Oecumenica 2017 nru 4
Mill-Kummissjoni Ekumenika Djocesana
The Duty
to Commemorate
Fr Hector Scerri
President,
Diocesan Ecumenical Commission and
This week, on two
separate evenings, the Otto Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, will be
commemorating the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation. It was 31st
October 1517 when the Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, nailed a list of
ninety-five grievances to the door of the church of Wittenberg Castle in
Germany. That was the beginning of a long series of events which unfortunately
lead to separation and bitterness among Christians, wars – in particular the
Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) – and hate-filled suspicion.
It is a misnomer to
talk of “a fifth-centenary celebration”. There is nothing to celebrate in what
Luther and many others did, because it led to separation and bloodshed. Several
ecumenical texts state that “no one who is theologically responsible can
celebrate the division of Christians from one another”. We’d rather talk of a
commemoration. The year 2017 sees the first centennial commemoration of the
Reformation to take place within the context of ecumenical relations and
dialogue. Indeed, 2017 also marks fifty years of Lutheran-Roman Catholic
dialogue.
Luther himself rarely
used the term “reformation”. In an explanation, he himself penned, of the
mentioned ninety-five theses, Luther affirmed: “The Church needs a reformation
which is not the work of man, namely the pope, or of many men, namely the
cardinals … but it is the work of the whole world, indeed it is the work of God
alone. However, only God who has created time knows the time for this
reformation”. Perhaps certain aspects came five hundred years too early.
World-wide events to
commemorate the events of 1517 kicked off, last October, at Lund, in Sweden.
Pope Francis himself participated. Countless symposia, discussions, books and
articles, documentaries, online material, etc have already seen the light of day
and will continue to flow endlessly in the remaining months of the current year.
Ecumenical reflective
encounters between Lutherans and Catholics are meant to find their genesis in
the one common water of baptism through which all Christians have become members
of the body of Christ. Lutherans and Catholics are being called to express a
shared joy in the Gospel, to carry out an authentic evaluation of the past, to
show regret for past insults and mutual condemnations and to pray in earnest for
Christian unity.
A joint document,
From Conflict to Communion, published in 2013 by Catholics and Lutherans in
preparation for this year, tackles a very wide spectrum of issues, also
highlighting a good number of examples where, after all, both sides were using a
different kind of language when, in actual fact, they were saying the same
thing. This was indeed grossly unfortunate. To make matters worse, politics
entered the arena, and certain German 16th-century principalities and
dukedoms instrumentalized the theological debate for their own petty
short-sighted political ambitions. The mentioned document goes so far as
acknowledging a “Catholic confession of sins against unity”, as well a “Lutheran
confession of sins against unity”.
Five ecumenical
imperatives bring the balanced and far-sighted 2013 document to a conclusion:
(1) Catholics and Lutherans should always begin from the perspective of unity,
rather than from division, and thus be in a position to strengthen what is held
in common; (2) Lutherans and Catholics are to seek to make their encounters
mutually transformative; (3) Both Catholics and Lutherans are to renew their
commitment to work for visible unity and to strive towards this goal; (4) They
should jointly rediscover the power of the Gospel for contemporary humanity; (5)
Together, Lutherans and Catholics are called to witness to God’s mercy as they
proclaim the Good News and serve their sisters and brothers in today’s world.
On 10 May 2017, at
6.00pm at its Valletta Campus, the University of Malta is organizing a
Commemoration of the Reformation with the participation of learned speakers from
various Faculties. Furthermore, the Faculty of Theology is holding a two-day
conference on the same theme at the end of October. The mentioned insightful
text, From Conflict to Communion – long available online – has now been
translated to Maltese and will be published in the coming weeks.
On Thursday 20
April, at 7.30pm, the Otto Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin will be performing
Symphonies 2 and 4 by Robert Schumann, at St Paul’s Pro-Cathedral, Valletta.
On Saturday 22 April, at 7.15pm, the same Orchestra will be performing parts
from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata BWV 79 during an Ecumenical Service at
Mdina Cathedral. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra is cooperating and supporting
the Otto-Sinfoniker. The general public is invited to participate in the
commemoration.