(2 of 2)
The current effort to settle justification began in the '60s, when Catholicism joined the ecumenical movement. Theologians from both traditions eventually concluded that the 16th century anathemas were more a function of crossed wires than a denial that salvation is a no-strings-attached gift from God. The Joint Declaration, says emeritus Yale theologian George Lindbeck, who helped draft earlier efforts, reflects the conclusion that Catholicism never denied justification through grace; it was simply more focused on the human drama of the transformed sinner than on the exclusively divine origin of his or her transformation. "The two descriptions of salvation don't contradict each other," he insists.
Rome's response, however, suggests that Pope John Paul II may see a few contradictions. Without denying that salvation always begins with God's grace, the church refuses to relinquish some cooperative agency on humanity's part through, say, penance or charity. This and several other "divergences" are forcefully enough stated that German Lutheran Harding Meyer, one of the Joint Declaration's drafters, declares, "This is the worst news I've received during my whole career. This is not a basis for continuing the dialogue."
A larger number of informed observers, however, happily disagree. The "painful exactitude" of the Vatican response, says Neuhaus, "demonstrates the seriousness with which the Declaration has been taken." This is appropriate, since "ultimate truths are involved." Noting that his church's critique implicates only three of the document's 44 points, Cardinal Cassidy allows that some "shadows" remain on the ecumenical horizon. "But it's not," he declares, "like they're blotting out the light."
--Reported by Greg Burke/Rome and Richard N. Ostling/New York