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Graymoor Launches Website to Promote Prayer for Christian Unity
In celebration of 100 years of praying for Christian unity, the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement at Graymoor have launched a website,
www.weekofprayer2008.org,
that will encourage visitors to learn more about the history of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, share ideas for ecumenical education and celebration, and find out about centenary events planned for both 2007 and 2008.
In 1908, Fr. Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White, cofounders of the Society of the Atonement at Graymoor celebrated the first Church Unity Octave, an eight-day period of prayers and seminars focusing on the cause of Christian unity from January 18-25, 1908. They wrote letter and articles encouraging others to pray with them "that all may be one ... that the world may believe" (John 17:21). In the late 1960s, the Octave was joined with other prayer movements to form what is now observed worldwide as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25).
"Ecumenism has long been at the heart of the Society of the Atonement's mission and what better way to mark this centenary celebration than by inviting Christians everywhere to join with us in prayer," said Fr. Damian MacPherson, SA, Chair of the Graymoor's Centenary Committee and Director of Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs for the Archdiocese of Toronto. "We hope that the sharing of ideas and information on this website will spark renewed interest in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and invite communities that have not participated before in this observance to consider doing so."
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