Red light... green light... red light

As someone who prays for a reunited church daily, the on-again off-again conferences aimed at having Pope Benedict XVI and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II meet face to face have been frustrating. History (mainly Soviet in my mind), theology, and seemingly accepted anti-Catholic disdain all swirl together to put up a rampart evocative of the Berlin wall between the two sides.

For my part, the old grudges and finger pointing sound to me like a never-ending violin recital. Child #15 on the program schedule is playing the same song and with every new rendition the piece gets more and more tired sounding. The filioque sat around for 200 hundred years and we had unity before a split. How many dialogues do we have to have on that issue - how many signed documents and glad handing leading to nothing? How much vitriol by the Orthodox on proselytism in Russia by the Catholic Church? Should Catholics then ask the Orthodox to close down their great seminaries in France and buy train tickets "home"?

Articles on the proposed meeting are written daily. Here is one such news report: Latest from byzcath.org