The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2021 was prepared by the Monastic Community of Grandchamp. The theme that was chosen,“Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit,” is based on John 15:1-17 and expresses Grandchamp Community’s vocation to prayer, reconciliation and unity in the church and the human family.
In the 1930s a number of Reformed women from French-speaking Switzerland who belonged to a group known as the “Ladies of Morges” rediscovered the importance of silence in listening to the Word of God. At the same time they revived the practice of spiritual retreats to nourish their life of faith, inspired by the example of Christ who went apart to a lonely place to pray. They were soon joined by others who took part in regularly organized retreats in Grandchamp, a small hamlet near the shores of Lake Neuchâtel. It became necessary to provide a permanent presence of prayer and welcome for the growing number of guests and retreatants.
Mary Marrocco: Christian unity urgent for suffering world Fr. Paul Wattson, co-founder of the Society of the Atonement in Graymoor, N.Y., is pictured in an undated photo. CNS photo/courtesy Society of the Atonement, Graymoor
Mary Marrocco: Christian unity urgent for suffering world By Mary Marrocco December 23, 2020
“Little voice?” I thought. “I don’t have a little voice.”
So I was astonished to find myself listening to my little voice. I did have one; how had I not noticed all these years? Suddenly I was invited to “walk in a larger place” (Psalm 31). The only way to find out the truth of it was to try it led and supported by the community.
Preface
The ministry entrusted to the bishop is a service of unity both within his diocese and of unity between the local church and the universal church. That ministry therefore has special significance in the search for the unity of all Christ’s followers. The bishop’s responsibility for promoting Christian unity is clearly affirmed in the Code of Canon Law of the Latin Church among the tasks of his pastoral office: “He is to act with humanity and charity toward the brothers and sisters who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church and is to foster ecumenism as it is understood by the Church” (Can 383 §3 CIC 1983). In this respect, the bishop cannot consider the promotion of the ecumenical cause as one more task in his varied ministry, one that could and should be deferred in view of other, apparently more important, priorities. The bishop’s ecumenical engagement is not an optional dimension of his ministry but a duty and obligation. This appears even more clea