Archdiocese of Newark holds Prayer Service for the Week of Christian Unity in Paramus
The Archdiocesan service for the Week of Christian Unity was held on Sunday, Jan.22, in Our Lady of the Visitation Church in Paramus. The service, composed by the Minnesota Council of Churches and promulgated by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of Churches, focused on the theme “Do Good; Seek Justice,” from the prophecy of Isaiah, 1:17.
Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Saporito presided over the service, together with Father Eugene Field, the church’s pastor, and Deacons Peter Emr and Todd Rushing.
The service began with a summons to confession in response to God’s accusations in Isaiah 1:12-15. The community responded: “We ask forgiveness for the complicity of churches in the evils of colonialism felt around the world. We ask forgiveness for our sins of injustice and oppression that suppress the diverse harmony of your creation.” Verses 16-17 continued: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” The community responded: “As we have been washed clean in the living waters of baptism, forgive us anew, and reconcile us to one another and to creation.”
Father Luke Edelen OSB, chair of the Commission for Christian Unity, and Father Philip Latronico, chair of the Commission for Interreligious Activities, preached after the reading of the Epistle from Ephesians 2: 13-22 and the Gospel from Matthew 25:31-40.: “Whatever you have done to my brothers and sisters, you have done to me.”
The service continued with reflections on ecumenism from three members of the Commission, Dr. Peter Ahr, Patricia Lefevre and Msgr. John Radano. Each speaker placed a stone on a table before the altar, and after the talks, the congregation was invited to place their own stones on the table as a sign of their commitment also to work ecumenically for justice.
The conclusion of the service was a prayer of intercession led by Bishop Saporito, asking God to heal our divisions and our prejudices so we may respond to the needs of the natural world, of the poor, of the oppressed, and the marginalized, and concluding with the Lord’s Prayer.
Dr. Peter Ahr is a member of the Commission for Christian Unity and Emeritus Professor of Religion at Seton Hall University.
Featured photo: Dr. Nancy Enright, Deacon Peter Emr, Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Saporito, Father Phil Latronico, Patricia Lefevre, Msgr. John Radano, Father Eugene Field. (Peter Ahr)
