Another Olive Branch in the Eye

By Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J. ( articles ) | May 20, 2003

The National Catholic Reporter's John Allen gives us a head's-up on the latest speciment of In Yo Face liturgy:

[The Austrian organization] We Are Church is back in the news for another reason. Despite John Paul's reaffirmation of church discipline on inter-communion in his recent encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, We Are Church is planning to sponsor three liturgies featuring "Eucharistic hospitality" during the May 28-June 1 ecumenical Kirchentag, or "Church Day," festival in Berlin. In conjunction with another reform group called Initiative Church from Below and a Protestant parish, We Are Church has organized a Catholic and a Protestant service in which all Christians will be invited to receive communion, plus a "meal of solidarity" with the poor and people on the fringes. Though the liturgies are not part of the official program, they are sure to make a splash.

Nobody burns a flag in the privacy of his basement, right? By the same token, promiscuous ecumenism never occurs except when cameras and Klieg-lights are present. It's true of all reform movements, Left or Right: when what they hate becomes stronger than what they love, they turn exhibitionist.