By Fr Gilbert Aranha –
Justice and only justice you shall pursue
(Deuteronomy 16:18-20)
“Dear brothers and sisters, I have desired to come here, a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace. I thank God because here I have found you, brothers and sisters already making this same journey.” These were the concluding words of Pope Francis’ address at the prayer service on June 21, 2018 when he visited World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Ecumenical Centre in Geneva to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the WCC.
The Holy Father’s ‘pilgrimage in quest of unity and peace’ is indeed “an historical milestone in the search for Christian unity and for the cooperation among the churches for a world with peace and justice,” according to Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary. It was a long journey for a Pope from Mortalium Animos to Geneva, indeed a long journey for the Roman Catholic Church! In 1928 Pope Pius XI in his Mortalium Animos had forbidden the Catholics from participating in any ecumenical initiatives.
This has to be appreciated in the historical context of the time. Today, however, the Pope himself leads the Roman Catholic Church in a pilgrimage in search of unity, nay, in search of brothers and sisters and finds them at WCC in the same pilgrimage. This heralds the common pilgrimage, all churches hand in hand marching towards the Omega point.
It is heartening to note that this ‘pilgrimage in quest for unity’ was begun in our own country. In 1806, William Carey, a Baptist Missionary working in Calcutta dreamt of a World Missionary Conference to be held in Cape Town in 1810, to be repeated every ten years. This was one of the solutions he foresaw to overcome the hurdles posed by the disunity among the churches in the mission field. It took another hundred years for his dream to be realized at the first World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 which heralded the modern ecumenical movement culminating in the founding of WWC in 1948.
The theme of Holy Father’s address on the occasion was ‘Walking, praying and working together.’ The Roman Catholic Church, since Vatican II, has joined the above ecumenical journey and found itself in Geneva praying with the WCC for unity among the Christians that facilitates the ushering of peace in the world.
Speaking on prayer, Pope Francis said, “we cannot move forward by ourselves because God’s grace is not so much tailored to fit each individual as spread harmoniously among believers who love one another. Whenever we say “Our Father”, we feel an echo within us of our being sons and daughters, but also of our being brothers and sisters. Prayer is the oxygen of ecumenism.”
The common pilgrimage, as mentioned above, is in search of Unity which is the gift of God and therefore, as Cardinal Walter Kasper says, “it is fitting that Christians pray for it together.” Vatican II states, “Such prayers in common are certainly an effective means of obtaining the grace of unity, and they are a true expression of the ties which still bind Catholics to their separated brethren,” (UR 8). In the words of Cardinal Kasper, “The celebration of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity world-wide is an initiative of singular importance to be encouraged and further developed,” (A Handbook of Spiritual Ecumensim, no. 28).
Hence, the CCBI Commission for Ecumenism is happy to forward this booklet “The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2019” soliciting all Catholics to join other Christians and pray together for the precious gift of Christian Unity which is sine qua non for witnessing to the Gospel.
As seen above, the desire for Christian Unity for the credibility of the Gospel message originated in our land in the prophetic vision of William Carey. India has been always on the forefront in ecumenical initiatives. After the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, the Ecumenical Forum of the Protestant and Orthodox Churches in India established ‘The National Council of Churches in India’ in 1914 as the National Missionary Council which in 1923 became the National Christian Council of India, Burma and Ceylon, and in 1979 became the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI).
Similar ecumenical initiatives were behind the founding of CSI in 1947, CNI in 1970, Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) in 1951 etc., the United Christian Prayer for India (UCPI) being the latest. In this fertile soil of ecumenism our ‘pilgrimage in quest of unity and peace’ would certainly help us find our ‘brothers and sisters already making this same journey.’ This is our prayer and our hope.
This year’s prayer for Christian unity has been prepared by all the churches in Indonesia. Christians belonging to various denominations who make a meager up 10% of the population of the country have chosen the theme, “Justice and only justice you shall pursue,” (Dt 16:18-20) highlighting the rampant corruption in the country that has undermined justice. As a result, “the gap between the rich and the poor has widened; and so a country rich in resources has the scandal of many people living in poverty.” In fact, “Justice is, … one of the foundational values of human society for the simple reason that the harmonious existence and its continuation in any society are wholly dependent on it,” (Fr. Andrew Anil Sequeira, OFM Cap., “Christian Moral Theology Series: Living Christian Life,” Vol. 3, p. 219). Therefore, all the Churches of Indonesia request our prayers in their united efforts in pursuit of justice. Let us support them with our prayers, especially this week.
It is now our tradition in India that the Sunday within “The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” is celebrated as “Ecumenism Sunday”. This year the ‘Ecumenism Sunday’ falls on January 20, 2019. As every year, the material for the liturgy is provided at the end of this booklet . The Commission wishes fruitful celebration of these important days and hopes that these prayers in common will go a long way in sustaining us in our pilgrimage in search of the unity so dear to the Lord.
Download the Book here: The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity- 2019
Fr. Gilbert Aranha belongs to the diocese of Mysore. He holds Masters degree in History and Political Science and has served as a Lecturer of Political Science at St. Philomena’s College, Mysore. His ecclesiastial studies include doctorate in Canon Law and Dipolma in Jurisprudence – University of Urbaniana, Rome; Diploma in Canonical Administration from the Congregation for the Clergy, Vatican; Licentiate in Ecumenism from St. Thomas Aquinas University (Angelicum), Rome. He has served in the Archdiocesan Tribunal of Kansas City in KS as the Judge and at the Mysore Diocesan Tribunal. He has served in various parishes in Italy and USA, and also has served as Chaplian in hospitals in those countries.
In the Mysore diocese he has served as Parish Priest, Director of Social Work, Secretary of Family Commission, Joint Secretary of Liturgical Commission, Founder and Director of Donum Vitae Pro-Life Programme. He is serving in the Regional Translation Commission of liturgical text into Kannada since 2012. He is the Executive Secretary of CCBI Commission for Ecumenism since 2010. He is also the Secretary and Co-Convenor of the Theologial Forum of the Untied Christian Prayer for Undia (UCPI).
He teaches Canon Law, Ecumenism, Inter-religious Dialogue, Diocesan Priests’ Spirituality, Pastoral Theology and Mariology in Major Seminaries and Religious Institutions (Prabhodhana, Pallottine Major Seminary in Mysore, Dharshan Institute of Theology in Kengeri, Bangalore, Dhyanavana & Dhynasadana Institutes in Mysore, Montfort Institute of Mariology in Bangalore).
He has written articles in a few journals and published Novena booklet in Kannada for the Nativity of Our Lady. As the Executive Secretary of Ecumenism he has been editing and publishing the Commission’s quarterly Newsletter Sampreeti and the annual booklet “The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” He has won the “Cardinal Ivan Dias Award – 2015” for his research articles in Mariology under Priests, Religious Brothers and Seminarians category.