March 10, 2010 |
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Diocese hosts ecumenical prayer event
Bishop Thomas Wenski prays alongside representatives from many Christian denominations at a prayer service for Christian unity Jan. 18 at the diocesan Chancery in Orlando. ORLANDO | Responding to Bishop Thomas Wenski’s annual invitation to “pray unceasingly” for Christian unity, they came: more than 100 representatives of various faiths and related organizations — some in clerical garb, others, street clothes. At the Diocese of Orlando Chancery on Jan.18 they sat in facing rows — joining in prayer, singing and harking to Scripture and responses offered by a mélange of clergy. Bishop Wenski's Column “Today is a significant milestone marking 100 years of (prayer for) Christian unity,” said Bishop Wenski in his welcoming remarks. “Ecumenism helps us rediscover our fraternity of brothers and sisters. What is significant is what unites us — Jesus Christ our Lord.” The Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement held the first weeklong Christian unity prayer observance in 1908 in a chapel in Garrison, N.Y. Today, Christians around the world celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity together, with the encouragement of the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. During the Orlando Diocese’s event, which marked the start of the Jan. 18-25 observance, Dr. Joel Hunter of Northland’s A Church Distributed, offered reflections on attending an ecumenical conference in Spain. “I was a token Protestant from the U.S.,” he said smiling. “The only plainclothesman. Watching the procession of attendees, I felt like a kid again viewing the arrival of the three Wise Men. Only there, the Wise Men, dressed in splendid regalia, kept coming … it became a family gathering” Father George Zina, of Orlando’s St. Jude Catholic Church, Maronite Rite, cited efforts that are working to bring unity. “Like a loving mother, the church wants to bring all her children back to her,” he said. “Today, Catholics and Orthodox in Lebanon are coming close to each other, no longer enemies.” Over lunch, Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, pointed out: “Globally, despite growing rancor among governments and peoples, Christians are sitting together at the same table. That was unthinkable 50 years ago. John Allen, of the National Catholic Reporter, calls it ‘springtime for Christianity.’” Father Massa envisions a time when, “wherever you see a church with a cross, anywhere in the world, that’s your home. That pastor is your pastor.” He closed with the WW II story of four chaplains — Catholic, Jewish and two Protestants. On a torpedoed ship, sinking in icy Atlantic waters, they surrendered their life jackets to those without them, linked arms and prayed. Their selfless act has been recognized by the issuance of a U.S. postage stamp, and a memorial at the Pentagon. “Maybe this was the beginning of real unity,” he said. Had he ever asked himself if he could have made that same sacrifice? “No, I haven’t.” But, after giving it thought, the priest quietly replied, “I couldn’t do it myself. I’d need the other three.”
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