Emmanuel
FROM THE EDITOR
As a boy growing up in a small town north of Milwaukee , my best friend was named Donny . While we were the same age and in the same grade , Donny and I didn ’ t attend school together . His family was Lutheran ; and unlike most of the kids in town , who went to the local Catholic school , Donny was enrolled in public school . We played softball and football after classes ended each day , or King of the Hill atop the mountains of snow that appeared in winter after the streets had been cleared .
Our families didn ’ t make much of the fact that we were members of different Churches ; it was just a fact of life in a state where immigrants from different parts of Europe settled and brought with them longestablished patterns of religious affiliation and practice . Donny even took part in a fair number of “ Masses ” that my schoolmates and I performed at home .
Recently , my eyes fell upon the following headline online : “ 2017 — Catholics and Protestants to Commemorate Reformation Anniversary .” The German city of Wittenberg is preparing to mark the occasion . Wittenberg is where Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church 500 years ago and started a movement . The Catholic Church ’ s response to Luther and the other protesters was the Counter-Reformation , the high point of which was the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563 , called to implement a program of internal reforms and undertake the re-evangelization of Europe .
Nikolaus Schneider , the chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany , met last year with Pope Francis to invite him to the anniversary . During this meeting , the Holy Father “ underlined how important it is for him that we , as Churches , walk together on the path of testifying [ to ] the faith in this world .” Schneider said that the conversations with the pope and Vatican officials had contributed to
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