For once the Ecumenical Office of Ichabod was shocked. Normally the ELCA and Episcopal primates would crawl over broken glass to meet the real pope. Not this time. Doubtless B16's tough stance against homosexual clergy offended the two Protestant leaders of the Lavender Mafia.
Benke was there. He is the David Koenig (CLC) of the Missouri Synod. Like Benke, Koenig is also "ecumenical wherever he goes." Koenig is a true ecumenist. He loves every denomination except his own.
Something still puzzles me. ELDONA clergy were so full of wrath about Benke working with liberal denominations that they started their own faux-Eastern Orthodox sect in protest. The six letters in their acronym correspond roughly to their total number of member congregations. Heiser was so upset about Yankee Stadium that--many years later--he formed ELDONA. At the same time he formed a Center for the Study of Lutheran Orthodoxy with an ELCA member on its governing board. That was done "for the money."
I am in favor of ecumenical unity based on money. People should gather around what they worship. Why did Marvin Schwan donate to three synods at once? He wanted their shouted praise. What do Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie agree about? - their love for money, Church Growth, and Leonard Sweet.
J. P. Morgan used to take Episcopal bishops and his mistress on the same train, when they went to church conventions together. Those Episcopalians are so-o-o-o lax.
