Wilmington, Del., Feb 13, 2009 / 20:03 pm
The Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware has issued a pastoral letter noting the 200th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth, saying the president’s writings and speeches contain “some of the most profound thinking relating to religion” produced in American history.
A self-proclaimed “Lincoln Buff,” Bishop W. Francis Malooly also compared Lincoln to St. Thomas More in the pastoral letter, his first as Bishop of Wilmington.
The bishop titled his letter “Mystic Chords of Memory in the 21st Century: Remembering President Lincoln on the Bicentennial of His Birth.” The phrase ‘mystic chords of memory’ is taken from Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address.
The pastoral letter was published on the diocese’s website and in the diocesan newspaper The Dialog on Feb. 12, 2009 the 200th anniversary of President Lincoln’s birth, a press release from the diocese says.