Sign and Ministry in the Finnish Lutheran – Catholic Document Communion in Growth

Abstract

Communion in Growth: Declaration on the Church, Eucharist and Ministry (cg 2017), a report from the Lutheran – Catholic Dialogue Commission for Finland, continued at the national level the ecumenical request to work on the themes. The aim of the article is to determine how Communion in Growth understands the concept ‘sign’ in connection with ministry. In the report, ministry itself, especially episcopal ministry, is understood as a sign, but so is the laying on of hands in the ordination understood as a sign. The two meanings are then seen as representing visible, historical, sacramental and communal signs.