I used to think that Lutherans were a lost bunch who would be difficult to bring back, then I started reading “Catholic Matters” by the late Father Richard John Neuhaus (himself a former Lutheran pastor), and it has changed my perspective there. Although I think that we are closer to the Eastern Orthodox in terms of what we believe, we are closer to Lutherans and other mainliners because they share a common culture, western culture.
Neuhaus didn’t see Catholicism as being against his Lutheran background, rather, he saw it as a fuller expression of it. I recommend his book to the other Catholics on FR, especially if they want to understand the mindset of our separated friends in Christ.
John Paul II was a media superstar...but in his own industrious way, this pope is moving us closer to reunification with the Lutherans, the Orthodox and the Anglicans than any other. He is a theologian of the first magnitude and with humility, prayers and a few strategic apologies, he could well orchestrate what 500 years could not (that is if he lives long enough).