wfn.org | Canadian Council of Churches offers resources for ecumenical week

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

Council offers resources for ecumenical prayer week
Leanne Larmondin
Website Manager

Toronto -- October 21, 1999

In the midst of so many Jubilee events and celebrations, another popular
annual event -- the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity -- is fast
approaching and Canadian parishes of all denominations will have no
shortage of resources to help them celebrate.

The Canadian week (each country is invited to set its own dates), January
23 - 30, 2000, has as its theme Gathered in Christ/Rassemblés dans le
Christ. As it has done for about 20 years, the Canadian Council of Churches
(CCC) is offering a resource kit to individuals and parishes wishing to be
involved in the ecumenical week.

Expanding on the week's theme, a CCC background information webpage
explains that the excerpt from Ephesians "encourages us to reflect on the
very heart of our faith, on all that we have in common notwithstanding our
divisions.

"We have been complacent about our divisions, even proud of them. Even
after rediscovering how much we have in common we have been reluctant to
recognize the implications and do together all that can be done together. "

Eileen Scully, associate secretary for faith and witness for the CCC, said
a working group began developing its own resource kit years ago at the
suggestion of the World Council of Churches, which backs the worldwide
celebration. The WCC offers its own very general resources, but "They send
them to the regions and say 'please adapt to your local context,'" said Ms.
Scully, an Anglican.

"What this working group in Canada does is wildly expand those resources.
We have some additional materials; for example, the WCC doesn't have
anything for youth or any intergenerational stuff, so we provide some of
that. We do translation. Sometimes the ecumenical worship service
(suggested by the WCC) needs to be adapted to language and phraseology that
is Canadian."

The working group uses feedback from response forms sent out with the kits
to make changes to the resources each year. That way, said Ms. Scully, the
kit contents are user-driven.

The Gathered in Christ/Rassemblés dans le Christ kit consists of an
ecumenical worship service, masters for photocopying, daily Bible
reflections, resources for Bible study and sermon preparation, suggestions
for activities with children and youth, bulletin covers, a poster and
suggestions for prayer throughout the year.

A worldwide, ecumenical event, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began
on a smaller scale in 1908 in an Episcopal (Anglican) church in Graymoor,
N.Y. Originally christened the Church Unity Week, it was one priest's
attempts at Anglican and Roman Catholic reunion. Marked from the Feast of
the Chair of Peter (then January 18) through the Feast of the Conversion of
St. Paul (January 25), it was eventually called the Church Unity Octave,
since there were actually eight days between the two feasts.

It wasn't until 1926 that it was proposed that more Christian churches pray
together for unity. Nine years later, a Roman Catholic priest in France
campaigned for a Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; in the
mid-1960s, the Second Vatican Council declared prayer the "soul of the
ecumenical movement" and encouraged the observance of the Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity, as it is recognized today.

In past years, Canadians have recognized the week in various ways,
including each church in a community taking turns holding an ecumenical
service for all faiths each night of the week.
In one testimonial on the CCC's website

<http://www.web.net/~ccchurch/cfw-week2000.html>, a participant from
Edmonton says the activities have brought the denominations in that
community closer together. "We have gone beyond doing ecumenical things to
being ecumenical people. We have taken the time to develop real
relationships with each other, that allow us to address difficult issues in
a climate of respect."

The CCC has set up a website for the kit, where orders may be placed. The
publisher of the Canadian kit is offering savings on purchases made before
November 15, 1999.

Links:

-- Ordering information for Gathered in Christ/ Rassemblés dans le Christ
resource kit
<http://www.web.net/~ccchurch/cfw-weekcover00.html>

-- CCC background information on Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
<http://www.web.net/~ccchurch/cfw-week2000.html>

--  "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Theme for Year 2000 Announced" --
WCC press release
<http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/news/press/98/31pre.html>

-- WCC online resource materials for Week of Prayer
<http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop2000.html>

For more information, contact Eileen Scully, Canadian Council of Churches,
(416) 232-6070 ext. 2022.

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