CHAPTER 1: ECUMENICAL PROGRESS AND STAGNATION 9 1 ECUMENICAL PROGRESS AND STAGNATION: EUCHARISTIC HOSPITALITY AS WAY TO PROCEED? his first chapter briefly introduces the history of Christian division and the emergence of the ecumenical movement, providing the wider context in which this study finds itself in section 1.1. Section 1.2 discusses perspectives and methods within the ecumenical dialogue, situating the question of Eucharistic hospitality within the field. Sections 1.3 and 1.4 represent the status quaestionis; they consist of my contribution to the debate sparked by the proposal of the German Bishops’ Conference on facilitating Eucharistic sharing in the context of ecumenical marriages. The (sometimes fierce) exchange of arguments following the publication of this proposal depicts the current state of the debate. Section 1.5 lists several other recent contributions to the debate, completing the status quaestionis. 1.1 PAST AND PRESENT OF THE ECUMENICAL PROCESS Response to Christian division When considering the division that the church faces today, two moments in church history come to mind immediately: 1054 representing the Great Schism between the Christian East and West, and the Reformation usually associated with the year 1517. As Walter Kasper analyses, they mark two types of division.6 The former is a schism between clusters of local churches who still share a similar ecclesiological self-understanding. They can be regarded as sister 6 Walter Kasper, “Vatican II: Toward a Multifaceted Unity,” Origins 45, no. 9 (2015): secs. 155–156. Cf. UR, secs. 3; 13. T
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