“New impulses for ecumenism”: this is the hope of Cardinal Joachim Meisner for the 31st Kirchentag (Convention) of the German Evangelical Church due to be held in “Catholic” Cologne from 6 to 10 June. Interviewed by the German Catholic press agency KNA, the Archbishop of Cologne commended the idea of holding the event in the Rhineland city – he called it “good” – and he added: “I hope that the German Evangelical Church will also clearly perceive us, our faith and the impulse of World Youth Day in 2005 which continues to be felt in Cologne”. During the Evangelical Kirchentag, he explained, “we Catholics will celebrate Corpus Domini. The Catholic solemnity of this feast day will be publicly displayed in its entirety and it would be wonderful if this would also form an impulse for the participants in the Kirchentag. And I also hope that we too will derive encouragement from the Christian witness of Evangelical Christians”. It is expected that some 100,000 Protestants will attend the Kirchentag in Cologne. One of its main themes will be ecumenism. Indeed an ecumenical celebration is planned to be held in Cologne Cathedral with the Evangelical bishop Schneider. Cardinal Meisner commented on this as follows: “I have such a good ecumenical relation with the bishop that each year we celebrate two Vespers together, one before the first Sunday in Advent in a Catholic church, and the other before the first Sunday in Lent in an Evangelical church. When I leant that the Evangelical Kirchentag was to be held in Cologne, I immediately invited the bishop to celebrate an ecumenical service at the heart of the city, in the Cathedral. He was very glad about this. The Orthodox Church will also be present. Apart from that, I will greet the participants on the Wednesday of the inauguration. Bishop Schneider and I will also conduct a joint biblical seminar during the Kirchentag”. Asked about ways of advancing the ecumenical process, Cardinal Meisner said: “Ecumenism is not something to do, but a gift we must pray for together. And we must seek to come ever closer to Christ. The closer we are to him, the closer Christians will be to each other”.
