Catholics and Lutherans to worship together at Reformation anniversary

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Martin Luther, founder of Germany’s Protestant [Lutheran] Church, nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. (Religion News Service)

by Tom Heneghan , Religion News Service
Jan. 14, 2016
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Paris -- Catholics and Lutherans have made another step toward joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 by issuing common liturgical guidelines for ecumenical services to mark the occasion.

The guidelines, in a booklet called “Common Prayer,” provide a template for an ecumenical service, complete with suggested prayers, appropriate hymns and themes for sermons.

Catholic leaders in Luther’s home country of Germany, where interest in the anniversary is strongest, at first balked at the idea of “celebrating” what Lutherans there had already named the “Reformationsjubiläum” [Reformation Jubilee].

But detailed talks between the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican produced a 93-page report titled “From Conflict to Communion” in 2013 that announced they would mark the anniversary together and presented the Reformation as the start of a shared 500-year journey rather than a single and divisive historical event.

http://ncronline.org/news/spirituality/catholics-and-lutherans-worship-together-reformation-anniversary