Martin Luther - a challenge for Catholics
The Bishop of Magdeburg, Gerhard Feige wants more involvement of the Catholic Church in the 500th anniversary of the Reformation due in the year 2017. Luther was also for Catholics "a spiritual and theological challenge”
who cannot be avoided on the path to the unity of the Christians," said the Magdeburg bishop. (Cathcon- I seem to remember that Luther split the Church) The Evangelical Church in Germany is planning a decade of celebrations leading up to the anniversary of the Reformation which will be inaugurated this September. During the celebrations of the 450th anniversary of the death of the reformer Martin Luther in 1996, there was also an Ecumenical Church Day in Eisleben, recalled Feige. The historical realities could not be undone. But they could be healed by Christians together by meeting the positive concerns of the Reformation.
(Cathcon- what positive concerns- the very name protestant is negative)
who cannot be avoided on the path to the unity of the Christians," said the Magdeburg bishop. (Cathcon- I seem to remember that Luther split the Church) The Evangelical Church in Germany is planning a decade of celebrations leading up to the anniversary of the Reformation which will be inaugurated this September. During the celebrations of the 450th anniversary of the death of the reformer Martin Luther in 1996, there was also an Ecumenical Church Day in Eisleben, recalled Feige. The historical realities could not be undone. But they could be healed by Christians together by meeting the positive concerns of the Reformation.
One also should never forget the grotesque anti-semitism of Luther.
He preached in Magdeburg and to this day, the centre of the town is a predominantly Protestant. Such a position as the Bishop's gives him a toehold in the society of the town, no more.
.jpeg)
Comments
Feige with a capital F means fig as in figleaf.
It is true feige small f, means cowardly.
The impressive side of the Bishop is that unlike in the protestant groups, the son of a shoemaker and a cleaner has made it to high ecclesiastical office. The unimpressive side is the gutting of his cathedral, which I have visited, under his auspices in the last few years. He is working in the former East Germany which needs more religion not less in the form of the minimalism of the modern church renovations. Many souls there are simple tabula rasa. In East Germany, there is quite a habit of becoming like your own worst enemy, not least when they slipped from Nazism to Communism in post-war times.