Week of Prayer marks advance in Protestant and Catholic cooperation.

The 2005 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is scheduled for Jan. 18-25. This year the annual effort marks a new stage of cooperation between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Roman Catholic Church, the WCC reported.

For the first time, the text for the week has been jointly prepared and jointly published by the WCC Faith and Order Commission and the Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia and the secretary of the Pontifical Council Brian Farrell said that the joint work will hopefully usher in the "birth of a new era of collaboration" between the two bodies.

The theme for the week is "Christ, the One Foundation of the Church," from 1 Corinthians 3:1-23. Texts were prepared by members of the theological committee of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Slovakia. The common task of churches is to "bring the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation, peace and justice into the society," said the chairman of the council, Julius Filo, and the chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Slovakia, Frantisek Tondra, in a joint invitation to the week.

Materials for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity are available at http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop2005contents.html.

Source: 01/07/2005 Newsline