Over 100,000 attend the second Ecumenical Church Congress - By Philipp Gessler

In May, German-speaking Christians from a wide range of confessions met in Munich to pray together and discuss the issues. The hot topics were sexual abuse and the joint Eucharist.

They stood around in the pouring rain: More than 100,000 people of all generations, many with plastic bags on top of their heads. They prayed, sang, and clapped during the final service of the second Ecumenical Church Congress even though it was cold on Theresienwiese, the same Munich field where the world-famous Oktoberfest takes place every year.

The Catholic president of the Christian church congress, Alois Glück, quickly touched on sexual abuse in his address - the subject that has been preoccupying Catholics in Germany for months. "We are suffering because of our church and we are suffering with our church," said Glück. "But it is still our church."

Eckhard Nagel, his Protestant counterpart, brought up the controversial theological issue that preoccupied the first Ecumenical Church Congress in Berlin in 2003: a Eucharist ritual that includes all Christians. The Orthodox and Catholic churches still reject the idea. "We urgently need a solution!" Nagel insisted.

Rain, prayer, and appeals - outsiders looking at the Church congress phenomenon surely have a hard time understanding this typically German event at first. Every year, tens of thousands of people get together in a large German city to talk about their beliefs, to pray, sing, and celebrate - it is a religious rally.

The Protestants hold their congress in the odd years, and the Catholics have their turn in the even ones. For the second time in seven years, it was time for  Christians to attend the joint "ecumenical" rally this year. And every single issue that moves the Federal Republic - whether political, social or religious - also resonates there.

The church congresses are celebrations of German introspection. Members of the political elite, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and President Horst Köhler for example, attend regularly. Church congress programs include thousands of events from worship and podium discussions to pop concerts and dance practice.

Ecumenical church congresses are very important because religious rapprochement is an issue in Germany. Partly because Martin Luther's Reformation movement was born between the Rhine and Oder Rivers and the worst religious conflict of all time, the Thirty Years' War, raged here between 1618 and 1648.

In no other country in the world are two equally large communities of Catholics and Protestants forced to accommodate each other like they are in Germany. Of some 80 million inhabitants, about 25 million are Protestant and an equal number are Catholic.

Based on sheer numbers, the two huge churches are the largest organizations in Germany. And with their 50 million members, the two churches are quite rich in comparison to the churches in other countries. The main reason for that is the German church tax.

For decades, the state - more precisely, the federal tax authority - has had the right to collect taxes for the church. This is unthinkable to those in countries in which church and state are strictly separated.

This proximity of state to church led Merkel to become involved in last year's reaction to the Vatican decision to rehabilitate the ultra-conservative Pius Brothers and their anti-Semitic bishop Richard Williamson, for example. She publicly rebuked the Pope - a faux pas that conservative Catholics still hold against her today.

The second Ecumenical Church Congress was inauspicious in other respects as well - the fact that the weather was unusually cold and wet for mid-May also fit well. One issue especially troubled the participants: a solution to the issue of a joint Eucharist that Nagel so urgently called for in his address.

Because the Vatican and Orthodox churches are against it, Catholic and Orthodox Christians have to forgo inviting each other and their fellow Protestant believers to celebrate the Eucharist together - which means, participating in a ritual in memory of the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion.

The Protestants say that the ritual of the Eucharist connects all Christians and, after all, Jesus himself is the one who is inviting the guests. But Rome answers that a joint celebration will only be possible after the churches become one.

Seven years ago on the fringes of the first Ecumenical Church Congress in Berlin, a joint Eucharist was celebrated twice. But the Catholic priests who participated were punished severely by their bishops. That is one of the reasons the church congress organizers and the major Christian grassroots groups opted not to offer an ecumenical Eucharist in Munich this time.

But what does "grassroots" mean? Whether Catholic, Protestant or ecumenical, what makes a church congress so special is that the central administration of each church does not organize it. Lay members of the major churches, the Central Committee of the German Catholics (ZdK) on the one hand and the German Protestant Church Congress on the other, are responsible.

That is why Catholic bishops in particular do not always have it easy at church congresses. That was plain to see in Munich, because the Catholic Church in Germany has been mired in what may prove to be the deepest crisis in its history for months.

The past few months have gradually revealed how many Catholic priests have sexually abused members of their flock in the past 50 years. Stephan Ackermann, Bishop of Treves, the Catholic official in charge of cases of sexual abuse, even received catcalls in Munich when it seemed as if he was trying to marginalize the scandal.

German church congresses are the expression of a lively, critical and self-assured Christianity. They are celebrations of belief unlike any others in the world. They are among the unique and interesting experiences of Germany.