Meeting of Priests, Pastors and Lay leaders of both Catholic and Protestant churches of Davao City, held in United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) meeting room, on January 7, 2025.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025
How wonderful and inspiring to see both Catholics and Protestants come together in prayer and fellowship! Every year, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is held from January 18 to 25. Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of St. John 17:11, says, “… that they may be one, even as we are one.” How can we Christians who are followers of Christ attain fullness of unity as Christians? Perhaps, we cannot attain this in our lifetime but certainly, we are moving forward.
In the international level, in the Catholic Church, we have the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity based in Vatican and for the protestants, they have the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches based in Geneva, Switzerland. These two groups formed an ecumenical team to prepare the materials that serve as guide for the use of the ecumenical prayer.
This year 2025 celebration of the Week of Prayer is indeed providential since, “we will be celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the first Christian Ecumenical Council held in Nicaea, near Constantinople in 325 A.D. This commemoration provides a unique opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the common faith of Christians.” The theme of the celebration this year is taken from the Gospel of St. John 11:26, “Do you believe this?”
In the Archdiocese of Davao, we organized the schedule of the Prayer and Fellowship of the celebration from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. in the following churches:
1.) January 18, 2025, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, La Verna, 2.) Lutheran Church, Matina Aplaya, 3.) Ateneo de Davao University, Jacinto St., 4.) Iglesia Filipina Independiente, F. Torres St, 5.) Episcopal Church of Davao, MacArthur Highway, Matina, 6.) United Christ of Church in the Philippines Crossroads, Bonifacio St., 7.) United Methodist Church, Obrero, and 8.) San Antonio de Padua Parish, Agdao.
This forthcoming celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the archdiocese is expected to enhance fraternal collaboration, goodwill and friendship among followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Fr. Pedro Lamata)
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