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ANGLICAN CHURCH IN AMERICA: AN APOSTOLIC CALL TO UNITY
Eastertide, 2006
As Bishops of the Anglican Church in America (Traditional Anglican Communion), we greet you in the Name of the + Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and with the joy and truth of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having recently met as a House of Bishops, we welcome and are encouraged by the progress among different groups and jurisdictions which has resulted in inter-communion, concordats, and common cause ministries and witness. At the same time, we are painfully aware of divergent theological positions that cause and maintain separation and inhibit eucharistic unity among Anglican Christians who understand themselves as evangelical, catholic, and biblically orthodox, and between such Anglican Christians and the two great churches of the East and West.
We have concluded that this division in the Body of Christ among those who claim loyalty to Apostolic order, Catholic teaching, and Evangelical faith needs to be healed by a discipline of fasting and prayer for unity. After prayer and theological reflection, we believe that it is our apostolic duty to call others to the same. We therefore ask all those under our authority to join us in setting aside one day of the week to be observed as a special day of fasting and prayer for unity in and for Christ's Church, beginning during the week following the Feast of Pentecost.
We know from Holy Scripture that God honors fasting and prayer, and that such a discipline possesses great power for mighty works to be done in the life of the Church. We claim dependency upon God for His will to be done as we assume this spiritual discipline. We cannot presume to control Him, rather we place ourselves as clay in the hands of the Potter.
In Nomine Jesu,
The Most Reverend Louis W. Falk, President
The Right Reverend Louis Campese
The Right Reverend Juan Garcia
The Right Reverend Wellborn Hudson
The Right Reverend George Langberg
The Right Reverend David L. Moyer
The Right Reverend Ruben Rodriguez-Molina
The Right Reverend James Stewart
*We are committed to offering three tracts in the months ahead on:
1. The problem of authority for Anglicans
2. The Anglican ethos deserving preservation
3. Anglicans and the See of Peter.
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