The Church Unity Octave

(January 25, 2010) We celebrate the Church Unity Octave in the third week of January. At the very heart of the ecumenical movement is the reality of prayer. Jesus prayed that we may all be one, united in God in the mystery of the Trinity. That is the basis and the goal of our search for unity. During his Last Discourse at the Last Supper as recorded in the Gospel of John., Jesus says in his High Priestly Prayer: “Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one.” Ecumenism takes as it starting point that Christ founded just one Church, not many churches; hence the Roman Catholic Church has as its ultimate hope and objective - that through prayer, study, and dialogue, the historically separated bodies may come again to be reunited with it. Christian ecumenism, in the narrower sense referred to above, is the promotion of unity or cooperation between distinct religious groups or denominations of Christianity. Ecumenism in this broad sense is a faith movement. The interfaith movement strives for greater mutual respect, toleration, and co-operation among the world religions. Ecumenism as interfaith dialogue between representatives of diverse faiths, does not necessarily intend reconciling their adherents into full, organic unity with one another but simply to promote better relations. It promotes toleration, mutual respect and cooperation, whether among Christian denominations, or between Christianity and other faiths.
The Catholic Church sees itself as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church, founded by Christ himself. Its teachings state the proper Church of Christ is identical with the Catholic Church, thus excluding all other Christian religious groups and churches. Before the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church defined ecumenism as relations with other Christian groups in order to persuade these to return to a unity that they themselves had broken. Pursuit of unity, thus understood, was always a principal aim of the Church. At the Council of Lyon in 1274 and the Council of Florence in 1438, in which some bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Churches participated, reunion formulas were worked out that, however, failed to win acceptance by the Eastern Churches. The Roman Catholic Church even before the Second Vatican Council always considered it a duty of the highest rank to seek full unity with estranged communions of fellow-Christians, and at the same time to reject what it saw as promiscuous and false union that would mean being unfaithful to or glossing over the teaching of Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
The aim of the Second Vatican Council, as its initiator, Pope John XXIII, stated, was to seek renewal from within the Church itself, which would serve, for those separated from the see of Rome, as a "gentle invitation to seek and find that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed so ardently to his heavenly Father." The Council opened up an era of earnest endeavour not only to explain to others the Church's teaching, but also to understand their outlook. While the Roman Catholic Church sees itself as the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Christ himself, it recognizes that elements of salvation are found in other churches also. The Second Vatican Council's document, Lumen Gentium, 8, states that the sole church of Christ as "subsists in or exists in" rather than simply "is identical with" the Catholic Church. Significant agreements have been achieved on baptism, ministry and the Eucharist with Anglican theologians. With Lutheran bodies a similar agreement has been reached on the theology of justification. These landmark documents have brought closer fraternal ties with those churches. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity lasts from January 18th until January 25th and is a time when Christians of all groups are called to pray for the unity of the Church. Pope Leo XIII had asked for Catholics to pray for Christian unity and in 1897 established the continual recitation of a novena. The actual dates of the week of prayer were established by Spencer Jones, an Anglican priest and Lewis Wattson, an Episcopal priest who later converted to Catholicism. They suggested the dates of January 18-25 to begin with the old date of the Confession or Chair of St. Peter and end on the feast of Conversion of St. Paul, holy days within the Church year. Pope Pius X approved the new octave and extended its observance throughout the whole of the Catholic Church. Paul Couturier, a Frenchman, is well known for popularizing the week. The links below explain more of the history of the octave and served as sources for this brief introduction. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity invites the whole Christian community throughout the world to pray in communion with the prayer of Jesus “that they all may be one”.
In 1966, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat /Council for Promoting Christian Unity began collaborating as a common international text for worldwide usage. The theme for the annual celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was prepared and announced by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. Every year the theme is given in advance to help people to pray for the Unity in the Church. The theme for the 2010 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is You Are Witnesses of These Things. It comes from Luke's gospel Chapter 24 verse 48. This is also the theme which Scottish Christians have chosen to celebrate the centenary of the Edinburgh Mission Conference. One of our main concerns as Catholics is the unity of the entire Christian community because of the vast amount of theology, practice, and morality that we have in common. We also pray for the unity of all Christians. We try to promote these goals through honest dialogue about areas where we disagree and working together where we agree. Following the words of Pope John Paul II, we at Ancient and Future Catholics want to "breathe with both lungs." We believe the best way to achieve unity between Orthodox and Catholics is twofold: prayer and mutual understanding. This is also how we will accomplish greater unity with our Protestant brothers and sisters. On Ancient and Future Catholics we have always worked towards mutual understanding and now we want to make prayer for visible unity another primary focus.
Several suggestions have been made for these 8 days. The first obvious activity is prayer. Each day prayer suggestions are posted, but above all, special prayers are made for visible unity between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and with other churches as well. Secondly, readings are provided from both Eastern and Western Christian writers. This purpose is to help each side become more acquainted with the riches involved in the Western and Eastern heritage. This will also include liturgical texts. Finally, practical suggestions are put forward for better relations with individual Orthodox and Catholics, principles which apply also to better and cordial relationships with Protestants. Although the primary focus is on Catholic-Orthodox relations, the secondary focus will be prayer for the unity of all Christians and the conversion of non-Christians. This effort is not officially associated with any diocese or parish and Christians are called upon to be loyal to the Magisterium and bishops. Ecumenism leads simply to laymen trying to live out our faith. It is a real blessing when there’s unity of purpose and action in any group, from the basic family to the nation as a whole. When there’s unity for a good purpose, then wonderful things can happen. It’s said of great teams that their unity and focusing on victory have a huge bearing on their success. If this is time in the social and natural order, it is all the more necessary in the area of Church, and among the followers of Christ. Indeed, Jesus himself stressed this vital requirement in his teaching. In the context of the Last Supper and the Bread of Eucharist, he prayed to his Father that “all may be one”. The presence of unity is expressed in terms of what truth his followers believe in; also the ways they pray and worship God, and finally in the manner they are led as a believing community.
The Church Unity Octave was first observed in January, 1908. Celebrated in the chapel of a small Atonement Franciscan Convent of the Protestant Episcopal Church, on a remote hillside fifty miles from New York City, this new prayer movement caught the imagination of others beyond the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement to become an energetic movement that gradually blossomed into a worldwide observance involving many nations and millions of people. Two American Episcopalians, Father Paul James Wattson and Sister Lurana White, co-founders of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, were totally committed to the reunion of the Anglican Communion with the Roman Catholic Church. As such, they started a prayer movement that explicitly prayed for the return of non-Catholic Christians to the Holy See. Needless to say, such an observance would attract few of our separated brothers and sisters except for a small number of Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics themselves. In 1907 Jones suggested that a day be set aside for prayer for Christian unity. Fr. Paul Wattson agreed with the concept but offered the idea of an octave of prayer between the Feast of St. Peter's Chair on January 18 and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25.
When Fr. Paul and Sr. Lurana became Roman Catholics, Pope Pius X gave his blessing to the Church Unity Octave and in 1916; Pope Benedict XV extended its observance to the universal church. This recognition by papal authority gave the Octave its impetus throughout the Roman Catholic Church. In 1924, Pope Pius XI asked the Benedictine religious to make it their special task to pray and work for Christian unity. In the 1930s Wattson changed the name “Church Unity Octave” to the “Chair of Unity Octave”, emphasizing the role of the papacy in the union of the Christian churches. In 1935 Abbé Paul Couturier, a Catholic priest in France, advocated a “Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” during which Christians would pray together ‘for the unity Christ wills by the means He wills’. Common Christian prayer for unity continued to grow throughout the world. Pope John XXIII, in 1959, in an apostolic letter, sent his approval for the universal Catholic Church to observe this Octave.
With the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965, an increasing number of Roman Catholics joined other Christians each year in January for common prayer for unity. The council’s Decree on Ecumenism, promulgated in 1964, called prayer the soul of the ecumenical movement and encouraged the observance of what is now known as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. 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 on a common international text for worldwide usage. Since 1968 these international texts, which are based on themes proposed by ecumenical groups throughout the world, have been developed, adapted and published for use in the United States by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute. To assist in this endeavour, the GEII invites contributions from ecumenists and church leaders in America. In 1966, the Vatican Secretariat and the World Council of Churches met to plan the future of the Week of Prayer and to appoint a joint working group to compile the materials. In 1973, they took a new approach for each upcoming year by having an ecumenical group in a given country make the first draft and the international group finalized it for worldwide distribution. Although the Week of Prayer developed on the fringes of any official ecumenical movements, it shows well how prayer and collaboration over time does change attitudes. The Catholic Church did not become a member of the World Council of Churches, but the two entities have worked well together in a spirit of true ecumenism.
The goal has moved beyond union with Rome to unity of thinking and practice as believers in Christ and Christianity. By 1991 an observance called Ecumenical Sunday had also become fully integrated into the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It began as a response to local councils of churches which hoped to find a common Sunday when local churches might interpret to their members the meaning and work of the ecumenical movement. In 1983, the National Council of Churches’ Governing Board urged their member communions to name such a Sunday. Eventually, conversations among organizers of the Week of Prayer and representatives of the NCC and local councils led to placing Ecumenical Sunday within the Week of Prayer context. Each year when the theme and texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity are initially prepared, the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute prepares the present resources for the observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Common prayer for Christian Unity dates back to 1840 when Ignatius Spencer, then an Anglican priest (who later converted to Catholicism), along with John Henry Newman (who later became Cardinal Newman), and Edward Pusey, also of the Anglican Church devised a plan for prayer of unity and for unity. While some clergy used the prayer with their congregations, the Anglican bishops mostly ignored the plan. In 1846, the Evangelical Alliance convened and formulated a week of prayer for worldwide use in January of 1847. Pope Leo XIII, in 1897, made his own effort in this area with a decree that ordered prayer from Ascension to Pentecost (10 days) “for reconciliation with our separated brethren.” The idea did not catch on among Catholics. Only after the Second Vatican Council, the Movement gained momentum and today it is strengthened by the support of the Popes.
There have been several questions as to why this church unity octave be celebrated and why there should be a separate week of prayer. Several answers have been given to this question. There has been a common desire to communicate God's love to the entire world. We have the mandate from God to accept that God's ultimate purpose is to unite all things in Christ. Again it is a response in obedience to the prayer of Jesus Christ "That all might be one" (John 17:21) and that "There might be one flock and one shepherd." (John 10:16). It is the spirit of the church to acknowledge that Christ is the only one who can reconcile all things and people, and that Christ's people must pray for this reconciliation. Further a desire to show the Church as foretaste, instrument and sign of the unity of God's Kingdom. Theologically and traditionally to accept that the Christian Church can only be the Church that God intended if all churches acknowledge their mutual interdependence. Today the Movement has received a positive support from all Christian denominations, keeping in mind the mandate of Jesus that all those who follow him become one. This unity is essential particularly in today’s globalised world when more and more challenges come to us from other religions and materialistic ideologies. In this context Cardinal Mercier says: “In order to unite with one another, we must love one another; in order to love one another, we must know one another; in order to know one another, we must go and meet one another.” The Church Unity Octave is indeed a positive step in building up our faith and living the call of Jesus Christ.