A LUTHERAN Church leader said he saw a future for his Church and the Catholic Church together, likening unity to remarriage of divorced partners.
President of the Lutheran Church of Australia’s Queensland district, Pastor John Vitale, was giving the Australian Catholic University 2000 Aquinas Memorial Lecture in Brisbane on May 29. His topic was “Towards Christian Unity…Love lights the Way.”
He explored the convergence between the Catholic and Lutheran Churches in recent decades, focusing on the Augsberg Accord.
This was signed last year by representatives of both Churches after decades of dialogue abd marked substantial accord on the doctrine of justification, which led to division and the founding of the Lutheran Church in the 16th century.
Pastor Vitale called the 16th century division “our sad divorce” and while outlining many points on which the Churches found they disagree, also raised “some remaining concerns”.