News Archives » News
Remembering Dr. King’s Legacy Promotes Christian Unity January 5th, 2017
Martin Luther King and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
by Father Harry Winter, OMI
Although it began in 1908, the celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25, took a jump following Vatican II (1962-65), and peaked about 1980. Then it began slowly to lessen in observance. Concern that the disunity among Christian Churches was hurting Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation efforts lessened. The bond between Ecumenism and Evangelization weakened.
Fr. Harry Winter, OMI
Placing the observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday on the third Monday of January, sometimes right in the middle of the Week, and sometimes before it, as this year, seemed at first to be the final straw that made the Week of Christian Unity too difficult to observe. However, after a few years, the two organizations in the USA responsible for the Week (the Protestant/Eastern Orthodox National Council of Churches and the Catholic Graymoor Atonement/US Conference of Catholic Bishops) decided to draw up materials which would incorporate Dr. King’s birthday with the observance of the Week.
It became clear that Martin Luther King stood for civil rights for all, not just African-Americans. Native Americans and Hispanics especially began to see Dr. King as a champion of justice for everyone. Black Catholics, a minority within Catholicism, began to bond with the Black Churches such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and black Baptist Churches.
All Christians began to remember that Catholic priests, religious men, and sisters, white Protestant ministers, and Jewish rabbis, marched proudly with Dr. King. When US Senator Jesse Helms distributed a 300 page document attempting to prove that Dr. King was associated with Communists, it was Catholic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who called the document “a packet of filth,” threw it on the Senate floor, and stomped on it (see Wikipedia, Martin Luther King Birthday Observance).
On Sunday, Jan. 24, 1999, our superior general, Louis Lougen, was serving as the pastor of Holy Angels Church, Buffalo, NY, an Italian-American parish with a growing number of Hispanics. He had continued the membership of the parish in VOICE Buffalo, which membership his predecessor as pastor, Tony Rigoli, has begun. VOICE Buffalo continues to this day as an interfaith organization promoting social Justice in the Buffalo, NY area.
VOICE Buffalo held an Ecumenical Service of Worship at White Rock Missionary Baptist Church, 480 E. Utica Street, Buffalo, from 4-6 pm, and I accompanied Fr. Lougen to provide support for the lay representative from Holy Angels to VOICE, Owen Dussault. “Loud, joyful, jammed with 400 people…What an upbeat celebration after all the poorly attended events of the Week of Prayer,” I noted in my journal. The large African-American population of Buffalo was well represented at the service.
So the decision to promote materials for Martin Luther King’s birthday, as either a preparation for or part of the Week of Prayer seems to be revitalizing concern for Christian Unity. This year’s material also contain specific references to King’s namesake, Martin Luther, and the impetus given to Catholic-Lutheran relations by Pope Francis’ visit to Sweden last Oct. 31-Nov. 1 for the 500th anniversary of the posting of Luther’s theses
For more on the documents from the pope’s Sweden visit, go to Missionary Unity Dialogue’s website, www.harrywinter.org.
Remembering Dr. King and his legacy promotes Christian Unity; Christian Unity is needed to accomplish what he began.
To download materials for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which takes place from Jan. 18-25, visit USCCB’s website.
Creating a Culture of Encounter: National Migration Week 2017 December 20th, 2016
National Migration Week is January 8 -14, 2017
The US Bishops have designated January 8 through January 14, 2017 as National Migration Week. This observance calls people of faith to join in solidarity with immigrants, migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking.
The theme for the 2017 National Migration Week is Creating a Culture of Encounter. It focuses on developing awareness of newcomers within our faith communities and celebrating our diversity and richness together as a family of God. This observance is an initiative of the US Bishops and provides Catholics an opportunity to take stock of the wide diversity within the Church and work for justice for immigrants and refugees.
The Missionary Oblates JPIC Office invites you to use this opportunity to pray, raise awareness and educate your communities on the issue of immigration and Catholic Social Teaching.
The following liturgical resources and a National Migration Week 2017 Toolkit can be downloaded at the US Bishops’ website:
- A digital copy of the National Migration Week 2017 Prayer Card.
- A collection of prayers for use in your National Migration Week celebrations.
- A homily can be used to help frame a message to parishioners on migration.
- Petitions at your National Migration Week mass, or other gatherings that reflect on the situation confronting migrants.
January 2017 — Message for the Fiftieth World Day of Peace December 16th, 2016
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE
FRANCIS
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
FIFTIETH WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 JANUARY 2017
Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace
1. At the beginning of this New Year, I offer heartfelt wishes of peace to the world’s peoples and nations, to heads of state and government, and to religious, civic and community leaders. I wish peace to every man, woman and child, and I pray that the image and likeness of God in each person will enable us to acknowledge one another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity. Especially in situations of conflict, let us respect this, our “deepest dignity”,[1] and make active nonviolence our way of life.
Read the full address at the Vatican’s Website.
The 2017 Winter JPIC Report is Now Available! December 16th, 2016
Our 2017 Winter JPIC Report is now available!
JPIC Report is the twice-yearly newsletter of the US Oblates JPIC Office.
Download a PDF version of the newsletter here.
Oblates & Parishioners Celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tijuana, Mexico December 13th, 2016
December 12 is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. In Tijuana, Mexico Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and parishioners celebrated the feast in each of the 16 chapels.
Then on December 12 all sixteen chapels and main parish came together at the Oblate Parish to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe with prayers, music, flowers and food.
JPIC director Fr. Antonio Ponce was in Tijuana where he helped with liturgical celebrations.
