Grounded in the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, the International Lutheran Council participates in responsible ecumenical dialogue. At its 2018 World Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, the ILC adopted a statement on “Confessional Identity and Ecumenical Responsibility.“
The International Lutheran Council’s primary partner in ecumenical conversation is the Roman Catholic Church. The ILC entered into discussions with Catholics in 2015 and the first round of conversations came to a conclusion in 2019. A “Final Report” highlighting the content of the discussions was published in 2021.
During the 2022 World Conference in Kisumu, Kenya, the ILC received the Final Report and expressed gratitude for those who represented the ILC and the Vatican during the talks. The conference also adopted a resolution which mandated the ILC to “continue this theological engagement between confessional Lutherans and the Catholic Church.”
Ecumenical Documents and Statements from the ILC
- 2015: Statement of the ILC’s 2015 World Conference on “From Conflict to Communion”: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation 2017
- 2018: Statement of the ILC’s 2018 World Conference on Confessional Identity and Ecumenical Responsibility
- 2021: Final Report of the Theological Conversations between the Churches Associated within the International Lutheran Council and the Roman Catholic Church
- 2022: Resolution of the ILC’s 2022 World Conference to Approve the Report of the ILC-PCPCU Dialogue Group and to Carry Forward their Work
Reports on dialogue between the ILC and the Catholic Church:
- Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the International Lutheran Council (ILC) to hold informal international dialogue. Nov. 19, 2013.
- International Lutheran Council – Roman Catholic dialogue begins. Oct. 16, 2015.
- Second meeting of the ILC-PCPCU Dialogue Group. May 12, 2016.
- Dialogue between Confessional Lutherans and Roman Catholics continues. Nov. 7, 2016.
- Meetings between ILC and PCPCU continue. Sep. 13, 2018.
- Fourth (and Fifth) meeting of the ILC and the PCPCU dialogue group. Oct. 9, 2018.
- ILC and PCPCU complete current round of informal dialogue. Oct. 10, 2019.
- Final report on ILC-PCPCU conversations released. Nov. 30, 2021.
- 2022 World Conference: ILC approves further ecumenical discussions with the Roman Catholic Church. Sep. 21, 2022.