Blackwood, Jul 30, 2008 /
05:24 am (CNA).-
An exchange of letters
between Cardinal William
Levada, Prefect of the
Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith and
Archbishop John Hepworth,
Primate of the Traditional
Anglican Communion
shows
warming relations between
the two Churches as they
begin to consider proposals
for corporate reunion.
Archbishop Hepworth, writing
in the Messenger Journal,
has announced that he has
responded to a letter "of
warmth and encouragement" he
received on July 25 from
Cardinal Levada.
The
archbishop said the entire
Traditional Anglican
Communion should be
encouraged by Cardinal
Levada's letter, which was
written to assure the
archbishop that the
Congregation is giving
"serious attention" to the
"prospect of corporate
unity" raised in a
2007 letter from the
Anglican primate.
"I
have responded, expressing
my gratitude on behalf of
'my brother bishops,'
reaffirming our
determination to
achieve the unity for which
Jesus prayed with such
intensity at the Last
Supper, no matter what the
personal cost this might
mean in our discipleship,"
Archbishop Hepworth
wrote in the letter
published by the Messenger
Journal.
He said Cardinal Levada's
letter
should encourage "our entire
Communion" and "friends who
have been assisting us."
Archbishop Hepworth said
he was "particularly
thankful" to Cardinal Levada
for
his "generous mention" of
corporate reunion. The
archbishop wrote that
corporate reunion was a path
"seldom travelled in the
past" but one
"essential" to fulfilling
Christ's desire for
Christian unity.
He said his flock should
be spurred
to
renewed prayer for the Holy
Father, for Cardinal Levada
and his Congregation's
staff, and for all their own
clergy and people
"as we move to ever closer
communion in Christ with the
Holy See."
