Living Theology
in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran
Church In America
Volume 7, Number 2
Christmas 2002
The Allure of Catholicity: Latino
Lutheran Ministries in the Crosshairs
Keith Forni
My colleague from across
town was being customarily succinct.
His message was tinged with a sense of urgency and concern. “You need to pick up a copy of today’s Chicago Sun Times.” He read me only the
headline from the (August 20, 2002) front page: “Are Lutherans pretending to be
Catholic to lure Hispanics?”
Lutherans on the front page:
not a rare phenomenon (Martin Marty helps to increase our percentage), but
infrequent enough to get the phone lines buzzing in the dog days of summer.
When was the last time we
had a banner headline? The Joint
Declaration of Justification a couple years earlier comes to mind. Remember?
Lutherans and Roman Catholics were celebrating together in every time
zone from Augsburg to Anaheim. Then
there was the more sobering fixation just one year back on a Joliet Lutheran
pastor’s “conversion” (as some press articles had it) into the Roman Catholic
priesthood.
I made the quick trip to the gas station for the Sun Times.
There, indeed, was the tabloid-like headline. As if inviting all of Chicagoland to enter a
plebiscite ballot, the paper queried, ...well..., “Are Lutherans pretending to be Catholic to lure Hispanics?” (emphasis
mine). Maybe the story’s continuation
(“Metro” section, page 10) would offer a phone-in option? Dial 1-800-SI SEŃOR (yes sir) to vote yes,
or 1-800-MENTIRA (lie) to cast a negative response.
One Lord, One
Faith...?
The deeper one read into this article the more that it
seemed that the vote was stacked (toward the first option). Cathleen Falsani’s “detail” story inside the
paper carried a more insistent headline: “Lutherans luring Hispanic Catholics?”
followed by the sub-heading “Families feel duped into wrong church; priests
charge deceit.”
The pictured family members
are at least smiling as they display their baptismal certificates received from
a Lutheran parish. Could it be that
they know of the “One Lord, one faith and one baptism, one God and Father of us
all” noted in Ephesians 4:5-6? The
Christian unity that springs from Baptism has been widely celebrated by
Lutherans and Roman Catholics throughout the country, especially in recent
years. How sad, that the sacrament of
Christian initiation was now a component of Christian division.
Remember the
Covenant?
The summer’s-end splash in
the Sun Times jogs the memory of
still earlier, and even more substantive acclamations of baptismal unity. The lofty language of “The (1989) Covenant”
between the ELCA’s Metro Chicago Synod and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Chicago affirms “that the Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome the separation
which now exists in doctrine, sacramental life and church order, and is enabling
us to achieve the full communion Christ desires for His Church.”
That splendid and exemplary
document needs to be translated into Spanish and circulated among pertinent
Lutheran and Roman Catholic colleagues and congregations. (Let’s
Talk Editorial Board member, Pr. Tom Knutson, co-edited the covenant
texts. He has available copies, as do
I.) Unfortunately, given the current
climate, we probably shouldn’t hold our collective breath for a baptismal
affirmation liturgy for Lutherans and Roman Catholics anytime soon in the
involved Chicago southwest side neighborhoods.
(The Holy Spirit may just surprise us!)
The Sun Times article has served
to stir the theological waters.
Lutheran pastors serving Latino ministries / congregations are meeting to
discuss their evangelical catholic identity and to share mutual support. They have key colleagues within the
Episcopal Church, themselves no orphans in matters of catholicity. Our “Call to Common Mission” with that
church body has compelling, positive implications for Lutherans and
Episcopalians in the vibrant and ever-growing Hispanic ministry field in the
USA. We share a view of the church
which pre-dates the reformation. We
understand ourselves as being a part of the church that is “one, holy, catholic
and apostolic.” Growing numbers of
pastors and lay leaders from both church bodies have theologies and pieties
that do not fit into the traditional “American (USA) Protestant” stereotype. They delight in rich liturgical expression,
have a rather developed Mariology and are heirs of the Reformers’ insistence
that the mass be retained (Augsburg Confession, Art. XXIV).
What are the
issues?
A few items of contention
are enumerated in the Sun Times
article. They are elements of a
critique that has been surfacing in various times and places as Lutheran
Hispanic ministries grow, catching the attention of certain Roman Catholic
clergy around the Chicagoland area.
(The italicized lines are from the Sun
Times article):
1. “The [Lutheran Church at 53rd and Maplewood]
has Holy water dispensers…”
We do well to be reminded of
our baptism, each day if possible.
Increasingly, our fonts remain filled – or other water vessels are made
available for this purpose – in our churches and chapels.
As I viewed the Sun Times photo of Mrs. Quintero and her
children with the “suspect” certificates, I thought back to a shared service of
prayer at the Cathedral of St. Raymond
in Joliet. Bishop Gary Wollersheim of
the Northern Illinois Synod - ELCA and Bishop Joseph Imesch of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Joliet stood side by side at the massive cathedral font as
the faithful queued up for a paschal blessing.
As it happened, I was in Bishop Imesch’s line. He dipped his hand into the font and signed the cross on my
forehead: “Rejoice. Remember that you
are baptized.”
2. “…and an icon of the Virgin
of Guadalupe, the Catholic patron saint of Mexico.”
Lutherans have been getting
over their “Mary silence” in recent decades.
The image of Guadalupe is a ubiquitous religious and cultural image for
Mexicans. Her gaze is cast over meat
markets and dashboards as well as sanctuaries and sacristies. Witness the fact that in the early days of
its life as a small but growing mission, Santa Cruz, Joliet may have had as
many as 6 persons named Guadalupe (male and female) in a worshipping group of
50! The very name can not be avoided in the Latino communities.
The image of Mary as the Virgin of Guadalupe and its
significance for the churches is receiving wider treatment and discussion. (As I write these lines, a brother pastor
has sent an invitation to a discussion on the Virgin of Guadalupe, to be held
at Notre Dame in December ’02 with Roman Catholic and Lutheran participants on
the panel.) The story of the virgin’s
apparition to humble, indigenous Juan Diego certainly echoes the Magnificat:
“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.”
(Luke 1:52)
One must remember that the object
of the story’s critique is the Roman Catholic Church, freshly arrived to the
soil of the Americas. (It is thus
ironic that this story would now be cast as an exclusively Roman Catholic
identifier or emblem!)
3. “…the pastor is called
‘father’”
This is a contentious issue in Lutheran Hispanic ministry,
in no small measure due to the fact that the ELCA clergy roster includes men
and women. If male pastors can be
called “Padre,” where does that leave the women pastors? In my experience, the “padre” moniker is
often an opening, more formal title which frequently shifts to “pastor” as
relationships develop within the parish and community.
4. “...
the service was nearly identical to the Catholic mass she was familiar
with.”
Luther, of course, didn’t
throw the baby out with the bath water.
The term misa is widely used
by Lutheran Spanish language congregations (of both the ELCA and the Lutheran
Church Missouri Synod) as well as by Episcopalian Latino ministries. (Cf. my article “Gathered, Nourished and
Sent: Reflections on the Meaning of Mass,” Let’s
Talk, Vol. 4, Issue 1, p. 12).
Is history still
taught? I sometimes wonder. The reformation story is fascinating. We should be bolder in teaching it, hoping
to receive both of its twin blessings: renewal and continuity. Unfortunately, the contemporary view has
this great chasm between Roman Catholics (popularly called simply, “Catholics”)
and any other church. “Gather, Word,
Meal and Sending...” these are the great, broad strokes of the historic liturgy
shared by Lutherans, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics and others. What should be our delight – an indicator of
some semblance of unity, per John 17 – sadly becomes a source of suspicion. We have our work cut out for us.
Truth in
Packaging?
An additional critique has
been raised by Roman Catholic clergy who, frankly, seem startled and alarmed by
the very existence of Lutheran ministries serving Hispanic communities. They point to a perceived failure to advertise
truthfully (i.e., to identify the church as being “Lutheran” in signage and
publicity).
Some of our area Lutheran
Latino Ministries do not routinely use the “L word” in signage or printed
materials. There are parallels to this
approach in new, ELCA-sponsored mission starts or redevelopments which eschew
the Lutheran title.
Certainly, congregations of
various denominations and confessions use signs that simply state their name
followed by “Church.” My nearest Roman
Catholic neighbor parish is commonly known as “Mount Carmel Church.” Signage does not include Catholic, much less
“Roman Catholic.”
The “Lutheran-ness” of a
faith community can be experienced best in relationship and over time. The elimination of “Lutheran” from all
signage, printed matter or conversation could certainly seem disingenuous
(although, truth be told, it probably would have greatly pleased the good
doctor from Wittenberg!). Our
ministries have lively connections with the ELCA synods and churchwide links. Prayers are offered for Lutheran bishops and
partner parishes. Announcements are
made about meetings of the Lutheran synod.
At Santa Cruz, Joliet, we make extensive use of the Spanish and English
language version of the ELCA logo, as well as “Luther’s seal” or coat of
arms. We may be known on an
invitational banner as simply “lglesia SANTA CRUZ Church,” and then be
identified as “A Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” on
the church bulletin.
Not lost on so many of us is
that this public attack on Lutheran Latino ministries has come in the midst of
a crescendoing sexual mis-conduct scandal within the Roman Catholic Church in
the USA. Parallel to the stunning scope
of that scandal is the ever-growing awareness of the perils faced daily by
Mexicans and Central Americans as they are drawn to this country seeking work.
Our shared catholicity needs
renewal and all the members of the body of Christ will be needed as earthen
vessels effecting that renewal. Just such
a renewed church catholic – encompassing each and all of us – will then be
poised to better proclaim in word and action the Good News of Jesus who came
not to be served but to serve.
Collegial
connections strengthened
The controversy has
motivated a new generation of Latino Lutheran pastors to explore and write
about an evangelical catholic identity.
I hope that they will share their writings here, as the conversation
continues in Let’s Talk.
The Rev.
Keith Forni, STS