Evangelical Church in Germany Suffering Dramatic Clergy Shortage

Edit: if only the Lutheran Church would turn back the clock and have a celibate clergy, perhaps they might not be having a vocations crisis?

The number of evangelical theology students fell in less than 25 years from 26,000 to 2,400

Travemünde (kath.net) the shortage of clergy in Germany is apparently not a purely intra-Catholic problem. Even the Protestant churches are threatened with a dramatic shortage of clergy, as the evangelical news agency "idea" reports. The number of evangelical theology students has been alarmingly low, said the President of the Federation of Protestant pastors in Germany, Andreas Kahnt (Westerstede / Oldenburg) in the context of the German Pastor Day in Travemuende. According Kahnt there were 26,000 students of Protestant theology in 1986; currently there are about 2,400, reported "idea." Compared to the impending retirement of baby boomer pastors, this number is not sufficient, says Kahnt.

Kath.net...
Photo: Fine Art America
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Cardinal Kasper Feels Left Out: Lutherans Snub Joint Declaration on Justification

It’s a big pain that the hard-won basic text for justification is not mentioned by the EKD.

Berlin (kath.net / KNA) The former Vatican Ecumenical Head Cardinal Walter Kasper has criticized the statement of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) on the doctrine of justification. The “basic text published in May didn’t mention a single word on the pact singed in 1999 by Catholics and Lutherans "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" (GER), said Kasper this weekend in Berlin. "I could not believe it, it hurt me," said the retired German Cardinal.

For the upcoming anniversary of the Reformation of the EKD promises "no good,” said Kasper. He expressed the hope that this is not the last word on the question by the EKD. The paper is titled “Justification and Freedom. Reformation 500 years in 2017." In the theological question of justification, is, to put it simply, a matter of whether the sin which hinders the relationship between God and man can be brought back to order by grace alone or by human participation.

The former President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity spoke on this at a meeting of the Christian community "Chemin Neuf" (New Way), which celebrated its 20-years of engagement in Berlin. The former president of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Emeritus of the Brunswick, Christian Krause, said of GER, which is a central Lutheran-Catholic consensus document, had been controversial "only in Germany" within the Lutheran churches before signing. Krause continuing said, for the Catholic Church it was not an easy question to answer, as they are confronted with the anniversary of the Reformation, which has been prepared with great effort.

Kasper explained that the Catholic Church would "participate, if we are invited" in the celebrations. This is where the ball lay, but on the side of the EKD. In his view, the churches could "celebrate what has been given us in recent decades,” in 2017. They should "not forget what we have already formulated together.”

Link to kath.net...

Vatican Downplays Expectation of a Papal Visit on Reformation 2017

Cardinal: Francis has been no response to the invitation EKD

Rome (kath.net / idea ) The expectation that Pope Francis is to come to the 500-year anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 in Germany has been downplayed by the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch. The Pope had given no reply to the invitation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany Council Chairman, President i.R. Nikolaus Schneider (Berlin), said the Swiss Cardinal in an interview with Vatican Radio. In a private audience on 8 April Schneider had invited the head of the Roman Catholic Church, to participate in Wittenberg in the events commemorating the theses of the reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) 31 October 1517. The Vatican sees, among other things, no reason to “celebrate" the Reformation, its following schism and the religious wars of the 16th and 17th Centuries, but wishes only “recollect” it.

Schneider: It's about a Feast for Christ

The ELCG Council stressed that it was not the anniversary of the Reformation to go about celebrating "the birth of the Protestant church." Luther did not want to found a new church, but to reform the Catholic. It would also not hide the dark side of the Reformation and the Reformer. Rather, the anniversary should be designed as a Christian festival that every Christian can celebrate.

Koch: the Vatican is not a contact person for the ELCG

Koch also pointed out to Vatican Radio different responsibilities. The Vatican is not the actual contact person for the ELCG, but the German Bishops' Conference. Lutheranism, by contrast, has a “worldwide presence," said Koch. The Vatican engages in theological conversations especially with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). They had agreed together in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in1999. Koch himself took part last November while participating in the General Synod of the United Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) Timmendorfer Strand in Luebeck, but not at the subsequent ELCG Synod. The Lutheran Evangelical Church doesn’t understand itself as an autonomous church, but as a community of 20, United and Reformed churches.

Paper completed on Reformation Commemoration

As Koch said in the current interview further in view of discussions between the Catholic and the Lutheran church, the competent International Commission has prepared a document to commemorate 2017th year of the Reformation. It is expressed in the English title "From Conflict to Communion" (From Conflict to Community). The paper is finished, but is to be released only after the German translation is complete. Worldwide, the Roman Catholic Church has about 1.2 billion members. The number of Lutherans is [merely] about 74 million, which includes nearly 71 million to the LWF member churches.

Pope Francis receives EKD Church President Nikolaus Schneider - Pope meets with Francis first Protestant leader (Rome Reports)