Service joins local churches to a global call for unity,
peace
One-hundred years ago, a Roman Catholic religious order with
deep ties to two Christian faiths began an annual
”
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
”
that since has spread to join faiths and nations.
Service joins local churches to a global call for unity, peace
One-hundred years ago, a Roman Catholic religious order with deep ties to two Christian faiths began an annual “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” that since has spread to join faiths and nations.
This Sunday, it comes to Hollister for the first time in the form of a service joining many local churches. The celebration begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church off Fairview Road.
The ecumenical service (ecumenism refers to cooperation between different Christian denominations) joins San Benito County’s three Catholic parishes – St. Benedict’s, Immaculate Conception in Tres Pinos and Mission San Juan Bautista and Trinity Lutheran, United Methodist, First Presbyterian and Abundant Life Foursquare churches, all in Hollister.
The local observance was coordinated by Sr. Dolores Fenzel of St. Benedict’s. Ironically, she is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Atonement. Working with the Friars of Atonement, the two orders began the observance 100 years ago from the orders’ founding home at Graymoor in Garrison, N.Y.
The Rev. Ardyss Golden, pastor of United Methodist, said she will be one of the participants.
“I’ve invited my entire congregation to come,” Golden said. “This isn’t ordinarily the kind of service we do, but our goal is to live in peace with one another. Our goal is to recognize we have different theologies but we all honor the same God, and we need to honor one another.”
“We’ll pray for Christian unity and peace in our world,” she said. “When I first went to the Ministerial Association, they thought that it was quite Catholic but it isn’t supposed to be.”
A choir from St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Seaside will sing hymns intended to bridge denominations, she said.
As Fenzel explains it, the Friars and Sisters of Atonement were established as Episcopal orders in Graymoor, just across the river from West Point.
The founders, Sr. Lurana White and Fr. Paul Wattson, became convinced that one of their major tasks was to pray and work for Christian unity. It was in 1908 that Fr. Paul began the “Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity,” an eight-day observance.
A year later, the orders were accepted into the Catholic Church, but the mission of ecumenism remained.
“Fr. Paul took very seriously the prayer we hear over and over at church – that we all be one,” Fenzel said. “It went past our church because Fr. Paul never excluded people.”
Golden said participation among members of her church is a way of honoring the centennial of the ecumenical effort, and of honoring Wattson.
While participating in the global observance is new in San Benito County, ecumenism is part of the local religious landscape.
“There’s a group of pastors who meet every Wednesday,” Golden said. “We have monthly events called ‘Holy Stirs’ at different churches in Hollister.” The name, coined by the Rev. Rudy Ruiz of St. Benedict’s, is a play on Hollister’s name meant to embrace both the idea of blending religious communities and stirring faith.
After the Vatican II Council transformed much Catholic dogma in the early 1960s, the move to embrace many churches grew, she said, until the World Council of Churches began coordinating it. This year’s week is from Jan. 18 to 25.
Further information may be obtained through the St. Benedict’s pastoral office, 637-9212.
