Mgr Mark Langham, RIP



Mgr Mark Langham at the Anglican Consultative Council, New Zealand, 2012 

Anglicans around the world, particularly those who have been closely involved in dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, join our Catholic sisters and brothers who are mourning the death of Mgr Mark Langham. Fr Mark died in hospice care early this morning after a struggle with cancer. He was the Chaplain of Fisher House, the Roman Catholic Chaplaincy at Cambridge University. Before that he worked from 2008 to 2013 at the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where he was responsible for relations with the Anglican Communion and with the Methodists. During that time, he served as the Roman Catholic Co-Secretary of ARCIC, and also was among the official representatives of the Catholic Church at the Lambeth Conference of 2008, and at meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council.

As a dialogue partner Mark was meticulous and clear in his thinking, and had the extraordinary gift of finding common ground while honouring to the fullest his own Catholic position. So many of us remember his infectious sense of humour and often hilarious tales of life at the Vatican. He was always a convivial companion around a glass of wine or over dinner. 

In early January as he was moved to hospice care he wrote to friends, "I would ask for no fuss, or messages. I am a firm believer in the communion of saints, and it is your love and prayers that will sustain me most at this time." 

May God now receive him into the communion of the saints in light, and grant this faithful servant eternal rest. 

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