The portrayal of Martin Luther and Henry VIII suggest they are on the same level in the Reformation. This is not true. Luther founded a new church. Henry did nothing of the kind. What he did was to set in motion events in the ancient Church of England which led to the breaking of the ties with Rome during the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth I. Those ties were broken by Pope Pius V when, in 1570, in response to the Act of Supremacy, he declared the queen deposed and excommunicated.

The Anglican Communion is a branch of the Catholic Church and is not a "denomination." Though it has been said of Henry that he was every inch a king but never attained the stature of a gentleman, he can be accused of many dreadful things, but not of founding a church!

If the Concordat of Agreement with the Lutheran church is approved by both churches, it will confer catholic holy orders on the Lutheran church and may help to bring the Episcopal Church back to the practice of the faith.

(The Rev. Canon) Robert S.S. Whitman Lenox, Mass.