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Thousands of youth flocked to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday for the ecumenical gathering “Together 2016,” which sought to unite those of various backgrounds to “stand together for Jesus,” and had been preceded by an online endorsement from “Pope Francis,” the head of Roman Catholicism.
“Everything now is protests: ‘I’m against this’ or ‘I hate that.’ We really believe there is a longing to come together. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we can come together around the hope of Jesus,” organizer Nick Hall of PULSE told the Washington Post. “There are moments when God’s people come together, and God does something that can heal, change, define generations.”
Worship leader Matt Maher, who identifies as Roman Catholic, also told the outlet, “If we’re singing the same songs together, then we can’t yell at each other.” He has outlined at other ecumenical events that he believes it is his calling to work toward to the unification of Christians and Catholics.
“We’ve never seen a unified church before in the history of the church since the Reformation. We don’t even know what it looks like,” he said at OneThing 2015. “I think what the work of unity starts with [is]: It starts with us praying together. It starts with us fellowshiping together. It starts with us having a common respect for each other, a love for each other.”
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