ROME—Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic officials in

Lutherans and Catholics traveling together on an  ecumenical pilgrimage pray in a chapel of the lower Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. The stop was one of many in Germany and Italy. Chronicle photo by Laurie Stevens.

Rome warmly received 58 Lutherans and Catholics visiting from northwest Ohio on a landmark ecumenical pilgrimage in October.

Laypeople, Lutheran ministers and Catholic clergy traveling together received special seating and a welcome from the pope during the English-speaking portion of the general audience Oct. 24.

Afterwards, Pope Benedict personally greeted both Bishop Leonard P. Blair and Lutheran Bishop Marcus C. Lohrmann, who led the pilgrimage together Oct. 17-27.

“When I described to the Holy Father what we were doing … he just looked at me and said, ‘Thank you very much for doing this, it’s very important,’ ” recalls Bishop Blair. “That was a great affirmation.”

For Lutherans and Catholics alike, the papal audience was a highlight of the trip.

Though Lutherans do not acknowledge the authority of the pope, the Rev. Arthur Wilde says they still see him as an important representative of Christianity in the world.

“I think he’s the closest thing we have to a symbol or a person that kind of speaks for all Christianity,” explains Rev. Wilde, a retired Lutheran minister from Lima. “What he says and what he does in many ways reflects all of us.”

Pilgrims also visited the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) in Rome Oct. 23. The Vatican office engages in theological dialogue with other Christian churches and world communions, including the Lutheran World Federation.

Bishop Blair and Bishop Lohrmann presented a copy of the 2001 covenant between the Catholic Diocese of Toledo and the Northwestern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the PCPCU.

The bishop praised the document as significant evidence of how much work and prayer has been done, and also expressed appreciation for the ecumenical pilgrimage on behalf of his office.

“We believe that it’s never enough for the theologians to be working away at the old controversies that have kept us apart for nearly 500 years,” he told the group.

“If these efforts do not penetrate into the real life of the churches — and that means into the real life of the people in the churches — then it’s basically useless. We end up with documents that fill the shelves of our library, but we don’t have any real progress towards real Christian unity.”

In Italy, the group visited other important Christian and Catholic sites in Rome and spent a day in Assisi, the hometown of St. Francis where Pope John Paul II famously convened world religious leaders in 1986 and again in 2002 to pray for peace. Particularly moving for many was the experience of praying together in a chapel of the lower Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

As they traveled and worshipped together, pilgrims gained awareness of how much their faith traditions share in common.

“It made me realize how much of a family we really are,” says Elizabeth Slotnick of Genoa Our Lady of Lourdes. “Even though we have different beliefs, we’re still one in so many ways.”

Until they separated to celebrate the Eucharist, Rev. Wilde says he could not identify who was Lutheran or Catholic.

“What struck me was more our similarities than our differences,” he says. “We’re different personalities and I think our devotion and the way we express it may be different, but it was good to be with a group that was so committed to the Lord, and to the faith and to the church.”

The Rev. Tim Philabaum, pastor of Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg and a member of the covenant commission, says Lutheran and Catholic pilgrims learned a great deal about one another’s history as they traced the steps of Martin Luther in Germany and explored the heart of the Catholic Church in Italy.

“I think we all grew more so because of where we were together,” he adds.

Rhoda Ann Myers of Findlay St. Michael, a Catholic traveling with her Lutheran husband, Richard “Dutch” Myers of First Lutheran Church in Findlay, felt she came to a better understanding of the history and “outlook” of Lutherans on the trip.

“I’ve always had a respect, but not very much understanding,” she explains.

In Germany, Catholics became more aware of the genuine abuses that troubled many in the church when Martin Luther responded with his 95 Theses, says Father James Peiffer, diocesan ecumenical officer.

“I think it helped us to appreciate one another’s distinctive traditions that in some respects flow from, precisely, responses and reactions to the Reformation,” he adds.

Since returning home, the travelers have eagerly shared their experiences in formal and informal settings.

Deacon Norbert Wethington of Fremont St. Joseph and Barbara Moellman of Zion Lutheran in Gibsonburg gave a presentation on the trip to more than 40 people during an ElderCollege program at Terra Community College Nov. 9.

It was originally planned as a report about the places the group visited, but Deacon Wethington says the presentation grew into something more.

“Now that we’ve gone through the experience, I think it’s taken a life of its own,” he says. “The whole pilgrimage brought a certain depth to the faith dimension to everybody that participated in it that I don’t think any of us expected.”

Fr. Peiffer, who helped organize the pilgrimage, believes it touched on all three areas to which the two faith communities pledge a shared commitment in the covenant:  prayer, study and action.

“It gave us an awareness of how much we still have to learn about each other in order to appreciate each other as we should as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,” says Fr. Peiffer. “We haven’t reached the endpoint, but we certainly made progress.”