Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Diocesan Press Service. November 8, 1963 [XV-7]
Christians around the world - Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox - will pray together during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25, 1964. Leaflets distributed for the annual observance last year topped the two million mark.
The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches sponsors the international observance. The Association United Chretien in Lyon, France, promotes the observance among Roman Catholics. The same prayers, meditations, and intercessions are used by the two groups.
In the United States the leaflets are available from the New York Office of the World Council of Churches, 475 Riverside Drive, New York 27, N.Y., at $2 per hundred.
The leaflet, which will be translated into dozens of languages, has as its theme for 1964 "The great shepherd of the sheep" (Heb. 13:20). The introduction to the leaflet points out "we do not live together as his one flock."
"We all invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are his people, a single people, and yet still unable to glorify him and praise him in unity. We are called to share one hope, and we often talk about it, but we are unable to live together in it," the Week of Prayer material says.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed in many different ways in different parts of the world. It has become the occasion for new ecumenical endeavors such as interconfessional prayer vigils, Bible study, retreats, and conferences aimed at better mutual understanding.