By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News

Fond memories of early-morning worship services at different Saskatoon churches during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were shared at a recent 40th anniversary celebration for the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, founded in Saskatoon in 1984.

At the 40th anniversary celebration Nov. 22, 2024, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism Board Chair Mary Nordick pointed to the early-morning gatherings on cold and dark prairie mornings in January as times filled with the warmth of fellowship and the joy of re-connecting with friends from other Christian traditions.

Rev. Dr. Sandra Beardsall – a United Church minister and professor emeritus of Church History and Ecumenics who has been involved in the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism (PCE)  in various ways over the past 25 years — also shared memories of those early morning gatherings.

“I think those will stay with me all my life,” she said. “I would get up and say ‘what am I doing? It is minus 30!’ And then there would be this beautiful prayer service, and breakfast, and friends … there is something so precious about that praying together early, early in the morning.”

Schedule for 2025 Week of Prayer

Once again this year, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity events coordinated by the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism (PCE) includes the traditional early morning weekday worship services: the 2025 events will be held at 8 a.m. at different churches from Monday to Friday, Jan. 20 to 24, with prayer followed by a light breakfast each day.

The schedule includes worship services at St. Matthew Anglican Church on Monday, Jan. 20; Mount Royal Mennonite Church on Tuesday, Jan. 21; Dormition Ukrainian Catholic Church on Wednesday, Jan. 22; St. Philip Neri Catholic Church on Thursday, Jan. 23; and St. Martin United Church on Friday, Jan. 24.

In her remarks at the PCE anniversary celebration held Nov. 22 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Nordick also noted the joy experienced organizing the first “Sing We Joyous Altogether” ecumenical hymn-singing event held in Saskatoon a number of years ago, where participants from many traditions “realized how much we do have in common” in exploring each other’s musical treasures.

Music is again the focus of a 2025 event as well, with “Singing into Unity” held Saturday, Jan. 18 at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Saskatoon.

De Margerie Series

During the PCE anniversary program, speakers recalled the contributions and impact of the centre’s founder Fr. Bernard de Margerie, who died in March 2024.

This year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will again include the De Margerie Series for Christian Reconciliation and Unity, named in honour of the Saskatoon priest who served as PCE director for some 10 years, and who dedicated his life to promoting and seeking Christian unity.

The theme of the 2025 De Margerie Series is “Here Comes Nicea,” with guest speaker Rev. Dr. Sandra Beardsall considering ecumenism in light of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

The De Margerie Series will include two public lectures held in person and live-streamed at  www.youtube.com/@stm1936: “Nicea – Are We Ready For Visible Unity?” 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22 at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, and “Nicea – Are We Ready to Share the Apostolic Faith Tradition?” 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23 at Campion College in Regina.

A De Margerie Series Public Workshop “Bringing Nicea Home: Are We Ready to Let It Shape Parish Life?” will also be held, in-person only, in both Regina (10 am to noon Jan. 24 at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Regina) and in Saskatoon (10 a.m. to noon Jan. 25 at Holy Covenant Evangelical Orthodox Church, Saskatoon, followed by a light lunch.) There is no cost, and no pre-registration required.

In Saskatoon the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will conclude with a worship service at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26 at McClure United Church, 4025 Taylor Street West, with preacher Bishop Michael Smolinski, CSsR, of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Saskatoon – LINK

Saskatoon Bishop Mark Hagemoen message for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – LINK

Impact of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism

Director Cathryn Wood was MC for the 40th anniversary program in November, which included a number of speakers reflecting on the history and uniqueness of the Prairie Centre of Ecumenism as well as citing the ongoing impact of a range of initiatives, programs and events over the past 40 years.

 

Former PCE Director Nicholas Jesson of Regina noted the uniqueness of the centre in its focus on local grassroots ecumenism and on ecumenical education. “There are so many ways that the ecumenical formation that happens here has impacted the church across the country,” he stressed.

Recalling his own time as director, from 1994 to 1999, Jesson listed a range of initiatives, including the ecumenical dialogue undertaken by a local committee that created bulletin inserts that were shared in the thousands. He also described the personal impact of de Margerie’s support for inter-church families, made up of couples from different Christian traditions living out their marriage ecumenically, as well as the impact of the centre’s ecumenical education and formation initiatives, such as a Summer Ecumenical Institute that ran for many years.

Another former Director, Rev. Jan Bigland-Pritchard recalled the impact of the 2008 “Remembering the Children” national tour, which was able to be held in Saskatoon largely because of the relationships that had been built up between Christian churches, thanks to the existence of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism.

That historic 2008 event laid the groundwork for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that followed a few years later. “The reason we could do that and do it well, was because the network was already there. The people already knew each other and could move into high gear without a lot of formalities,” Bigland-Pritchard said noting it was “something which I think was important to the history of Canada.”

The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism has been a visible sign of the work for Christian unity over the past 40 years, said Bishop Emeritus Allan Grundahl of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. “It is a visible sign that many people of different backgrounds and many kinds of Christian faith can work together and appreciate each other, and it does help to have an almighty God that can help us all be together!”

Fr. Kevin McGee, Vicar-General for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, who brought greetings from Bishop Mark Hagemoen to the anniversary celebration, also shared  his own personal witness of ecumenical shared outreach, with St. Mary Catholic Church again partnering with the Salvation Army to open its hall as an overnight warm-up shelter for those in need. “For me our hearts do not beat more closely than when they are beating together with the heart of Jesus, and Jesus has a love for the poor,” said McGee.

Looking to the future

Reflecting on the future of the PCE,  Chair Mary Nordick addressed a suggestion that after the ecumenical advances of the past 40 years, perhaps the work of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism is finished. Instead, reflection and discernment shows the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism is needed more than ever. “We have barely begun. We are just starting,” Nordick said.

“We’ve laid the groundwork for working together, now we come to the more difficult questions. The time to come together – knowing each other, respecting each other – continues, always with the hope that we are following the Lord’s request that ‘All would be one,’” she said. “Hopefully the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism will be around for another 40 years.”

Bigland-Pritchard added: “Working out the vocation of ecumenism looks different now that it did 40 years ago. But the call to know each other across all kinds of divides, and to work together to seek the Kingdom of God through his son Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, remains. “

40th Anniversary Photo Gallery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Kiply Lukan Yaworski is the communications coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon – rcdos.ca. Ecumenism, Communications, and Catholic Saskatoon News are supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca/baa.