False Ecumenism

Metropolitan Archbishop William C. Skurla participated in a blessing of the City of Pittsburgh using water that had been blessed by a female Evangelical Lutheran bishop rather than by an ordained Catholic priest or deacon. In Catholic theology, holy water is a sacramental that must be blessed by a Catholic cleric to be set apart for sacred use. Having a Protestant minister bless the water to be used by a Catholic bishop is problematic. It gives the appearance that a Catholic bishop recognizes sacramental authority in a Protestant minister—authority that, according to Catholic teaching, they do not possess. Such gestures risk confusing the faithful, potentially leading them to believe that all Christian ministers share equal sacramental authority when, in fact, they do not.