“A unique meeting, the fruit of eighteen months’ preparations": with these words, mgr. Andrew Summersgill, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, speaks of the one-day meeting, due from the afternoon of November 14th to the afternoon of November 15th, which will see Catholic and Anglican Bishops grouped together in Leeds. The meeting in Leeds will bring together all the bishops who are members of the "House of Bishops" at the General Synod, the organisation that runs the "Church of England", one third of all the bishops of the "Church of England". "It will be an opportunity to exchange suggestions and experiences. The meeting is part of the process of the Iarccum Commission, which is responsible for implementing the theological agreements achieved by the two communions”, goes on mgr. Summersgill. “We will share moments of prayer: a public one, the choral Vespers, in the Cathedral on Tuesday night, and a private one, on Wednesday morning”. According to the Bishop, it is a lucky coincidence that the meeting takes place a few days before the visit of the Anglican Primate Williams to the Pope on November 21st, "because the archbishop of Canterbury can thus report to Benedict XVI what has been said during the meeting in Leeds”. The meeting in Leeds and the one in Rome are two opportunities to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the meeting between Pope Paul VI and the archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey.
