Preface

The prayer of Jesus that his followers may be one has, for more than 50 years, been the main encouragement for the doctrinal dialogues between The Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church. The fifth round of these dialogues began in 2008 when the present Lutheran – Roman Catholic Commission on Unity was appointed. In our turn, we have tried faithfully to deepen our common vision of the visible unity between our churches. Our first document, From Conflict to Communion (2013) had the intention to prepare theologically for the joint ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation in 2017. Our deep joy is that both of us, Lutherans and Catholics, can confess together a common faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our guiding rule is the doctrine of justification, which expresses the message of the Gospel. The doctrine of justification constantly orients all teaching and practice of our churches towards Christ. As it shapes our teaching and practice, it also asks us where we as churches have put up obstacles in the way of the good news of God’s mercy. A decisive and encouraging step on the way to fuller unity was taken on Reformation Day in 2016, when Pope Francis and the representatives of The Lutheran World Federation solemnly prayed together in the Cathedral of Lund, Sweden. In that prayer the call was issued to seek further growth in communion sourced in baptism. In this second document of our work, Baptism and Growth in Communion, we have explored the ecclesial reality that both, Catholics and Lutherans, share. The fact of this shared reality had allowed the Fathers of Vatican II to speak of the Christian communities outside the Roman Catholic church as ecclesial communities. Since that time, there has been a growth in communion, a growth in mutual understanding and identifying what we hold in common, a growth in praying, celebrating, working and often living together. How can this situation be described theologically? Baptism and Growth in Communion starts from the mutual recognition of baptism by Lutheran and Catholic communities and explores the ecclesial consequences of this fact. Baptism does not only refer to a person’s relation to God, but it has – as incorporation into the body of Christ – an ecclesial dimension. Thus, the question arises since baptized individuals are members of body of Christ, are not the communities in which they live their Christian lives also members of the body of Christ. Baptism is a once-for-all-beginning, and therefore it extends over the whole life of the baptized who need continuous nourishment for their Christian lives through the means of grace administered in the respective communities. Taking baptism seriously challenges the baptizing communities to examine whether they can recognize each other as members of the body of Christ. Here, the word “recognition” is not used in a canonical sense, rather, it is developed in four interacting levels. “Recognition” has • a theological meaning, in receiving the results of ecumenical studies and dialogues that have identified areas of common doctrinal understanding, as in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification; • an existential meaning, in perceiving and acknowledging the presence of the means of grace in the other community, participating in them as much as currently possible as the means by which faith, love, and hope are created, sustained, and increased; • a spiritual meaning in perceiving and acknowledging that the Holy Spirit uses the other community’s practices and endowments to create the fruits of the Spirit;

• a practical meaning, in referring to the countless practices of cooperation between Catholics and Lutherans and between their communities. While the call for a mutual recognition of the Lutheran and the Roman Catholic communities as churches has not been easy, insofar as the actual concepts of “church” are different on both sides, our document proposes to express the shared ecclesial reality by developing and using the concept of “member of the body of Christ.” This is a mediating concept to describe what we jointly perceive and jointly describe, notwithstanding the differences of the concepts of “church.” The precise relation of the concept of “member of the body of Christ” to the respective concepts of “church” needs also in the future to be further explored which may challenge the discussions in both communities about the understanding of what church is. Our historical explorations of the concept of church have revealed different concepts of church even within each confession so that we needed to acknowledge broader, not only institutional and canonical approaches. Since Vatican II, there has been a long debate in Catholic theology on the precise meaning of the “subsistit” in Lumen gentium and the relation between the Roman Catholic church to the Christian communities outside of it. In this debate, many different views were presented. One will find signs of this debate also in our document: In an Appendix, one Catholic member expresses his dissenting opinion from what other Catholic members have agreed upon. The concept of the communion of these members of the body of Christ is a dynamic concept that does not describe a final stage of communion, but rather perceives and challenges these communities to grow in their communion, as the title of our document expresses. We hope that the elaboration of the ecclesial consequences of the mutual recognition of baptism together with the perception and recognition of the shared ecclesial reality between Lutherans and Catholics will allow for and encourage the deepening of joint spiritual and ecclesial life on the way of growing to a mutual understanding of each other as churches, to increase opportunities for Eucharistic sharing, and to make progress in the recognition of each other’s ordained ministry. We now present this document to our churches and encourage their members and leaders to study these reflections. The reception and implementation of ecumenical documents is an integral part on our common journey towards full communion. Through the proclamation of the good news of the Gospel, we show the way to our Savior Jesus Christ and serve the world by promoting human dignity, solidarity, justice, and care for creation. Helsinki and Woodstock, 25 March 2020. Eero Huovinen William Kenney C. P. Bishop Emeritus of Helsinki Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham Lutheran Co-Chair Roman Catholic Co-Chair