Bishop Pierre Whalon, bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, recently spent time at the Kirchentag in Germany. Don’t know what that is…read on:
From Bishop Whalon’s blog, “BishopBlogging”
I spent some hours yesterday hanging around our Kirchentag booth for the Council of Anglican Episcopal Churches in Germany, known to us as CAECG. My German soon ran out trying to answer questions like “What is the difference between the eucharistic theology of The Low Church versus The High Church?” This from a young German man. I kid you not. Over and over young men and women asked lots of informed questions about Anglicanism. Fortunately we also had some German Episcopalians and Anglicans around, as well as the Rev. Jennifer Adams-Maßmann, a young Episcopal priest who is trilingual and married to a German theologian.
But back to the Kirchentag. It is thought to be a success. The city of Munich was full of crowds of young people wearing orange scarves, praying, singing, and yes— having a great time. Older folks wandered about the huge Messe or convention center, listening to talks on politics (Angela Merkel made an appearance), the scandal in the Roman church, the reality of grinding poverty versus the extraordinary wealth we enjoy here… plus Bible studies, women’s issues, gays in and out of the Church, evangelism, social justice, care for the homeless in Germany and for Haiti. It just went on and on. One thing that was different from any comparable ecumenical event in America is the way “hot topics” were featured — nothing watered down.