C ENTRO P RO U NIONE Semi-Annual Bulletin A publication about the activities of the Centro Pro Unione “UT OMNES UNUM SINT” Digital Edition A Ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement Centro Pro Unione Web https://bulletin.prounione.it E-mail bulletin@prounione.it In this issue James F. Puglisi Communio ecclesiarum and Petrine Ministry. Some Concluding Remarks `Centro Conferences 2532-4144 Digital Edition ISSN N. 88 - Fall 2015 E-book Kjetil Hafstad Critical Observations to the Farfa Report from a Lutheran Perspective `Centro Conferences Peder Nørgaard-Højen Communion of Churches and Petrine Ministry. Lutheran-Catholic Convergences `Centro Conferences Tim Macquiban Word and Hymn. Some thoughts arising from the Worship and Preaching of the Wesleys `Centro Conferences James F. Puglisi, SA `Letter from the Director Susan Wood Ecclesiological Issues in the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue. The Recognition of Lutheran Communities as Churches `Centro Conferences 10 7 3 2 16 22Centro Pro Unione Bulletin 2 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin A semi-annual publication about the activities of the Centro Pro Unione The Centro Pro Unione in Rome, founded and directed by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, - www.atonementfriars.org - is an ecumenical research and action center. Its purpose is to give space for dialogue, to be a place for study, research and formation in ecumenism: theological, pastoral, social and spiritual. The Bulletin has been pubblished since 1968 and is released in Spring and Fall. IN THIS ISSUE Letter from the Director EDITORIAL STAFF bulletin@prounione.it Contact Information Via Santa Maria dell'Anima, 30 I-00186 Rome (+39) 06 687 9552 pro@prounione.it Website, Social media www.prounione.it @EcumenUnity CENTRO PRO UNIONE A Ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement DIRECTOR'S DESK N. 88 - Fall 2015 Fr. James Puglisi, SA – Director Centro Pro Unione James F. Puglisi, SA Director Centro Pro Unione Fall 2015, n. 88 / Digital Edition (Web) ›Tim Macquiban ›Peder Nørgaard-Højen ›Kjetil Hafstad ›Susan Wood ›James F. Puglisi ›Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ›Annual Confererence Wattson-White ›WebTV / Summer School 2016 he activities of the Centro during this Autumn have been rich and diverse. It is with great pleasure that we can share some of the texts that were offered in our on-going series of Conferences. The opening article is the first part of an afternoon celebrating the opening of the new Methodist Ecumenical Office in Rome entitled Essential and Distinctive Aspects of Methodist Worship. Its director Dr. Tim Macquiban’s lecture entitled “Word and Hymn. Some thoughts arising from the Worship and Preaching of the Wesleys” presented the key features of Methodist worship which has a double foundation: the preaching of the Word and the singing of hymns. In fact much of Methodist theology is perceived through their hymns, most of which have been written by the two Wesley brothers, Charles and John. The second part of this afternoon’s study will be published in our next Bulletin. The Centro Pro Unione is most pleased to have been engaged in the five year dialogue of private theologians between Lutherans and Catholics that was sponsored by the Fondazione di Farfa of the Bridgettine Order. The theme of this dialogue was the communio ecclesiarum and the Petrine ministry. The book presentation of the results of this dialogue was presented at an afternoon of study with several interventions from both the Catholic and Lutheran sides. On Wednesday the dialogue group had the honor of presenting the results of their discussions to Pope Francis and then the following morning the group met with Cardinal Koch at the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity to discuss the results of the dialogue and to speak about a future continuation of the work of this group of theologians. We publish here the texts of the presentations. The opening intervention was given by the Lutheran co-chair, Prof Peder Nørgaard-Højen, Professor Emeritus of dogmatics and ecumenical theology at the University of Copenhagen which was a summary of the document, Communion of Churches and Petrine Ministry. Lutheran-Catholic Convergences. This was followed by two critical commentaries by theologians who were not engaged in the dialogue. The first by Prof. Kjetil Hafstad, Professor of systematic theology at the University of Oslo. In his “Critical Observations to the Farfa Report from a Lutheran Perspective” he considered some of the weaknesses and strengths of the Lutheran side as well as those of the Catholic side. Sister Susan Wood, SCL, Professor of theology at Marquette University (USA) addressed the “Ecclesiological Issues in the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue. The Recognition of Lutheran Communities as Churches”. From her perspective as a member of the international Lutheran- Roman Catholic Commission on Unity she was able to offer a wide vision of the issues that still remain especially the non-recognition of Lutheran communities a full churches. Lastly the Director of the Centro who was also the Catholic co-chair of the Farfa Group offered some brief concluding remarks drawing attention to the fact that the ecclesiological issues of this dialogue that dealt with the specific question of Petrine ministry still need to be centered on the fundamental one of the ministry and its recognition from the Catholic side. One enormous gain from this dialogue was the establishment of hermeneutical principles necessary for the reception of the teaching of Vatican I on the papacy. The future work will have to deal with the question of defectus ordinis of Lutheran ministry and its apostolicity. I want to draw attention to some up-coming events at the Centro. The 18 th lecture in honor of Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana, co-founders of the Society of the Atonement, will be given by Prof. Petros Vassiliadis, Professor emeritus of the Department of theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Its title is “The Panorthodox Synod. Problems and Its Ecclesiological Significance” and will be held on Thursday, 10 December, 2015. In light of this important and historical event, this lecture is very timely. The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be celebrated by a lecture given by Bishop N.T. Wright on 21 January 2016 at the Centro and will be followed by an ecumenical prayer vigil organized by the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas. Remember to continue to look at our new website (http://www.prounione.it) for news and activities of the Centro Pro Unione. This Bulletin is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database, published by the American Theological Library Association, 250 S. Wacker Drive, 16 th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606 (www.atla.com). TCentro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 3 N. 88 - Fall 2015 Introduction I once asked a group of University students what they thought was distinctive about the Methodist brand of Christianity. They discerned three prominent features: • Methodists have lots of committees • Methodists don’t drink • Methodists sing a lot of hymns (loudly) Maybe not all these points feature in Methodist church life today! The British Methodist Church website lists ten features, each of which in themselves is not unique but together constitute what make Methodism distinct as a Protestant denomination within the wider Church. They are: All can be saved – God`s prevenient grace The assurance of God`s love – God`s justifying grace Living the Holy Life – God`s sanctifying grace A grassroots movement for renewal and making disciples Small groups – praying and reading the bible The Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience The Methodist concept of connexionalism as pattern for being Church Bong in Song – the place of hymnody The importance of communion and covenant with God The fact that I’ve been asked as a Methodist to speak about what are the essential and distinctive features in the Methodist tradition of worship makes me rather a hostage to fortune as we are in an ecumenical climate where we borrow much from other traditions. And so it is not the elements of worship which are which are exclusive but the particular mix and emphasis, in prayer, praise and preaching. Methodist/Wesleyan hymns The late Raymond George, British Methodist historian and liturgist extraordinaire, has said that ‘Wesley hymns and the Methodist way of using hymns in general are one of the greatest treasures which they (the Methodists) can contribute to the universal Church’. Prophets are not often recognized in their own country. There is a sense in which British Methodists have lost sight of the treasure which others prize so greatly. I find as many Anglicans and Roman Catholics loving and using Wesley hymns as I do Methodists! The weight of Methodist tradition has been regarded not as a pearl of great price but a millstone around the necks of those for whom the ecumenical imperative has been primary. For such persons the denominational distinctiveness has been an embarrassment. Yet the Methodist people have been formed down the ages by the vocabulary and poetic expression of the Wesleyan hymns, through which much of their tradition has been transmitted, the hymns acting as ‘poems woven deeply into a man’s consciousness’ (D H Lawrence), teaching the people through the experience of hymn singing. Hymns, as Emeritus Professor Richard Watson reminds us, ‘allow the preachers to supplement what they have to say … which contain relevant statements of doctrines or ideas about belief’. 1 The hymns are ontologically grounded in our relationship with God, as expression of the movement of love and praise to the Creator 2 . Hymns, far from being items of popular taste to relieve the tedium of the more didactic parts of services, are like creeds, ‘first order expressions of religious faith, going beyond the purely rational and logical, and using figures and images too 1 J. R. WATSON, The English Hymn. A Critical and Historical Study (Oxford: OUP, 1999) 7f. 2 Ch. ROBERTSON, Singing the Faith (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1990) 5. Word and Hymn — Some thoughts arising from the Worship and Preaching of the Wesleys as distinctive features of Methodism Tim Macquiban - Director, Methodist Ecumenical Office, Rome Co-chair of the Methodist-Baptist International Dialogue Conference given at the Centro Pro Unione, Thursday, 22 October 2015 Tim Macquiban – Director, Methodist Ecumenical Office, Rome `Tim MacquibanCentro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 4 N. 88 - Fall 2015 daring for prose, celebrating paradox’. 3 They are therefore to be regarded as fundamental to Methodist worship and spirituality. And those of us who lead worship should choose them with care for they transmit much of our tradition and sense of identity. How are we faithfully to use the heritage which is ours and the texts handed down to us as tools for the creation of Christians leading Christ- like lives in discipleship, worship and service of God? Spirituality, Theology and Hymns Spirituality is to do with the whole person of which prayer is an essential and central component. It therefore means that any renewed understanding of the essentially social nature of our human existence and our mutual interdependence leads us to a positive attitude towards the body and material things. There are those who in the past have driven theology and spirituality apart into what Sheldrake has called the ‘schizophrenia of critical theology and uncritical piety’, as if the two theologies, one theoretical and scientific, the other devotional and affective, were irreconcilable 4 . Dogma and belief are not to be wholly contained in the cerebral activities of church leaders and thinkers but must also be located in reading, prayer and worship, either individually or corporately. As Teresa Berger has argued in her book on Theology in Hymns? 5 there is a strong indication that in the Wesley writings there was an attempt to marry the two - a restoration of the place of Experience, of feeling religion, alongside the triumvirate of Scripture, Reason and Tradition. A spirituality which is rooted in a doctrine of the Trinity, and its most powerful expression in the Eucharist at the heart of Christian worship, drawing on Protestant and Catholic understandings, is perhaps one of the Wesleys most enduring, but misunderstood, legacies to the Christian Church in England. I will leave my colleague Robert to comment further on this aspect of Methodist worship. Ivor Jones in his Music - a joy for ever? 6 demonstrates the importance of hymns in the formulation of spiritual 3 G.S. WAKEFIELD, Methodist Spirituality (Peterborough: Epworth Press, 1999) 19. 4 P. SHELDRAKE, Spirituality and Theology. Christian Living and the Doctrine of God (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 1998) 33- 64. 5 T. BERGER, Theology in Hymns? A Study of the Relationship Doxology and Theology according to A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780) (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995 ). 6 I. JONES, Music – A Joy for Ever? (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991). identity, of individuals and churches. Hymns relate theology and spirituality in a particular way; in hymns “we expose our beliefs by our choice of the words and our choice of the music and by the way we talk about them”. Hymns and music offer an alternative model of time and space which put us in touch with eternal realities, transforming earthly transience by the beatific vision, ‘transported with delight’. Hymns are narrative theology at its best, telling stories which betray beliefs by the material, the images and idioms chosen, and by the way we tell them. They are part of the process of anamnesis, setting forth not just a record of the past but the present and future ministry of Christ as represented by the worshipping community. Storytelling, whether in prose or in sung verse, relates the present reality to the future hope. Hymns are an important part also of the decision-making process of churches, in the material selected and arranged in hymn books authorised by the churches. Hymns are essential to liturgy and worship. The Wesley hymns were a rich “tapestry of biblical allusions in the traditional language” in their own day, giving weight to Baumstark’s maxim that solemnities demand the archaic. They are now under threat because they are seen to fail to deliver in contemporary idiom the vibrant access to metaphor understood by those steeped in the King James’ or authorised Version of the Bible (1611). Berger describes Charles Wesley’s biblicism as using the ‘language of Scripture as if it were his own mother tongue’ 7 . We today suffer from under-familiarity with such texts and an overabundance of translations which make the Bible no longer common currency in the English-speaking world. Ought not the hymns rather be allowed to speak as poetry which permits the singers and listeners to see them both as story and standard • a story which enables the participant to enter in to the narrative through his/her experience • a standard which reflects the Wesleys’ own experience of the great theological themes which moulds belief in the worshipping community today And yet, despite all the difficulties as Watson reminds us, the Wesley hymns can still enhance religious sensibility through skilful use of image, sound and sense, not forcing an interpretation, but offering through its language the opportunity to make meanings and create moments of perception 8 . Ivor Jones suggests that despite the difficulties of needing to wrestle with texts which are not always transparent, there is still a possibility that hymns can “adjust to our story..they allow us room for reflection”, 7 T. BERGER, Theology in Hymns? ... , op. cit., 81. 8 J.R. WATSON, The English Hymn..., op. cit., 5. Tim Macquiban – Director, Methodist Ecumenical Office, RomeCentro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 5 N. 88 - Fall 2015 whether in prayer, meditation or in singing 9 . Some hymns rely, he says, on metaphors of clarity rather than allusion. Hymns of a particular poetic quality and character give us opportunities for re-interpretation and adjustment, especially within the theological re-ordering of the post- modern age. Hymns like Wrestling Jacob (Come O thou traveller unknown), perhaps one of the greatest of the hymn-poems of the Wesleyan corpus, operates on three levels: • on the level of biblical narrative, telling the story of God’s acts in history • on the level of Charles Wesley’s own evangelical experience • on the level of use of the hymn as a paradigm for all Christian experience The same can also be said of that other great hymn “And can it be”. In this way they move out of corporate worship and can be used in different contexts of personal and individual prayer. Prayer It has been said that the ‘chief object of all prayer is to bring us to God’. It is a ‘Christian’s vital breath’ as Montgomery reminds us. It was, for the Wesleys, one of the principal means of grace (along with bible study, regular communion and conferencing). It is the way in which we approach God who has first made himself known to us. Just as the Psalms are a corporate collection of expressions of worship and prayer for the people of faith, which began as individual responses to God, in thanks and 9 I. JONES, Music..., op. cit.,132f. praise, in frustration and despair, and became their public expression in the worship of temple and synagogue, so too hymns which began life as the expression of the faith of individuals in praise, adoration and thanksgiving, confession and supplication, become vehicles for the Church to do such. Charles Wesley`s hymns were very influential in early Methodism as teaching aids and as means of meditation for prayer and bible study in the class meetings. The hymns (7,000+) were much more likely to have been used in prayer and read rather than sung. They were for the underpinning of the theological framework of Methodism ie. Justification (repentance and the assurance of the forgiveness of sins e.g. And can it be) and sanctification (growth in holiness e.g. Love Divine). The 1780 Hymn Book (A Collection of Hymns for the People called Methodist) was ‘a little body of practical divinity’ which acted as a ‘handmaid of piety’, for private reflection as much as for public worship. B.L. Manning in his The Hymns of Wesley and Watts wrote: ‘If you are depressed, elated, energetic, enervated, full of doubt, secure in faith, you can find in Wesley’s hymns as you find nowhere else but in the Psalms, the appropriate words in which to pour out your soul to God’ 10 . Preaching John and Charles Wesley were both great preachers. More of John`s sermons have survived because he chose to have them published in various volumes, as a standard for Methodist doctrinal content and praxis. They remain at the heart of what defines Methodist theology and practice and shape the people called Methodist to this day. But we don`t preach in the same way as the Wesleys. And our context is very different. But two characteristics perhaps define Methodist preaching. First their sermons were saturated with scriptural references. At the heart of the Wesleys` preaching was the proclamation of a gospel offering the gift of salvation and the forgiveness of their sins. It was the gospel of mercy and grace. It was a means of conversion and renewal in the new evangelisation of the 18 th century. Secondly, they had a direct appeal to the simplicity of the language engaged with their hearers. A Swedish professor who heard John preach in 1769 wrote that his 10 B.L. MANNING, The Hymns of Wesley and Watts. Five Informal Papers (Peterborough: Epworth, 1942). `Fr. James Puglisi, SA and Teresa Francesca Rossi welcome Rev. Dr. Tim Macquiban and Dr. Robert Gribben Tim Macquiban – Director, Methodist Ecumenical Office, RomeCentro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 6 N. 88 - Fall 2015 sermon was “short but eminently evangelical” and that he spoke “clear and pleasant”. He had a “divine simplicity, a zeal, a venerableness in his manner” which endeared him to the crowds. John himself argued for “plain, sound English” rather than the classical niceties others engaged in. I hope I have demonstrated the importance of hymns within the context of the preaching services of Methodism as the main legacy of the Wesleys. Select Bibliography: • BERGER, Teresa. Theology in Hymns? A Study of the Relationship Doxology and Theology according to A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780). (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995). • HILDEBRANDT, Franz & BECKERLEGGE, Oliver. Works of John Wesley, Vol.7. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983). • JONES, Ivor. Music – a Joy for Ever? (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991). • MANNING, Bernard L. The Hymns of Wesley and Watts. Five Informal Papers. (Peterborough: Epworth, 1942). • ROBERTSON, Charles. Singing the Faith. (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1990). • SHELDRAKE, Philip. Spirituality and Theology. Christian Living and the Doctrine of God. (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 1998). • WAKEFIELD, Gordon S. Methodist Spirituality. (Peterborough: Epworth Press, 1999). • WALKER, Maxine. Charles Wesley`s Hymns. (San Diego: Point Loma Nazarene University Press, 2007). • WATSON, J Richard. The English Hymn. A Critical and Historical Study. (Oxford: OUP, 1999). Tim Macquiban – Director, Methodist Ecumenical Office, Rome Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 7 N. 88 - Fall 2015 Introduction The Farfa Report on Communion of Churches and Petrine Ministry. Lutheran- Catholic Convergences, which we are today presenting for reactions and comments, focuses on the doctrines on papal primacy and infallibility as an ecumenical issue, one of the most severe impediments to Catholic-Lutheran approach since their promulgation at the First Vatican Council (1869-1870). The Second Vatican Council paved the way for a revised view of papacy, to which the ecumenical movement has responded constructively – not, however, by adopting the Roman understanding of papacy, but rather by acknowledging that, what is intended in the Catholic doctrine on papacy and even infallibility, is a common theological concern of all churches. In ecumenically open Lutheranism the object of disagreement is not that a ministry of unity is indispensable and that the church is in need of an authoritative instrument to express the one, catholic and apostolic truth. What really separates us is the way, in which such a ministry is actually administered and exercised. This is the real and all important quæstio disputata et postero tempore disputanda. Recognizing his call to exercise the office of unity in terms of “a brotherly fraternal communion of faith and sacramental life”, 1 as it had existed throughout the first millennium, the late Pope John Paul II in his epoch-making Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint (1995) took a remarkable and thus far unseen step to appeal to leaders and theologians of Catholic and Non-Catholic churches “to engage with [him] in a patient and fraternal dialogue” on “the forms in which this ministry may accomplish a service of love recognized by all concerned”. 2 At the same time the pope did not deviate from the basic Catholic principle that “the communion of the particular Churches with the Church of Rome, and of their Bishops with the Bishop of Rome, is – in God’s plan – an essential requisite of full and visible communion”. 3 John Paul II was courageous enough to challenge his own church and other churches on a difficult, but necessary point, but he was also sufficiently honest to indicate the Roman Catholic point of departure. The papal concern is the search for new forms of 1 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 27. 2 Giovanni Paolo II, Ut Unum Sint, 96 and 95. 3Ibid. 97. papal primacy without abandoning what has so far been regarded as essential. We are still far from having given any conclusive answer to such crucial difficulties. This holds also, of course, true for the Farfa Report that should be understood as a response to the reflections of the Pope. The Farfa Study Group wanted to take the Pope at his word by responding to his encyclical and consider the possibilities of the Petrine office to serve the unity of the whole, all Christians encompassing communio ecclesiarum. This is the very concern. The group is no official bilateral dialogue commission, but basically and in principle a private study group – however with fruitful and inspiring connections with the Papal Council for Unity and the Lutheran World Federation, in particular the Centre d’Études Œcuméniques in Strasbourg. At the outset the group consisted of Lutheran theologians, who intended to investigate in depth the doctrines on papal primacy and infalllibility, thereby requesting the help of Catholic colleagues. Peder Nørgaard-Højen – Emeritus Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology Communion of Churches and Petrine Ministry. Lutheran-Catholic Convergences Peder Nørgaard-Højen - Emeritus Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology, University of Copenhagen, Lutheran Chair of the Farfa Group Conference given at the Centro Pro Unione, Thursday, 12 November 2015 `Peder Nørgaard-Højen Book PresentationCentro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 8 N. 88 - Fall 2015 The group was formed on an initiative taken by the Academic Committee of the then Bridgettine Centre in Farfa Sabina, where most of the group meetings have been held. The members (7 Catholics and 7 Lutherans from Italy, France, Germany, and Scandinavia) were not appointed by any ecclesial or university authority; they found together just as theologians and as committed and experienced ecumenists. Some of us have participated or are still active in official church dialogues, and an overwhelming majority of us have for decades been or are still involved in university teaching and research. I am convinced that such personal and professional skill and experiences will have shown fruitful for our deliberations, and I want – on behalf of the Chair – to thank every one of the group-members for their academic and theological contribution and Christian and ecumenical fellowship. Unfortunately, for various reasons not all the members could be present here today, but I have been asked to extend warm greetings from all absentees. In the meantime one of our colleagues, Professor Johannes Brosseder of Cologne/Germany, passed away. We will gratefully remember him for his never failing and contagious commitment to the ecumenical cause. The Fondazione di Farfa generously took responsibility for supporting our work financially, and I do want at this occasion to explicitly thank the Bridgettine Order, not least its General Abbess and chairperson of La Fondazione, Most Rev. Madre Tekla Famiglietti and her sisters, for all her and their support and hospitality, from which we have profited so extensively throughout the years, not only in Farfa, but also in other houses of the Bridgettine Order (Napoli, Bremen, Maribo). Without this support we would certainly not have been able to realize our project in the way we have in the end succeded to do. The group participants met with a critical openness not only towards one another, but also towards their own traditions. This attitude allowed them to see their own teachings and traditional convictions in a new light, to revise and to adjust them to ever new situations and – not least to ecumenical necessities. Thus, ecumenical progress is supposed to be achieved through relecture and re-reception of the First Vatican Council and make the doctrines of papal primacy and infallibility appear in a new and critical light. This common interconfessional approach to allegedly well-known, but possibly biassed and one-sided and in the course of time even misinterpreted positions became the hermeneutical tool for the interpretative procedure of the Group of Farfa Sabina. A relecture and, as a consequence, a re-reception does not question the validity of conciliar decisions and other normative statements, but interprets them anew, explores and opens thus far unknown avenues to renewed insights. In detail the Report of Farfa Sabina deals with Martin Luther’s scathing critique of the pope and papacy of his time and the century long Roman response (chapter 1) and gives an analysis of the Vatican doctrines on the infallible teaching office and universal jurisdiction of the pope (chapter 2). The Report emphasizes that Luther’s critique of the papacy was based on his concern to be in continuity with Scripture and the Early Church and directed against the medieval excessive claim of papal authority, whereas he did not in principle reject the Petrine ministry of the Roman Bishop as such. Furthermore, the dialogue has uncovered that both parties maintain the normative precedence of Holy Writ while at the same time not underestimating the viva vox traditionis. Reversely, Lutherans (and Catholics too for that matter) realized that the traditional maximalistic interpretation of the Vatican dogmas was based on an one-eyed, anti-conciliaristic hermeneutics and thus does not necessarily need to be the only way of understanding the 1870 texts. In continuation chapter 3 of the Farfa Report investigates possibilities of regaining the Early Church concept of ecclesial unity as a communio ecclesiarum (plural!) with the intention of modifying church centralism and further collegiality and synodality – thus reflecting ecclesiological thinking of the first millenium. Lutherans, in turn, will have to come to terms with the ancient idea that the Roman Bishop in a way still to be worked out could in future exercize primacy and preside over the fellowship of mutually reconciled churches. Chapter 4 debates both what can be seen as promising developments for and as challenges to this declared goal of the Farfa Group. Evaluating the results of the study process, the final chapter 5 concludes Peder Nørgaard-Højen – Emeritus Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology ` Sr. Elena Bosetti, Prof. Torleiv Austad and Prof. Peder Nørgaard-Højen.Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES 9 N. 88 - Fall 2015 that provided Lutherans in the light of recent theological and ecumenical developments acknowledge that “papacy has lost its character as a necessarily invincible controversial issue between Lutherans and Catholics” (§ 266) and provided that under the influence from Vatican II the concept of communio ecclesiarum as the expression of church unity is further developed and promoted, things could hopefully move and give way for a common understanding of the Petrine ministry (§ 269 ff) – not, however (as already pointed out), in its present form, but in a future shape still to be evolved by Catholics and Lutherans in common. “A key inference of the relecture of the decrees of Vatican I in the light of Vatican II and in the light of the ecclesial reality of the first millennium is that church unity is to be understood as communio ecclesiarum. 4 A communio ecclesiarum presumes, however, that the ecclesiality of the bodies that are to form this communion should not be in question. This 4 I.e. the fellowship of episcopally structured churches, in which ecclesial centralism is balanced in favour of collegial synodality (note PN-H). requires on the Catholic side the recognition of the Lutheran Churches as churches, and conversely on the Lutheran side, recognizing that the shape of the Catholic Church is not contrary to the Gospel.” (§ 267) This key formulation of the Farfa Sabina Report underlines on the one hand the main achievement of the Farfa project, but demonstrates at the same time its critical limitation. This is exactly the critical point, beyond which it has not so far been possible to advance, because an acknowledgement of the Farfa proposals presupposes clarity in ecumenically highly controversial Vorfragen, which in fact still seem far from clarification. There will be no communio ecclesiarum, unless the churches involved recognize each other as truly apostolic churches, and that again presupposes that we come to terms with the difficult and controversial issues of ordination and ministry (particularly the controversial question of the alleged Lutheran defectus ordinis). I am afraid that these and similar problems will require our full future attention. In addition, numerous other heavy questions still await their “konsensfähige” solutions, before we have realized, what the Study Group in relatively general terms described as communio ecclesiarum. We are still far from having reached our destination – also after Farfa. Still we hope that our modest attempt represents a useful contribution. Peder Nørgaard-Højen – Emeritus Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology ` Pope Francis welcomes the Farfa delegation during the General Audience. ` Members of the Farfa delegation attending the General Audience of the Holy Father.Next >