by Emmanuel Lapierre

Emmanuel Lapierre, o.p., was an Associate Director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism.

One of the most significant ecumenical events of the 20th century was certainly the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by Roman Catholics and Lutherans at Augsburg on October 31, 1999. While the century began with the celebrated but in fact, rather timid, Edinburgh Conference in 1910 that marked the beginning of modern ecumenism, it ended with a doctrinal accord that no one would have initially thought possible in such a short period of time. A century is very little time in which to have come so far, especially considering that the Roman Catholics did not join the movement until the early 1960s.

In Montreal we felt that it was important to celebrate this event and to make its significance known to the general public. Immediately after the signing of the declaration, the Rev. Eric E. Dyck, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, contacted the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism and proposed that we join the Montreal Lutheran Council in planning a study day that would be open to the public.

So the adventure began, and what a wonderful adventure it turned out to be. Soon Fr. Camille Doucet, m.s., the pastor of the Roman Catholic parish of Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, located near St. John's Lutheran, agreed to co-host the event. It was decided that the morning's activities would take place at the Lutheran church, and the afternoon's at the Catholic church.

We agreed that we wanted to obtain the services of experienced speakers who could shed light on the subject from an academic perspective as well as hold the attention of a general audience interested in such a day. We selected four speakers, two Lutherans and two Roman Catholics, geographically situated between Toronto and Quebec City. Within the space of a few days, they had been contacted and had accepted our invitation, for which we are deeply grateful. These four speakers, who for us were rare gems, are Prof. Robert A. Kelly, the Rev. Dr. Matthew Anderson, the Rev. Gilles Routhier and Catherine Clifford.

The speakers' presentations occupied the morning. The afternoon was given to four workshops, with one of the guest speakers in each as a resource person.

An event such as this cannot be planned without giving an important place to prayer. Consequently, we decided to end the day with a celebration at Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette Church, presided jointly by Fr. Gilles Bourdeau, O.F.M., director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism, and Rev. Eric Dyck, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church. It was a moving celebration that focused on giving thanks to God who has led the disciples of his Son to such reconciliation in faith. To make this reconciliation all the more real, each of the presiders, on behalf of the members of his own denomination in Montreal, asked and received forgiveness from the other denomination for all the misunderstandings, prejudice, contempt and every other offense committed in the past. It was without a doubt the most moving moment of the day.