Cardinal Vincent Nichols will be among the guests at a service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday to commemorate the start of the Reformation 500 years ago.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will give the address and the service will include a specially commissioned anthem by the Danish composer, Bent Sørensen (pictured).
The general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Martin Junge, will be in attendance, along with Catholics involved in ecumenical dialogue, including the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Brian Farrell, and the co-chair of the International Lutheran-Catholic Commission on Unity, Bishop William Kenney.
The service will be followed by a symposium, “Liberated by God’s Grace”, in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey – bringing together leading academics to analyse the ongoing impact of the Reformation.
Speakers include Professor Eamon Duffy of Cambridge University, who will give a talk entitled “The Reformation in the British Isles from a Roman Catholic perspective”.
The Reformation anniversary has also been marked by events around the country. Earlier this month Manchester’s Anglican cathedral held a service that was planned by an ecumenical group comprising Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans and members of the United Reformed Church. The canon for theology and mission at the cathedral, David Holgate, told The Tablet: “The highlight for many was the ecumenical affirmation of our baptismal vows with water held in bowls by three of the participating clergy.” Canon Holgate will also be taking part in a debate on Tuesday at Manchester’s John Rylands Library, entitled “The Reformation: Who gives a fig?”
Also in the northwest, the secretary of the Department for Dialogue and Unity at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Canon John O’Toole, gave a reflection last week in Blackburn’s Anglican cathedral. Noting that it was the first centenary of the Reformation to be commemorated in an ecumenical age, he described the Reformation as a family dispute: “How good it is when there is a desire for reconciliation, to reach out and to restore the family relationship, to draw people slowly together so that mistakes can be recognised, injuries can be forgiven and wounds can be healed.”
Services, lectures, an exhibition and a concert have been held this month in St Andrews, which lays claim to being the birthplace of the Scottish Reformation. The commemoration culminates on Tuesday, Reformation Day itself, with a 5.30 p.m. ecumenical service in Holy Trinity Parish Church at which the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord (Rowan) Williams, will give the sermon.
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