What happens in Germany, revisited By Francis X. Maier Writing on the quincentennial of the Reformation and its parallels with emerging problems in the 21st-century German Church three years ago, Charles Chaput, then the archbishop of Philadelphia, noted that: “ Being human, bishops often disagree. Internal differences are common in any episcopal conference, and they’re handled—no surprise—internally. But two things set the German situation apart: the global prominence of the [German intercommunion] controversy and the doctrinal substance of the debate. Who can receive the Eucharist, and when, and why, are not merely German questions. If, as Vatican II said, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our life as Christians and the seal of our Catholic unity, then the answers to these questions have implications for the whole Church. They concern all of us.“