“You shall love the Lord your God…and your neighbour as yourself”
– Luke 10:27
By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was marked in Saskatoon Jan. 18-25 with a range of events bringing together Christians from many denominations and backgrounds to pray, reflect, and celebrate.
“The materials for the 2024 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were prepared by an ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community (CCN),” noted Saskatoon’s Prairie Centre for Ecumenism on their website. “Ecumenical friends from the Catholic Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, Protestant churches, ecumenical bodies and the CCN in Burkina Faso collaborated generously in drafting the prayers and reflections and experienced their work together as a real path of ecumenical conversion.”
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As a tangible expression of the Week of Prayer theme to love God and neighbour, the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism was collecting hats and mitts at the week’s events for an overnight warm-up location established this year at St. Mary Catholic Church in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhood in an ecumenical partnership between St. Mary Parish and the Salvation Army.

Representatives from the ecumenical community led an annual prayer service on Thursday, Jan. 18 at Queen’s House, Saskatoon. (Photo by Tim Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News)
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity events began in Saskatoon with a worship service Jan. 18 at Queen’s House of Retreat and Renewal, the retreat house operated by the Catholic order the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which is set to close this summer. Worship leaders for the Queen’s House celebration included Rev. Don Schweitzer, Dianne Mantyka, Lynn Gow, Diane Waldbillig, PCE Executve Director Cathryn Wood, Elaine Zakreski, Martha Fergusson, Cindy Lewans, PM, Brenda Gibbs, homilist Rev. Marie-Louise Ternier; and music leaders Sarah Donnelly, Michelle Dinter-Lipinski and Norm Lipinski. The service was followed by lunch.
A Sunday afternoon ecumenical worship service was held Jan. 21 at First Mennonite Church, with homilist Rev. Dr. Iain Luke, Principal of Emmanuel and St. Chad, Saskatoon, and worship leaders Rev. Paul Matheson, PCE Executive Director Cathryn Wood, Rod Epp, Mary Nordick, and Martha Fergusson. Later that evening, a youth event with supper and activities was held at Zion Lutheran Church.

A Sunday afternoon ecumenical prayer service was held Jan. 21 at First Mennonite Church, with homilist Rev. Dr. Iain Luke, Principal of Emmanuel and St. Chad, Saskatoon. (Photo by Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News)
A tradition of early morning worship services to pray for Christian unity at different churches in Saskatoon (followed by breakfast) continued this year. Morning services were held at St. Paul United Church Jan. 19, St. Stephen Anglican Church Jan. 23, Holy Covenant Evangelical Orthodox Church Jan. 24, and St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Jan. 25.

A morning worship service at Holy Covenant Evangelical Orthodox Church Jan. 24, with a reflection by Bishop Jakob Palm, was followed by breakfast — one of several early morning events held during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Saskatoon. (Photo by Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News)
De Margerie Series
The DeMargerie Series for Christian Reconciliation and Unity was also held during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, with events online and in-person, held in both Saskatoon and Regina. The theme was “Grassroots Ecumenism” with featured speaker Rev. Dr. Karen Petersen Finch, an ecumenical theologian in the Reformed tradition who specializes in dialogue with Roman Catholic theology at the local, national, and international levels and author of the book “Grassroots Ecumenism: The Way of Local Christian Reunion.”
“Re-imagining Lay People as Stewards of Doctrine” was presented Jan. 24 at Campion College, Regina and is available on video at:
“Doctrine as the Fuel of Renewal” was presented Jan. 25 at St. Thomas More College, Saskatoon and is available at:
Named in honour of Fr. Bernard de Margerie, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon who has dedicated his life in ministry to the promotion of Christian unity, the series continued with an in-person workshop with Petersen, entitled “The Eucharist: Where is Jesus,” presented Jan. 26 in Saskatoon and Jan. 27 in Regina.
A follow-up online “Grassroots Ecumenism” book study is also being organized by the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, to be held on Zoom 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 1, Feb. 8, and Feb. 15; for information e-mail admin@pcecumenism.ca.
Jesus prayed that his followers would all be one (cf. Jn 17:21), and so Christians cannot lose hope or stop praying and working for unity. Christians are united by their love of God in Christ and by the experience of knowing God’s love for them. They recognize this faith experience in one another when they pray, worship and serve God together…. During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we ask the Lord to come to our assistance, to tend our wounds and so enable us to walk the way of ecumenism with confidence and hope. (Excerpt from WPCU 2024 resources)
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Kiply Lukan Yaworski is the communications coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon – rcdos.ca