Protestant leaders express annoyance at the Catholics

Once the short meeting was arranged, they made clear they would use it to bring up some issues dividing the churches.

“We can’t avoid the question of joint church services,” Huber said. The Protestants want to worship with Catholics as equals, but the Catholics will not share communion with them.

“The ministry issue is unresolved,” said theologian Eberhard Juengel, referring to the Vatican’s long-standing refusal to recognize Protestant clergy as fully-fledged priests.

Happily for World Youth Day organizers, these differences are all but invisible at the grass-roots level where Protestants are readily helping out their Catholic neighbors.

Hundreds of Protestant families have offered spare beds in their homes to backpacking foreign pilgrims and some Protestant churches will be open for Catholics to use as meeting places.

“Cologne is far away. I’m not going to let anything ruin the good ecumenical cooperation we have here,” said Rev. Volker Hendricks, head of a Protestant congregation in nearby Krefeld.

Why the stubborn clinging to Roman Catholicism as the reference point? Why care about our definitions? Why not be content in your own?

Hmmmm.

And related – I have to say that I found B16’s offer of plenary indulgences to participants in WYD in Germany….amusing.