Ecumenism

Norway: “From conflict to communion”, Lutheran-Catholic dialogue 500 years after the Reformation

The Norwegian translation of the document “From conflict to communion – Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation in 2017” will be presented in Oslo on Thursday 26th November. This is the document that was published in June 2013 by the Roman Lutheran-Catholic Committee on unity, which provides a “shared description of the history of the Reformation”. The document will be presented at a public meeting, which will take stock of how things stand in Norway in terms of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue in the light of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, falling in 2017. Dominican nun Else-Britt Nilsen, member of the Norwegian Ecumenical Committee and director of Dominican Nuns in Europe, will open the meeting with a report on the “state of communion” 500 years after the Reformation and after 50 years of official dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans. It will be followed by a discussion with the two bishops of Oslo, the Lutheran Ole Christian Kvarme and the Catholic Bernt Eidsvig. “In Norway, dialogue has taken place nearly all this time”, explains Ingrid Rosendorf Joys, from the diocese of Oslo, but, in the run-up to 2017, the time has come to ask ourselves “how is communion between our two Churches today?”. About 150 thousand Catholics are registered in Norway, i.e. 3% of the population, while 75% of the population have been baptised in the Lutheran Church of Norway (this means 3 million 750 thousand people).