From October 2003 …  
 

American Anglican Council gathering in Dallas
hears message from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

  
 

 

 

 

 

 


Anthony Clark introduces the message from the Vatican
During the "Plano" meeting of over 2,500 conservative clergy and laity in October 2003, several messages came in from friends outside the Episcopal Church. On Wednesday, Oct. 8, just as the afternoon session was about to end, Anthony Clark, a deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of Fort Worth, was called on to read one of the messages.

The crowd rose to its feet as he announced that the message had been sent by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, chief assistant to Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Ratzinger has now been elected Pope Benedict XVI.

  
 
 
 

From Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Vatican, on behalf of Pope John Paul II

I hasten to assure you of my heartfelt prayers for all those taking part in this convocation. The significance of your meeting is sensed far beyond Plano, and even in this City from which Saint Augustine of Canterbury was sent to confirm and strengthen the preaching of Christ’s Gospel in England. Nor can I fail to recall that barely 120 years later, Saint Boniface brought that same Christian faith from England to my own forebears in Germany.

The lives of these saints show us how in the Church of Christ there is a unity in truth and a communion of grace which transcend the borders of any nation. With this in mind, I pray in particular that God’s will may be done by all those who seek that unity in the truth, the gift of Christ himself.

With fraternal regards, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,

+Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger