Ecumenical Reformation Jubilee

Representatives of the Protestant and Catholic Churches in Germany have announced their plans to celebrate a joint fest for Jesus Christ in 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

It will be the first ecumenical Reformation Jubilee. Up to now, the jubilees have only been celebrated by the Protestant Churches. In autumn 2016, members of the German Protestant Church Council EKD and the German bishops’ conference will undertake a joint pilgrimage to the Holy Land to commemorate the common sources of their faith.

Then on 11 March 2017 during Passiontide, a reconciliation service will be held with a common liturgy at which both denominations will ask for forgiveness for the wounds they inflicted on each other during the Reformation. In the evening before the second Sunday of Lent in 2017 there will be ecumenical services in all German churches.