department of ecumenism and church life.
The ecumenical commissions of the ELKB and the Bavarian dioceses prepared the theological commentary over a two-year discussion process.
As they formulated their answers the joint Lutheran and Catholic working group discovered that major aspects of the Christian faith could be presented by both churches with a common voice. While existing differences were clearly named, the discussions also showed that areas of divergence can be "treasure chests for new mutual learning experiences", said Martin.
The authors hope that the publication of the theological response alongside the original text of "Called to Be the One Church" will also give impetus to the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag, which will take place 12-16 May in the Bavarian city of Munich. The gathering, an initiative of Germany's Protestant and Roman Catholic lay movements, is expected to draw in hundreds of thousands of national and international visitors.
WCC document "Called to be the One Church"
Theological commentary by the Bavarian joint Lutheran and Catholic working group (in German)
