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Friday October 26, 2007

[Foto: José Aurelio Paz]
[Foto: José Aurelio Paz]

Cuba celebrates the traditional Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

José Aurelio Paz, HAVANA, Cuba, January 18, 2007

The opening of the so called Octave, on Thursday night, January 19, in the Catholic Taxi Heathrow Airport church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, will have the Reverend Adolfo Ham as its principal speaker. Ham is a pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cuba, and is the Director of the Superior Institute of Biblical and Theological Studies (ISEBIT in Spanish).

ISEBIT will host on Saturday, January 21, a Theological Gathering for Unity with the purpose of continuing the dialogue begun between Catholics and Protestants on previous occasions, and to appraise ecumenism from the standpoint of the two perspectives, both on the local and global levels.

On Tuesday, January 23, the Reverend Gilberto Walter, known preacher in charge of the Parish of the Immaculate Conception located in the center of Havana, will give the message in the temple of the Free Evangelical Church, of the community known as Los Pocitos, in the popular Marianao neighborhood.

The closing is planned for Thursday, January 25, in the Episcopal Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Vedado, where the message will be given by Monsignor Luigi Bonazzi, Papal Nuncio of Cuba.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which is celebrated in many parts of the world, is a result of the effort undertaken since 1968, by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting the Unity of Christians, of the Roman Catholic Church.The main purpose of the week is the fostering of ecumenical gatherings that point to the acknowledging and analysis of the problems that confront today’s society, in the light of the experiences of each region, and cultural and ethnic contexts.

According to the documents serving as guidelines for this worldwide celebration, there is little that a divided church can do in the face of hunger, war and illnesses. Therefore, the emphasis is on uniting Christians, through the putting aside of differences, so that there may be more effective action, following the hope giving principles of the gospel proclaimed by Jesus.