International Commission Meets at Graymoor to Finalize Texts for 2008 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Garrison, NY, September 2006
Each year since 1968, an international commission appointed by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity meets to finalize the prayers and texts that will be used to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Until 2007, the group has always met in Europe. From September 25-30, 2006, they met at Graymoor in Garrison, NY - the place founded by the man who first selected the dates now used for the Week of Prayer observance.
One hundred years ago, Fr. Paul Wattson, then an Episcopal priest and co-founder of the Society of the Atonement, chose the eight days between January 18 and January 25 as a time to pray for unity in the Christian church. He called the observance the Church Unity Octave and, beginning in 1908, devoted much time and resources to spread his message of unity. In October 1909, the Society was received corporately into full communion with the Catholic Church and Fr. Paul continued to work towards his vision of unity.
Since then, the observance has changed to reflect changes in the Catholic church's involvement in the ecumenical movement. Thanks to the insight of Abbé Paul Couturier in 1930s, the practice of praying for other Christians to return to the church of Rome slowly became a universal movement of prayer that included all Christians praying with each other for the unity of the Church as willed by Christ. With the advent of Vatican II, the Catholic Church officially joined in with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as it was being celebrated by the World Council of Churches and shortly thereafter began collaborating in the formulation of the common texts to be used.
Last week, members of the International Joint Theological Commission appointed for the editing of the 2008 texts gathered at Graymoor, the motherhouse for the Society of the Atonement, to go line by line through the materials submitted for the 2008 observance. They visited and prayed at the site of the first Church Unity Octave Observance, at the Our Lady of the Angels Chapel. The initial draft of material was prepared by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, New York, NY, USA, Father James Loughran, SA, Director, in consultation with Dr. Ann Riggs, Executive Director of the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ USA; Dr. Keelan Downton, Doctoral Fellow; the Reverend James Massa, Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Ms. Susan Dennis, President of the Interchurch Center, New York, NY, USA.
Members of the International Joint Theological Commission are: Rev. Dr. Klaus Peter Voss, a German Baptist, representing the working group of Christian Churches in Germany; Rev. Nicolas Derrey, Catholic, representing the Ecumenical Commission.of the French Bishops' Conference; Msgr. Don Bolen, the Vatican official heading the Catholic delegation; Rev. Franck Lemaître, OP, from the Center Unité Chrétienne; Mrs. Carolyn McComish, Faith and Order Commission; Rev. Andrew Scobie, Presbyterian, representing Churches together in England and Ireland; Rev. Joachim Tsopanoglou, a Greek Orthodox priest from France; Rev. Kersten Storch, Faith and Order Commission; Rev. Dr. Thomas Best, Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches; and V. Rev. James F. Puglisi, SA, Minister General, Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. The materials they finalized will be adapted around the world by local parishes of all denominations celebrating in 2008.
