Priest Suspended Over Ecumenical Efforts

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to try and foster better relations between different Christian denominations. That was, presumably, the goal of Gotthold Hasenhuettl, a priest and theology professor at the University of Saarbruecken who participated in a joint communion service with Protestants during an ecumenical festival in Berlin. As a consequence, the bishop of Trier, Reinhard Marx, has barred Hasenhuettl from his posts.

According to News24:

Hasenhuettl, who has denied that the joint communion service violated church law, immediately appealed the decision, which he said he was informed of by fax. ...Hasenhuettl served the ritual wafers and wine to both Catholics and Protestants at a packed Lutheran church in east Berlin in May, despite an admonition by Pope John Paul II in mid-April.

If it is a violation, then Hasenhuettl is out of luck. But that's the legal perspective - what's the moral perspective? That hinges on which is more important: obedience to church rules or trying to improve the relationship between Protestants and Catholics?

Read More:

• Pope John Paul II
• Roman Catholicism