By Catholic Register staff, Canadian Catholic News
[Toronto – CCN] – The 2025 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity unfolds during the Year of Jubilee and just as the Canadian Catholic bishops begin a focus on a new strategic plan to strengthen ecumenical and interfaith initiatives across the country.
The observance of the week of prayer in communities across the country from Jan. 18 to 26 again provides opportunities for Christians of many denominations to unite in faith and prayer.
The World Council of Churches said the week of prayer is “a unique opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the common faith of Christians, as expressed in the Creed formulated during this Council (of Nicaea), a faith that remains alive and fruitful in our time. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025 offers an invitation to draw on this shared heritage and to enter more deeply into the faith that unites all Christians.”
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) recently unveiled a new vision for encouraging unity among Christians, building on dialogue and collaboration between the Catholic Church and other Christian traditions.
Last June, the bishops’ National Commission for Christian Unity held a forum for dialogue chaired by Regina Archbishop Donald Bolen. The forum was a step towards a comprehensive national ecumenical and interfaith strategy, including plans to bolster ecumenical structures within the Canadian Catholic community.
Bolen said that inspiring the lay faithful, particularly congregants who are skeptical or indifferent to such pursuits, should be accomplished by informing them that “ecumenical enterprise is not the Church’s idea; it’s the Father’s idea.”
“It comes out of Jesus’ prayer for all His disciples to be one,” said Bolen. “We are deeply committed to that goal of unity among Jesus’ disciples. I think framing it that way: this isn’t a matter of compromise; it’s not a liberal-driven agenda. This is about being faithful to the Lord’s desire that we be one and putting ourselves at the service of that in a way that Jesus did.”
The CCCB and its partners also desire an “ecumenism of truth” with Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Jewish, Hindu, and other faith communities. Dialogues and relationship-building programs will be at the heart of augmenting this interfaith pathway.
There was also a call to observe Pope Francis’ endorsement of the Lund Principle, which affirms that ecumenical partners should act together in all matters except when deep doctrinal or other significant differences require separate denominational approaches.
Finally, the bishops and their allies seek a greater spiritual ecumenism by praying for unity at greater frequency, adding more ecumenical prayer services and identifying new opportunities for encountering Christians of different denominations.
Bolen said, “We do see that there’s much that we can do together that we don’t presently do.” He said much could be accomplished “in terms of common witness, common mission, common study and formation, engagement in the public sphere and taking care of the poor.”
Related: CCCB media release about Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – LINK

During a Clergy Study Day held Jan. 21 in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, guest speaker Archbishop Donald Bolen spoke about a strategic vision to increase ecumenical engagement in Catholic parishes. (Photo by Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News)
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