500 years of papal challenge

Today is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which became a cultural shift of tectonic proportions.
My favorite part of the whole business:
rebellion against an authority,
coupled with the continued desire for unity

The Reformation, 500 Years Later

Five hundred years after a rebellious act by a single German monk divided the Christian world, religious leaders on both sides of that split have finally agreed their churches share responsibility for the historic rupture.

On Oct. 31, 1517, an outspoken university lecturer and Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted a list of objections to the dominant Roman Catholic beliefs and practices of his time. Chief among his grievances was the church's claim that Christians could be partly forgiven for their sins — and thus shorten their punishment in purgatory — by purchasing a letter of "indulgence" from their local parish. In practice, much of the money went into the pockets of corrupt local princes.

Whether Luther nailed his list to the door of his hometown church, as legend has it, or simply mailed it to his archbishop is in dispute, but his "95 Theses" represented a stunning challenge to papal authority and the entire Holy Roman Empire.

The split that followed, known as the Protestant Reformation, fostered the development of religious and political freedoms in Europe but also set the stage of persecution and war. Catholic-Protestant enmity endured for centuries.

[...]

The associated theological issues were not so easily resolved. Luther had objected to the Catholic teaching that one could attain salvation through his or her own efforts, arguing instead that salvation was a gift freely given, bestowed on all those who have faith and accept God's grace. That doctrine, which was known as "justification by grace," was resisted until the Vatican II Council largely accepted it in the 1960s.

"It took us only 450 years to see Luther's point," says Catholic scholar John Borelli of Georgetown University. "In many ways, Vatican II was Luther's council."

Roman Catholics have also accepted other Luther arguments, including his belief that people should be able to worship and read the Bible in their own language and participate freely in the Eucharist, a privilege restricted in Luther's time to the clergy.

In 2015, Bishops Eaton and Madden spearheaded the preparation of a "Declaration on the Way to Unity" that identified 32 issues where Catholics and Lutherans were approaching convergence. A year later, on Oct. 31, 2016, Lutheran and Roman Catholic leaders held a joint ecumenical prayer service in Sweden, launching a yearlong commemoration of the Reformation. Both sides hold out hope for an agreement that would enable Lutherans and Catholics to celebrate communion together.

"This is something that our people long for," says Eaton.

On other issues, such as the role of the pope and his bishops, the role of women in the church, and same-sex marriage, significant differences remain, and more work must be done to promote the value of ecumenism. Some Catholic leaders and theologians have been slow to welcome the efforts, and some Protestant leaders are equally reticent.

But the churches are moving closer on one core question: whether they can celebrate communion together. A goal for some future Reformation anniversary.

via {npr}