Annual meeting of the Lutheran–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity

Finalizing the penultimate draft for the study report on Baptism and Growth in Communion

The Lutheran–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity will hold its annual meeting in Kamień Śląski, near Opole in Poland. Locally hosted by the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland in cooperation with the Institute for Culture and Science of the Catholic University of Opole, the 2017 dialogue commission meeting coincides with 50 years of the international Catholic – Lutheran dialogue.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity established the commission and organize the international dialogue meetings. At this year’s meeting, the commission is expected to finalize the penultimate draft of the study report on “Baptism and Growth in Communion,” a topic it started discussing in 2009.

On 22 July, the commission will celebrate its 50th anniversary at an event that will include the Common Prayer, which is based on the report, From Conflict to Communion. This will be followed by a festive dinner to which Archbishop Alfons Nossol, bishop emeritus of Opole and former member of the commission and the Lutheran church Presiding Bishop Jerzy Samiec, and other ecumenical guests have been invited.

During the week, commission members will also take part in a local youth gathering and prayer service. They will join in Sunday worship at the Katowice Lutheran congregation, where the co-chairpersons, Bishop emeritus Eero Huovinen (Helsinki, Finland) and Bishop William Kenney (Birmingham, United Kingdom) will each give a short sermon. As the commission will be concluding its current and fifth study process, the final study document on Baptism and Growth in Communion is expected to be ready for presentation to the LWF Council in June-July 2018.