Ecumenism applied.

http://www.radioreplies.info/radio-replies-vol-1.php?t=25

Pope Francis Oct 13th (ahem)

In the speech he addressed at the start of the audience to participants of the Lutheran ecumenical pilgrimage, Francis – who spoke in Italian, with an interpreter translating into German – said amid applause: “What unites us is much more than what divides us!” He reminded those present that at the end of October he will be vising Lund, in Sweden, to “commemorate” the Lutheran Reformation, 500 years on, together with the Lutheran World Reformation: “The witness that the world expects from us (What about what Jesus expects of you as Pope?)is mainly that of making visible the mercy that God has toward us through service to the poor, the sick, those who have left their homeland to seek a better future for themselves and for loved ones. In being of service to the most needy we experience already that we are united: it is the mercy of God that unites us,” (Division is not unity) Francis said, attracting fresh applause. 

We Catholics are often told about how close we are to, say, Lutherans in our Christianity.

But that is simply absurd as the gulf between The One True Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church  and The Lutheran Community (It is not a Church) is galactic- sized as that community has no Apostolic Secession, no Holy Orders, No Mass, No Eucharist; but to give them their due, they do have some snappy songs.

But of what use is an ecumenism that so puissantly insists on "unity" based upon such superficial similarities between Catholics and Lutherans yet ignores the crucial and salfivic differences between them with such élan?

Let's try and apply this ideological ecumenism to another area of life and see just how worthwhile are the results:

Did you know that the lungs of a man are comprised of about 83% of water while pears are comprised of about 84% of water and when you consider that a man has a pair of lungs, that really makes you stop and think just how it is that man is essentially no different than some fruit in God's creation.

Ecumenism is the Universal Solvent of Tradition (tm)