Of course, when Catholics talk about ending the schism, they’re usually talking about the great schism of 1054 in which the Catholic and Orthodox churches separated. (Though that’s a simplification. There were already Orthodox churches which were not in communion with the rest of Christendom. But still, 1054 was a bad year for the church.)

But there’s another schism approaching it’s 500th anniversary, and dialogue continues towards resolving it. In fact, yesterday the USCCB website announced the release of a “‘Declaration on the Way’ to Full Unity” between Catholics and Lutherans. The ELCA did likewise in very similar (but not exactly the same) language.

Full unity is…still a long way off. In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say that I don’t expect to ever see it. The number of divisive issues may be going down, but the number of intractable issues is, well, greater than zero. So how do you overcome that?

But continuing dialog towards a seemingly unachievable goal is not my purpose for writing this evening. Rather, I was struck by this line from the USCCB release: “The conclusion…suggests that the expansion of opportunities for Lutherans and Catholics to receive Holy Communion together would be a sign of the agreements already reached.”

The keys words there are “already reached.” This press release seems to suggest that we may have a path towards intercommunion even without full unity. That strikes me as huge.

Now I want to emphasize that we’re not there yet. The press release is not announcing a change in discipline, merely suggesting that one could be forthcoming. And it doesn’t define how big an “expansion of opportunities” could be. In fact, under limited circumstances, Lutherans can already receive communion from a Catholic priest, deacon, or extraordinary minister. These limited circumstances essentially involve a gravely ill person who professes a Catholic understanding of communion and who doesn’t have access to one of their own ministers. Which probably doesn’t happen frequently but at least occasionally.

This brings up a host of questions. In particular, if we were to admit Lutherans to communion, would this mean that we would also admit Lutherans to the sacrament of reconciliation? I would think that we would have to – after all, we expect people to confess their grave sins before receiving communion. (This then leads to sub-questions, like how many Lutherans would avail themselves of it?) And also, if Catholics might someday receive communion in a Lutheran church, are we acknowledging the validity of the Lutheran Eucharist? I thought the Catholic Church rejected it primarily on the grounds that Lutherans have not maintained valid apostolic succession. However, surprisingly (to me, anyway), the answer to that one appears to be at least a limited yes. Before becoming Pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote:

“I count among the most important results of the ecumenical dialogues the insight that  the issue of the Eucharist cannot be narrowed to the problem of ‘validity.’ Even a theology oriented to the concept of succession, such as that which holds in the Catholic and in the Orthodox  church, should in no way deny the saving presence of the Lord  in a Lutheran Lord’s Supper.”