Brotherhood of St. James

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The St. James Brotherhood is an ecumenical Christian community that works for the rapprochement of the Protestant and Catholic churches. It is a spiritual community with binding vows under the direction of a superior, with evangelical and Catholic members.

Principles

The community bears the name of James , a relative of Jesus and head of the early church in Jerusalem , who in his letter calls for faith to be consistently lived. According to the Acts of the Apostles , he showed the easing way for the Gentile Christians to live together with the Jewish Christians . For a reunited Christianity it means: Generous freedom in the exercise of piety. The basic conviction of the Roman Catholic Church should apply: the adherence to the essential transformation of the Eucharistic elements in the body and blood of Christ, the permanent Petrine service to preserve and strengthen the inner unity of the Church, as well as the honor of Mary according to her special position in the divine plan of salvation.

The leitmotifs are the “Evangelical Councils” depending on the status. Living from the spirit of the rule means: daily prayer for unity, daily Bible reading according to the church “lectio continua”; personal confession and absolution ; a set - up time of several days per year is binding. Participation in other retreat events is recommended. Prayers at the meetings are held according to the order of the daytime services. The Evangelical Mass is celebrated based on the Lutheran "Form B" using liturgical texts from the Roman Catholic parish mass . The mission of the brotherhood is the bridging service between the denominations and the prayer service for the unity of the church. The publication of the four times a year magazine “Building blocks for Christian unity” also serves this purpose.

history

The spiritual community emerged in 1965 from the Federation for Evangelical-Catholic Unity founded in 1960 . Max Lackmann , Paul Hacker and Gustav Huhn were among the founders of the federal government . In the 1960s there were differences over the relationship with the two official churches. Lackmann spoke out in favor of the separation from the existing churches and the establishment of an Evangelical Catholic Union Church, but could not prevail with his view and therefore resigned from the Federation and Brotherhood in 1969.

literature

  • Hansjürgen Knoche : “I want and am ready!”. In: Building Blocks for Christian Unity. In the service of Evangelical-Catholic understanding. Vol. 35 (1995), No. 137, pp. 4-7.
  • Hansjürgen Knoche: 40 years of the Federation for Evangelical-Catholic Reunification eV A documentation of our path. In: Building Blocks for Christian Unity. In the service of Evangelical-Catholic understanding. Vol. 40 (2000), No. 159/160, pp. 62-64.
  • Ingrid Reimer: Binding life in brotherhoods, communities, unions. Quell-Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-7918-2172-5 , pp. 108-111.
  • Ingrid Reimer: Committed life in evangelical brotherhoods and communitarian communities. Brunnen-Verlag, Giessen 1999, ISBN 3-7655-1162-5 , pp. 102-103.