Links and background -- joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation in Lund, Sweden, in November 2016

Something for the futures file? (If so, it better be in the pretty @##%! near future, considering the lead time for an article.) But it might pair up nicely with some of my notes from the Augustana Synod founders' day last year in Andover and that Reformation Cantata that Ernst Olson wrote at Augie in 1917 --

The Lutheran World Federation has a at press release up on Facebook today with a statement by the presiding bishop of the National Bishop Susan C. Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), the Canadian counterpart to ELCA, and -- more importantly? -- links to background on the upcoming Joint Ecumenical Commemoration of the Reformation co-hosted by LWF, the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Sweden in November 2016 in the Swedish cathedral city of Lund.

First, today's press release:

Canadian National Bishop Susan C. Johnson says the October 2016 joint Lutheran - Catholic commemoration of the Reformation “is a wonderful sign of the work of the Holy Spirit… calling us into the unity of the Church.” The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Vice-President for North America spoke to Lutheran World Information about the church’s commitment to sponsor 500 refugees, provide 500 scholarships to schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, plant 500,000 trees, and raise CAD 500,000 [Canadian dollars] for the LWF Endowment Fund in marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

It's part of the build-up to this year's commemoration of the 499th (!) anniversary of Martin Luther's posting the 95 Theses to the cathedral door in Wittenberg Oct. 31, 1517, which, of course, is in turn part of the build-up to the 500th next year. Most important, to my purposes, it has links to background on the festivities in Lund.

Portal is on the LWF website at https://www.lutheranworld.org/lund2016 under the headline "Event: Joint Ecumenical Commemoration of the Reformation to be held in Lund." LWF's overview:

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church will jointly hold an ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation on 31 October 2016 in Lund, Sweden.

Co-hosted by the Church of Sweden, the event will highlight the solid ecumenical developments between Catholics and Lutherans and the joint gifts received through dialogue, particularly in anticipation of the 500th Reformation anniversary in 2017. It will include a symposium and communal liturgy based on the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue report From Conflict to Communion - Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.

The liturgical guide, also known as the "Common Prayer" for the ecumenical commemoration, is the latest outcome of a long dialogue process, and it is now available in English and Spanish. Versions in German and French will become available shortly.

The Lutheran - Catholic dialogue has yielded ecumenical milestone outcomes of which most notably is the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), which was signed by the LWF and Pontifical Council on Christian Unity (PCPCU) in 1999. The JDDJ, affirms the consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification.

Another milestone was the 2013 Lutheran-Catholic publication From Conflict to Communion – which is the first attempt by both dialogue partners to describe together at international level the history of the Reformation.

* * *

Links abound, both in the text quoted above [they have been omitted on Hogfiddle] and in several directories below on the LWF page.