Catholic-Lutheran sessions aim to resolve bias, broaden understanding, says official

By MICHAEL BROWN
Managing Editor
 
Through a series of Wednesday meetings in March, local Lutheran and Catholic leaders are hoping to resolve lingering faith-related resentment between people at the grassroots level, said Father Miguel Mariano, pastor at St. Odilia Parish and diocesan Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Affairs Liaison.

“We want to highlight that the things that bring us together are greater than what divides us,” Father Mariano said.

The sessions run from 10:30 a.m.-noon on the following dates and locations: March 11, Lutheran Church of the Foothills, 5102 N. Craycroft Road; March 18, St. Cyril Parish, 4725 E. Pima St.; and March 25, Dove of Peace Lutheran Church, 665 W. Roller Coaster Road.

The roots of the session are from the 2017 joint statement, “From Conflict to Communion,” issued by the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The statement was issued to mark the 500 ^th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation.

Last September, Father Mariano and Pastor Steve Springer of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church began talking about ways to continue to build relationships between Catholics and Lutherans.

The two hosted a workshop called “Liturgy as Pathway from Conflict to Communion” during January’s Southwest Liturgical Conference Study Week. During the presentation, an older woman “who was very adamant to have her grandson educated by a Catholic pastor” spoke up loudly, Father Mariano said.
Her bias was clearly evident, believing she was “advocating for her grandson as a Catholic priest in the future,” even though he was studying at a Lutheran school.

During the workshop, the discussion slowly calmed the woman and “she turned it around,” Father Mariano said.

Each session will follow a general direction, he added. The first session is looking for input from people who have experiences – good or bad – in Catholic-Lutheran encounters. The second session will focus on more theological issues, specifically those of Justification – the act of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God - and the Eucharist.

The last session will focus on continuing to build faith system relationships among worshippers of both religions. However, it’s possible that if strong feelings are surfaced at the first session, the themes for the session might be shifted back so the leaders can address them instead at session two. The joint planning committee will meet after the first session to evaluate and decide the exact direction of the second session.

No matter how the sessions eventually progress, Father Mariano said, “I want to organize more events like this.”

“I hope and pray we don’t just drop it.”

The Rev. Springer said that “95 %” of conversations between Catholics and Lutherans are very positive and supportive.

“I feel very good when Lutherans and Catholics are being the People of God together,” he said.

He noted news reports from 1917, the 400 ^th anniversary of the Reformation, that there was significant “ugliness on both sides.”

When the joint document was signed three years ago, leaders wanted to make sure that the warm relationships kept growing.

It’s true that when it comes to advocacy, social justice and charity, “it’s really easy to work together, to come together and fight for a good cause.”

There are opportunities for growth in areas like mixed marriages, he added.
The Rev. Springer said he was eager to hear the conversations in the first session. “I’d actually like to know what’s on people’s minds and to see what we really think.”

He hoped that a practical outcome from the three sessions is a greater and more rapid response to attacks on Christians and other religious groups.
“We need to be able to respond more rapidly and in a more united way to threats against our religious communities. In the last year, we’ve seen physical threats against Islamic and Jewish houses of worship. I’d like to see a lot more Christians responding to those with one voice,” he said.
 
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