https://international.la-croix.com/news/luthers-reformation-and-ours/4538?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_content=20-01-2017&utm_campaign=newsletter__crx_lci&PMID=3d4bff6e21bd8a4c42e60d5186400d8e
Luther's Reformation and ours To engage in ecumenical dialogue means confronting the social evils of caste, communalism, gender discrimination and violence. Father Myron J. Pereira SJ, Mumbai India January 20, 2017 This year marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, an event which changed the history of Western Europe, and much of the rest of the world. At its heart is Martin Luther's claim that the individual could seek and find God in the depths of his soul, not through obedience to a corrupt external church structure. The first blow for freedom of choice, for freedom of conscience was struck here. But Luther's revolution has grown far beyond its origins, so that today freedom has become the paramount value in modern society, clashing with every system of structural control, whether in the family or by the state. The rights of "individual" man inspired the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution (which also celebrates its centenary this year) right down to this decade's Arab Spring. Sadly, there is no freedom without bloodshed. The Reformation led to violent strife between Catholic and Protestant in Europe and elsewhere, divisions which lasted centuries. This is one reason why the theme for this year's ecumenical meet between Catholics and Lutherans is "Reconciliation: the love of Christ impels us."
