No one could have been more startled than I when the invitation from Cardinal Walter Kasper arrived last October, asking me to join the Vatican delegation to last month’s two week meeting of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil! Of course, I jumped at the chance. The trip included a few geography lessons as I discovered a thriving metropolis even further south than the bottom of Africa, three hours ahead of us in time zones and sweltering in the middle of their summer. Even the stars in their night sky are different. We changed our clocks back an hour from daylight saving time on Feb. 19

Today Porto Alegre itself has more than 1 million residents. The diocese was established almost a century ago to meet the pastoral needs of the German and Italian immigrants who were arriving in droves (almost within the same time frame as their confreres who came to Milwaukee), and currently claims about 3 million Catholics. The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, where the meeting was actually held, enrolls some 27,000 students, and there are two other Catholic universities in town.

The Ninth General Assembly brought together almost 4,000 delegates, observers, advisors and interested folks from some 340 Christian churches representing 110 nations across the world. Each day began and ended with prayer in a giant tent on the university campus. There was a small group daily Bible study, formal “Plenarium” meetings for everyone, breakout sessions and plenty of time for social contacts and informal conversation. The official language was English with simultaneous translation into German, Spanish, French or Portuguese as needed.

Impressions filed haphazardly in my memory from the two weeks include an abundance of eastern Orthodox beards, tall blond Nordic Lutheran types conversing with much shorter dark Bolivian Evangelicals, countless African delegates, a Brazilian Catholic bishop of black African heritage saying his Breviary in German, a sense of uncertainty as the consensus method was introduced to the formal delegates (with blue and orange cards), an undercurrent of opposition to the current policies of our American government among church people from all over the world, hauntingly beautiful hymns composed for the occasion, a lushly manicured tropical campus, warm weather and much hospitality everywhere.

The official Vatican delegation comprised 18 men and women of exceptional competence and kindness, reverent in prayer but on occasion surprisingly innocent of rubrical formality, theologically astute and respected by their ecumenical colleagues from around the world. I was impressed and proud that they were “on our side” as observers and dialogue partners.

As recently reported in the Catholic Herald, I was asked to take Cardinal Kasper’s place in a Bate Papo (the Brazilian word for an informal conversation) with a young woman from the Netherlands who worked as a campus minister for the Reformed Church (a daunting task for me on all levels), and together to address the question of “whether there was a place for Christianity in the 21st century.” We each held our own in the dialogue across the generational divide and the issues of contemporary western secularity. That also became a cherished memory from the meeting.

As we were informed by Irish born Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in our initial orientation and briefing sessions, the ecumenical world has changed radically in recent years. The voices of the Orthodox churches have become much stronger since the collapse of communism and they are taken very seriously; their relationship with Pope Benedict XVI is suddenly warm and open to a new level of dialogue.

The Christian shift in numbers and vitality has clearly moved to the southern hemisphere, especially Latin America and Africa, something abundantly documented in Philip Jenkins’ recently published study, “The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity” (a “must read” for anyone trying to understand ecumenism today). Pentecostals and others generally grouped under the label of “Evangelicals” now comprise almost 20 percent of the world’s Christians … some open to ecumenical cooperation (and even publicly apologizing for having taken advantage of Catholicism’s weakness in Latin America) and others (often funded by American resources) quite opposed to any religious dialogue.

The World Council was eager for Catholic participation, but didn’t always understand the importance of the various national and international Catholic dialogues already in place outside of that Council’s arena. I became very conscious of the importance of our Catholic convictions regarding the nature of the church community itself, which — with all its flaws and sin — remains a sign and instrument of God’s work in the world. Pope Benedict XVI’s message of greeting was both solidly theological and warmly received.

As observers, we were strongly encouraged to pay attention to all the currents in the assembly and to test out our perceptions within the group as we gathered back at the retreat house for a late supper each evening.

Pope John Paul II’s admonition that work for the reconciliation of the churches and for full visible Christian unity must be everyone’s concern was never so real. Moreover, we all understood that the dream would never be accomplished except by God’s grace and a change of heart for everyone! My memories will endure for a long time.