biscuit bishops • • • 9
"BISCUIT bishops" is the name given to Archbishop Derek Worlock and Dr David Sheppard, his Anglican counterpart in Liverpool, Dr Sheppard said from a pulpit shared with Archbishop Worlock in Armagh cathedral on Tuesday.
The Liverpool churchmen had gone to preach during the week of prayer for Christian unity at the invitation of Cardinal Tomas 0 Fiaich and the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, Dr John Armstrong.
It is not just "social ecumenism" that keeps them together, Dr Sheppard said in the second of four parts of a joint sermon. Human needs in Merseyside are "very important in our priorities, because they are very important to our Lord, who cares about the whole person and not simply about a compartment of life labelled `spiritual'."
Archbishop Worlock responded: "In a city where the Spinners have made famous the line 'If you want a Cathedral, we've got one to spare' we have learned that in this case, one and one add up to more than two."
Continuing with the theme, "called to be one through the cross of Christ", Dr Sheppard said: "If we think that the Church should always be a successful problem-solver, we make the mistake of reducing mysteries to problems."
Christ crucified "helps us look at the cruellest and most discouraging situations with new eyes and new hope," Dr Sheppard concluded.