Theme Announced for 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

GARRISON, N.Y. - April 8, 2016 - PRLog -- Each year, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement organize and help promote the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Together, Christian communities around the world use the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to share ideas for ecumenical education and celebration. From January 18-25 in 1908, Servant of God Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, and Mother Lurana White, SA, co-founders of the Society of the Atonement at Graymoor, celebrated the first Church Unity Octave. This eight-day period of prayers and seminars focused on the cause of Christian unity. They wrote letters and articles encouraging others to pray with them "that all may be one … that the world may believe" (John 17:21).  In the late 1960s, the Octave was joined with other prayer movements to form what is now observed worldwide as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Rev. Thomas Orians, SA, Associate Director of the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute (GEII) said, "The year 2017 is the occasion of the 500th anniversary year of the beginnings of the Reformation. The theme "Reconciliation - The Love of Christ Compels Us" (2 Corinthians 5:14-20) has been selected in consideration of this anniversary. The materials for the 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has two accents: reflection upon the main concerns of the churches marked by Martin Luther's Reformation and recognition of the pain caused by the subsequent deep divisions that afflicted the unity of the Church. In selecting this theme, it is viewed as an opportunity to take steps toward reconciliation."

"The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017 finds its scriptural context in 2 Corinthians. 5:14," said Rev. Orians. "This year's theme finds its origins in Pope Francis' 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel); in Paragraph 9, Pope Francis used the quote: "The Love of Christ Compels Us."  The Council of Churches in Germany (ACK) took up the work of creating the resources for the 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. A committee comprised of ten members representing different churches met three times in 2014-2015 to develop the necessary texts. Within the 2017 materials there will be a particular emphasis on the ecumenical worship service for the Week, while at the same time commemorating the Lutheran Reformation.

For 2017, it should be noted that this biblical text emphasizes that reconciliation is a gift from God, intended for the entire creation. "God was reconciling the world (kosmos) to God's self in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation" (v.19). As a result of God´s action, those who have been reconciled in Christ are called in turn to proclaim this reconciliation in word and deed: "The love of Christ compels us."

The traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is January 18-25. Those dates were proposed in 1908 by Servant of God Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, Founder of the Society of the Atonement, to cover the original days of the feasts of the Chair of St. Peter (January 18) and the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25) , and therefore have a symbolic significance.  In 1966, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat (now Council) for Promoting Christian Unity began collaborating as a common international text for worldwide usage. Since 1968, these international texts, which are based on themes proposed by ecumenical groups around the world, have been developed, adapted and published for use in the United States by GEII.

Materials in both English and Spanish such as posters, prayer cards, cover art and more for the celebration in the United States of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2017 are prepared by the staff of the GEII and will be available in the Fall of 2016. GEII offers convenient secure online ordering at GEII.org/order.  Additional materials for music, publicity, preparation notes and ideas for reflection can be downloaded from the http://www.GEII.org website at no charge.