Word: synods
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...unattainable dream. Ethnic, political and doctrinal differences have frustrated efforts toward ecumenism; by the turn of the century there were 21 separate Lutheran church groups in the U.S. But the goal of unity remained. Last month it became more attainable than ever when the dogmatically conservative Lutheran Church/Missouri Synod (2.8 million U.S. members) narrowly voted to accept "altar and pulpit fellowship" with the slightly more liberal American Lutheran Church (2.6 million members...
...Lutheran parlance, fellowship means that members of the two bodies will be permitted to take communion in one another's churches, and ministers of one group will be permitted to preach in the pulpits of the other. For the Missouri Synod, which grew out of a single, 19th century immigrant German church, the decision was a major break with tradition. It was not such a landmark, however, for the ALC, which recently reached a similar agreement with the larger (3.1 million) and even more liberal Lutheran Church in America. Unlike Missouri, both the ALC and the LCA are themselves...
Although all three bodies agree on the supremacy of the Bible and subscribe to two of the same traditional Lutheran confessions, the Synod believes strictly in the historical accuracy of Scripture-including the entire Book of Genesis. Until now it has stubbornly shunned contact with churches it felt interpreted the Bible more freely. It has rejected most of the ecumenical movement, and is not a member of either the World or the National Council of Churches, or even of the Lutheran World Federation...
...Africa was a revelation to me," he recalled. "All those crowds, all those children. I was moved to think of the words of Christ, 'You must love each other as I love my Father and as I am loved by my Father.' " Four years later, during the Synod of Bishops in Rome, Léger kept thinking about how the church could testify to the presence of God in a world "divided between haves and have-nots." After three weeks of prayer, he asked for, and was given, Pope Paul's reluctant permission to go to Africa...
Probably the most remarkable thing about the recommendations was how they came about. Two years ago, Dearden created a diocesan synod to discuss such changes. More than 80,000 adult participants, working in 7,200 groups at 335 parishes, made more than 65,000 proposals. It took a computer and nine commissions to sift them into their final form. Even now, said Dearden at a special Mass of thanksgiving last week, the changes were not to be considered "a goal achieved, but a beginning...