For more than fifty years, Lutherans and Catholics in the United States have listened to the word of God in dialogue with one another. The conversation has borne great fruit in overcoming past misunderstandings, prejudices, and even at times enmity between the two communions. It has fostered mutual appreciation, respect, and significant agreement on what were once thought to be irreconcilable doctrinal differences. But as major changes in church and society accelerate, the process by which communions make judgments and teach them to the faithful is of vital importance. Faithful Teaching is the twelfth dialogue of the U.S. Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue. It seeks greater mutual understanding of the two communions' respective processes of faithful teaching.

It is offered in the hope that such understanding will contribute to our common efforts to witness more faithfully to the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. In challenging times, the call to continue to preach and teach the gospel together resounds with new urgency.