January 22, 2013
Each year the churches throughout the world observe a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from January 18-25. How did this come about?
It was originally called The Church Unity Octave and was put in place in January 1908 by two American Episcopalians, Father Paul James Wattson and Sister Lurana White, co-founders of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement. They favored the reunion of the Anglican Communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and toward that end they started a prayer movement. Father Paul located the octave between the Feast of St. Peter’s Chair on January 18 and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25.
When Father Paul and Sister Lurana became Roman Catholics, Pope Pius X gave his blessing to the Church Unity Octave and in 1916, Pope Benedict XV extended its observance to the universal church. This recognition by papal authority gave the Octave its impetus throughout the Roman Catholic Church.
Not surprisingly, however, the “return to Rome” focus was off-putting for many other Christians. In 1935, another priest who felt a passion for unity among the followers of Jesus, Abbé Paul Couturier of the Archdiocese of Lyons in France, began to share his vision of a more inclusive approach to the octave of prayer, one that would be more inviting for Christians everywhere. Until his death in 1953, Abbé Paul send out annual calls for Christians to pray for unity “as Christ wills, and when he wills it.”
Couturier’s approach would gain steam when several years later Pope John XXIII called for the Second Vatican Council. Its eventual Decree on Ecumenism said:
“In certain special circumstances, such as in prayer services for unity and during ecumenical gatherings, it is allowable, indeed desirable, that Catholics should join in prayer with their separated brethren. Such prayers in common are certainly a very effective means of petitioning for the grace of unity, and they are a genuine expression of the ties which even now bind Catholics to their separated brethren.”
When the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity issued the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism in 1993, it explicitly encouraged participation in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Over time, the Week of Prayer engaged many other denominational churches in countries around the globe. Today, it belongs to all Christians who are sincerely interested in the fulfillment of Christ’s prayer “that all may be one” (John 17:21)
It is sponsored by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. Each year, Christians in a different country are invited to chose a scriptural theme for the Week of Prayer. National offices devoted to the work for Christian unity develop materials around this theme for use in both communal prayer services and daily personal prayer.
In the U.S., materials for the celebration of the Week of Prayer are the work of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute in collaboration with the Commission on Faith and Order of the National Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
The theme for the Week of prayer for 2013 is the simple question from Micah 6:6-8: “What is required of us?” The World Council of Churches invited the Student Christian Movement of India to prepare the resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the Movement involved the All India Catholic University Federation and the National Council of Churches in India.
The context of India for the theme is an apt one in that the quest for Christian unity cannot be disassociated from issues of social injustice. The Dalits of India are the people most affected by the caste system, a rigid form of social stratification. The effects of this treatment on the Dalits has been social marginalization, political under-representation, economic exploitation and cultural subjugation. The situation facing the people of God in Micah is similar to that of the Dalit community in India.
Micah reminds us that true faith in God is inseparable from the desire for personal holiness and social justice. As Christians we are reminded that our own reconciliation in Christ calls us to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God”. If we speak and act for Christian unity, we must also speak and act for social justice.
Hopefully, there will be a service in your area this year in which you can add your prayers to those of Christians around the world.
Father Thomas Ryan, CSP, directs the Paulist North American Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in Washington, D.C.