Vatican Radio reported that "Pope Francis and Bishop Mounib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation signed a Joint Statement on Monday [October 31, 2016] in which Catholics and Lutherans pledged to pursue their dialogue in order to remove the remaining obstacles that hinder them from reaching full unity." [1] The paragraph quoted below is part of the Joint Statement [2]:
Many members of our communities yearn to receive the Eucharist at one table, as the concrete expression of full unity. We experience the pain of those who share their whole lives, but cannot share God’s redeeming presence at the Eucharistic table. We acknowledge our joint pastoral responsibility to respond to the spiritual thirst and hunger of our people to be one in Christ. We long for this wound in the Body of Christ to be healed. This is the goal of our ecumenical endeavours, which we wish to advance, also by renewing our commitment to theological dialogue.
This blogger knows nothing about the Lutheran church but after some research, he realizes that "[t]here are three main bodies of the Lutheran Church in the United States [consisting of] the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) [3]" and that they are not bound by the same set of rules. For example, the ELCA ordains women but the LCMS does not. [4] This lack of uniformity is not unique to the United States; Europe is the same way. On June 10, 2016, the National Catholic Reporter published the following article, quoted in part [5]:
When the pope expressed his desire on behalf of the "many members" of the "1.272 billion" Catholics worldwide (a 2014 figure) [6] to "receive the Eucharist at one table, as the concrete expression of full unity" [7] with the Lutherans, which group of Lutherans did he have in mind, the group that allows the ordination of women or the group that does not?
This blogger thinks that he had both groups in mind. For Catholics who do not care if a priest is a female or a male can receive the Eucharist "at one table" with the Lutherans in Germany and Austria and with the ELCA Lutherans in the United States; for Catholics who prefer their church to adhere to the apostolic tradition of having only male priests can break Bread with Lutherans in Latvia and Lutherans belonging to LCMS in the United States. For Catholics who are loyal to this pope (including those underground Catholics in China mentioned in the last post who are dead set on being loyal to the Vatican regardless of how ultra-liberal it has become under this pope) can partake in the bread and wine that have been transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ under Sweden's Lutheran "Bishop Eva Brunne [who] was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, [becoming] the first openly lesbian bishop in the world." [8]
On the doctrine of transubstantiation, one that is central to the Catholic faith, the Lutheran's perspective is irreconcilable with the Catholic's. A discussion of this crucial divergence can be found in the article entitled "Lutheranism and Transubstantiation," published by CatholicCulture.org, quoted in part with footnote references omitted [9]:
Is it possible that this pope with his ability to use seemingly endless tactics to transform insidiously the Catholic church has foreseen the outcome, in that the Catholic church would in time look a lot more Lutheran than Catholic, meaning that each archdiocese or each parish can write its own rules in regard to not only to the doctrine of transubstantiation but also the ordination of non-celibate heterosexual and homosexual female and male priests? Would such a transformation of the Catholic church heal "this wound in the Body of Christ" that this pope and his loyalists want healed?
How many more wounds on the Body of Christ do they want to close by changing the Catholic church? Do they want to close all five precious wounds of Christ so that people can forget about Christ's crucifixion, so that nobody would be able to recognize Christ even if He shows up because no one can identify Him by His wounds? Do they not want to remember Christ the way He wants everyone to remember Him which is by the many wounds He suffered during His Passion?
The Catholic church is the wounded Christ. To close the wounds of Christ is to close the Catholic church and to erase Christ from memory, and to conveniently nullify the doctrine of transubstantiation because a healed body is no longer a body to be remembered as a sacrifice for sinners and a healed wound can no longer bleed blood for the forgiveness of sins. [11]
The Latvian Lutheran Church has gone back on its 40-year-old decision by officially ruling that women cannot be ordained priests.
Two-thirds of the 337 synod members voted in favor of changing the church constitution and only allowing men to be ordained from now on, according to the Latvian daily Diena.
Women's priesthood was first introduced by the Latvian Lutheran Church in 1975 when Latvia was still a part of the Soviet Union. From 1975 until 1993, women were ordained and served as priests, but in 1993, the conservative Janis Vanags, the present archbishop of Riga, was appointed.
Since the appointment, no women have been ordained. The women that already had been ordained were allowed to continue with their ministry. In February, Vanags, 58, told the German Protestant information service idea that the practice of only allowing men to be ordained was based on the Bible and on apostolic tradition.
Lutheran clerics in Germany and Austria are appalled at the news....
When the pope expressed his desire on behalf of the "many members" of the "1.272 billion" Catholics worldwide (a 2014 figure) [6] to "receive the Eucharist at one table, as the concrete expression of full unity" [7] with the Lutherans, which group of Lutherans did he have in mind, the group that allows the ordination of women or the group that does not?
This blogger thinks that he had both groups in mind. For Catholics who do not care if a priest is a female or a male can receive the Eucharist "at one table" with the Lutherans in Germany and Austria and with the ELCA Lutherans in the United States; for Catholics who prefer their church to adhere to the apostolic tradition of having only male priests can break Bread with Lutherans in Latvia and Lutherans belonging to LCMS in the United States. For Catholics who are loyal to this pope (including those underground Catholics in China mentioned in the last post who are dead set on being loyal to the Vatican regardless of how ultra-liberal it has become under this pope) can partake in the bread and wine that have been transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ under Sweden's Lutheran "Bishop Eva Brunne [who] was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, [becoming] the first openly lesbian bishop in the world." [8]
On the doctrine of transubstantiation, one that is central to the Catholic faith, the Lutheran's perspective is irreconcilable with the Catholic's. A discussion of this crucial divergence can be found in the article entitled "Lutheranism and Transubstantiation," published by CatholicCulture.org, quoted in part with footnote references omitted [9]:
Ever since the sixteenth century Reformation, the doctrine of transubstantiation has remained a controversial issue between Roman Catholics and Lutherans. Although both acknowledge the dogma of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Lutherans reject the doctrine concerning the conversion of the earthly gifts (bread and wine) as a philosophical explanation, which has nothing to do with revelation. At the risk of walking a well-trodden path which has so often led to a dead end, the following pages will be devoted to a summary of the gradual development of Luther's thought on the "how" of the real presence, an outline of the teaching of the sixteenth century Lutheran Symbols on the matter, a brief criticism of Lutheran reasons for denying the dogma of transubstantiation and some basic difficulties involved in this teaching from the Lutheran standpoint. Our purpose is not to give a comprehensive summary of the problem but to point out certain features of it, which might be helpful for future conversations between Lutherans and Catholics.
Luther On The Subject Of Transubstantiation
At the end of the year 1519, Luther still maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation intact. In his Ein Sermon von dem hocwurdigen Sakrament des heiligen wahren Leichnams Christi und von den Bruderschaften, he teaches that there is a change of the substance of the bread and wine but emphasizes that it is symbolical of our union with the spiritual body of Christ. This change must be interpreted not only sacramentally but spiritually and is aimed at the change of the natural man by a common life with Christ. The sacramental change finds its fulfillment in the incorporation into Christ and fellowship with all Christians. However all further considerations of just how the presence of Christ comes about are purposely omitted by Luther. This indicates a certain uneasiness in the use of the doctrine of transubstantiation which, as a matter of fact, formally deals with the problem of how Christ becomes really present under the Eucharistic species.
It was not long before Luther would lose all patience with the dogma. Just a few months later he attacked it in De Captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium, the third of the so-called "Three Great Reformation Treatises." The "second captivity" is the doctrine of transubstantiation, which the Roman Church imposes as a matter of faith. Luther rejects it because it lacks the support of Scripture, of an approved revelation and of reason. Nevertheless he allows others to hold this teaching if they wish as long as they realize that it is not imposed by revelation. For himself, the literal sense of Scripture imposes the belief that the species do not change. This was the teaching of the Church until Aristotelian philosophy imposed itself on the Christian faith. Furthermore, he argues, there is no peril of idolatry in the fact that the substance of bread remains because it is Christ that is adored and not the bread.
To show the reasonableness of his stand against transubstantiation, Luther appeals to an example: "Fire and iron, two different substances, are so mingled in red-hot iron that every part of it is both fire and iron. Why may not the glorious body of Christ much more be in every part of the substance of the bread?" He sees a further analogy in the Hypostatic Union. The Divinity is not present under the accidents of the human nature in Christ. One can actually say "Hic homo est deus, hic deus est homo." So also in the case of the sacrament, it is not necessary that transubstantiation take place in order that Christ become present. Hence after the consecration, although bread and wine continue to exist, one can say "hic panis est corpus meum, hoc vinum est sanguis meus et econtra." Thus the solution to the problem is sought in Christology: "Sicut ergo in Christo res se habet, ita et in sacramento." Nevertheless, Luther sees in these parallels only an analogy. The "how" of the presence remains an open question and he will not condemn those who wish to hold transubstantiation as long as they do not claim that it is an article of faith. His whole preoccupation is with the fact of the real presence which comes about "virtute verborum," since the divine work cannot be completely understood.
In the continuing evolution of his thought, Luther always seems regretful of the introduction of speculation regarding the way in which the real presence comes about. Nevertheless he was finally forced to reflect on it at length because of the controversy which arose in his own camp and his dealings with the Swiss Reformers. Carlstadt's denial of the possibility of Christ's descent from heaven and consequent denial of the real presence in the true and proper sense of the term occasioned Luther's Wider die himmlischen Propheten von Bildern und Sakrament (1525). In this work, Luther observes that Carlstadt does not understand "the Kingdom of God, which is everywhere, and, as Paul says, fills all things." This is the beginning of the concept of the omnipresence of Christ, even according to his humanity which Luther will develop to its full extent against the "Enthusiasts." [10]
Is it possible that this pope with his ability to use seemingly endless tactics to transform insidiously the Catholic church has foreseen the outcome, in that the Catholic church would in time look a lot more Lutheran than Catholic, meaning that each archdiocese or each parish can write its own rules in regard to not only to the doctrine of transubstantiation but also the ordination of non-celibate heterosexual and homosexual female and male priests? Would such a transformation of the Catholic church heal "this wound in the Body of Christ" that this pope and his loyalists want healed?
How many more wounds on the Body of Christ do they want to close by changing the Catholic church? Do they want to close all five precious wounds of Christ so that people can forget about Christ's crucifixion, so that nobody would be able to recognize Christ even if He shows up because no one can identify Him by His wounds? Do they not want to remember Christ the way He wants everyone to remember Him which is by the many wounds He suffered during His Passion?
The Catholic church is the wounded Christ. To close the wounds of Christ is to close the Catholic church and to erase Christ from memory, and to conveniently nullify the doctrine of transubstantiation because a healed body is no longer a body to be remembered as a sacrifice for sinners and a healed wound can no longer bleed blood for the forgiveness of sins. [11]
[5] https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/latvian-lutheran-church-rules-women-cannot-be-ordained-priests
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country
[7] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/10/31/pope_and_president_of_lwf_sign_joint_statement/1269150
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Sweden
[9] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3013
[10] The discussion goes on for another 14 paragraphs. For purposes of this entry, it seems sufficient to quote the first five even though the rest are also informative.
[11] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A19-20&version=NIV
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country
[7] http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/10/31/pope_and_president_of_lwf_sign_joint_statement/1269150
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Sweden
[9] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3013
[10] The discussion goes on for another 14 paragraphs. For purposes of this entry, it seems sufficient to quote the first five even though the rest are also informative.
[11] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A19-20&version=NIV
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