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Lutherans and Catholics in Heights break new ground | Faith Matters (NJ)

Judy Waddleton of the Jersey City Heights remembers once going to a Protestant church as a child.

She never left her beloved Catholic church on the Boulevard and “grew up knowing that if you went to a Protestant church, you were not supposed to go,” the St. Anne’s parish catechetical leader said.

Last month, Waddleton, 72, not only went to St. John’s Lutheran Church nearby, she took the children’s choir of St. Anne’s and was accompanied by her pastor, the Rev. Nigel Chinasing.

The two churches and their clergy planned a joint prayer service to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. On the rainy Friday evening of March 31, some 70 people from both churches came together marking the progress the two denominations have made since Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg.

Since Vatican II, much has been done, but there are still stumbling blocks, according to the Rev. Mona Fitch, St. John’s pastor for the past 30 months.

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