Thought this was interesting given my speculation earlier this week…
“The Vatican office ‘supports the archbishop in his desire to strengthen these bonds of communion, and to articulate more fully the relationship between the local and the universal within the church,’ the statement said.
‘It is our prayer that the Anglican Communion, even in this difficult situation, may find a way to maintain its unity and its witness to Christ as a worldwide communion,’ it added.”
Read the full article here.
Thanks to Kendall Harmon for pointing this out to me.
I know … it even sounds like Rowan was tuning his reflection to get Benedict’s ear.
Something I heard recently about this whole issue has gotten me thinking. A friend posited that one of the things that is so good about the Anglican Communion is that we are able to have this debate about human sexuality openly and in the public forum. Of course, on a practical level it has caused enormous damage to all concerned. However, it is ridiculous to say that either the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox churches do not have significant internal problems to deal with regarding sexuality. Perhaps some of the reason that they are speaking so harshly about our discourse is that they are a bit jealous that we can even have this debate in the first place.