Episcopal and Lutheran Churches Explore Deeper Dialogue
Diocesan Press Service. May 5, 1969 [77-5]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Episcopal Church and the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. today jointly announced plans for the beginning of a series of discussions "to explore the problems that exist between our two communions as a step toward deeper dialogue."
The meetings, the first of which will be in Detroit, Mich., October 14-16, 1969, will be held on a two-a-year basis until four or five meetings have been held at which time there will be a review of progress and a consideration of further plans, according to the announcement.
They will be the first such meetings between Lutherans and Episcopalians since 1937 when discussions with the United Lutheran Church and the Augustana Synod were discontinued to allow Lutherans to pursue unity discussions within their own Communion.
For the Episcopalians, who will be hosts for the first discussion, the meetings will be in accordance with directions from its General Convention not only to participate in the Consultation on Church Union, but to extend its ecumenical meetings to include Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Lutheran Churches.
Both the Episcopal Church and the Lutherans are already participating in discussions with the Orthodox and Roman Catholics.
In commenting on the announcement, Dr. Peter Day, Ecumenical Officer of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, said that ten representatives each from the Lutheran Council and the Episcopal Church will participate.
"One of the flaws in our Church union discussions," he said, "both in this country and in other countries, has been the lack of participation by the Lutheran Churches."
"As the Lambeth Conference noted, 'there are many historical, doctrinal, liturgical and other bonds between our two communions,' but there are also distinctive Lutheran emphases which are essential to the fulness of Christian unity.
"I look forward to these conversations as a means of enriching the entire range of our ecumenical relationships."
The Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion, of which the American Episcopal Church is a member, voted in 1968 to accept the invitation of the Lutheran World Federation to begin unity discussions on a worldwide basis.
Dr. Day will be a member of the Episcopal Church delegation, which also will include the following:
The Rt. Rev. Richard S. Emrich, Bishop of Michigan, chairman; the Rev. Lynn C. Edwards, of Donora, Penn.; the Rev. Reginald H. Fuller, of Union Theological Seminary, New York City; the Very Rev. Harvey H. Guthrie, dean of Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass.; the Rev. John W. Hildebrand, of Fort Worth, Tex.; the Rev. Dr. Enrico C. Molnar, warden of Bloy House, Pasadena, Calif. ; Dr. Jules L. Moreau, Seabury-Western Seminary, Evanston, Ill.; Mr. J. L. Pierson, attorney of St. Louis, Mo.; Dr. Robert H. Whitaker, Diocesan School of Theology, Detroit, Mich.
Lutheran delegates will be: The Rev. Dr. O. V. Anderson, of Milwaukee, Wis., chairman; Dr. William S. Ellis, of New York, N.Y.; the Rev. Dr. Wendell W. Frerichs, Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; the Rev. Dr. Roy A. Harrisville, Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; the Rev. Dr. Paul M. Hasvold, of Cambridge, Wis.; the Rev. Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, district president of the Missouri Synod, Belmont, Calif. ; the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Jenson, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Penn.; the Rev. Dr. Carl S. Meyer, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.; and the Rev. Dr. Norman Nagel, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind.
Dr. Paul D. Opsahl, of the division of theological studies of the Lutheran Council, will provide staff liaison for the discussions and be a member of the Lutheran delegation.