The following story first appeared in the Spring 2000 Glenmary Challenge.
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'By Grace Alone'
Catholic-Lutheran Accord Sparks Hope in Eastern Tennessee
By Paul W. Witte  

Paul and Ginny Witte, left, join the Rev. Nancy Andrews and Jay Gilchrist following the Reformation Sunday ceremony celebrating the new Accord.

The last Reformation Sunday of the second millennium was marked by a celebration of ecumenical fellowship in Monroe County, Tenn. On Oct. 31, 1999, Glenmary’s Catholic Community of Monroe County and the Lutherans of the 179-year-old St. Paul Lutheran Church in nearby Vonore observed Reformation Sunday together in a way neither could have imagined just a few years ago.

First, the Rev. Nancy Andrews of St. Paul visited the Catholic storefront church in Madisonville to speak for a few minutes before the start of the 9 a.m. Sunday worship. Then, 12 members of the Catholic Community of Monroe County joined in the 11 a.m. worship service at St. Paul. During that service, Rev. Andrews and I, as the new lay leader of the local Catholic community, led the joint congregation in a ceremony commemorating the signing of a historic document that very day in Augsburg, Germany, by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, which represents the vast majority of the world’s Lutherans.

That document—the Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification—put to rest the nearly five-centuries-old debate about whether we are saved by faith alone or by some combination of faith and good works. This debate, and the ensuing Protestant Reformation, began with the protest of Martin Luther in 1517.

The new agreement, in part, states: “By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.”

Local Impact
The Catholic Community of Monroe County was established by Glenmary lay pastoral coordinator Jay Gilchrist in 1992. It is the first and only Catholic church in Monroe County, a rural Appalachian county with a strong Baptist character. There are other Protestant churches: Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of God, Church of Christ, even Quaker. But these, and especially the high, or liturgical, churches like the Catholic and Lutheran, are in the minority. Though St. Paul Lutheran Church has a long local history, its membership is small and they have not fared well in the fundamentalist environment of East Tennessee.

Glenmary, true to its mission of building up the Church, is always looking for opportunities to reach out in an ecumenical spirit to other denominations. Gilchrist, now associate director of Glenmary’s Lay Pastoral Coordinator Program, alerted us by e-mail to the Oct. 31 signing and encouraged us to celebrate the occasion in an appropriate way. That was all the impetus my wife Ginny and I needed to get moving. For this Lutheran-Catholic accord also had great personal significance for us. 

Personal Significance
Ginny and I were married in 1966 by a Catholic priest and a Salvation Army officer, and for years ours was an ecumenical marriage; our two children were raised in an ecumenical tradition. 

In 1969 we began working with Catholic bishops in South America to translate the Bible into indigenous languages even though Ginny was still not Catholic. (When she finally made it official in 1984, she said she was really Catholic for years before!) 

Ginny was a member of the Salvation Army when I met her, but she had been raised a Lutheran and was a member of the United Lutheran Church in America (now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) until she was 20. So when Catholic and Lutheran theologians arrived at this accord on justification, we welcomed the chance to celebrate a diminishing of the gap separating us from the disciples of Martin Luther.

During our 19 years of mission in South America, we worked closely with evangelical Protestants, including many Lutherans, whom we came to respect and love as dedicated disciples of Christ. 

There were, of course, other evangelicals whose traditions taught them to distrust and avoid Catholics. They often objected to our presence, but as we continued witnessing to Christ, they became less vocal in their opposition. Ginny and I believe the same thing will happen in Monroe County.

Future Hope
Building up the Church in Monroe County will take time, and it will mean we need to maintain a public witness of personal integrity and respect for the community. But it will happen just as surely as the Lord will return.

On a practical level, the Catholic Community of Monroe County will continue to relate to St. Paul Lutheran Church. The covered-dish supper we shared on that Reformation Sunday last fall was one important step. We also hope to work together on joint youth ministry, since both communities are quite small.

Barriers that have been built up over centuries do not crumble overnight, however. Luther’s posting of his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517 began a process of alienation and disintegration of Christ’s body. We hope the recent signing of the Declaration on Justification in Augsburg, Germany, where the official doctrinal statement of the Lutheran Church was propounded in 1530, is the beginning of trust and reintegration. 

Some Christians point to floods, earthquakes and other natural catastrophes as the signs that the end times are near. For me, however, the most monumental sign of the Lord’s imminent return would be the reunification of the Body of Christ in the Church.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

The Catholic Church of Monroe County, now St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, was led by Paul and Ginny Witte for several years. The mission was turned back to the Diocese of Knoxville in 2002.

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