Ecumenical Worship

“Ours is a united prayer in a fractured world”, these are the words of Fr. Reynaldo “Rene” Retardo, REMASE Rector, in his homily during the Ecumenical Worship Service held at Dennis A. Uy SFX REMASE Gymnasium last Friday, January 18, 2019 at 6:00 PM.

This year’s theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, “Justice and only justice you shall pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20), was chosen by representatives of Catholic bishops and leaders of participating ecclesial communities in Indonesia. “Justice and love are mutually interconnected,” says Fr. Retardo especially that many present programs for justice “suffer distortion.”

Fr. Pedro “Pete” Lamata, the director of the Archdiocesan Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue (ACEID), gave an introductory talk before the start of Lucenarium (Service of Light) and Liturgy of the Word. A heart-warming moment came when all participants wrote their individual Commitment Prayer for Christian Unity on two sheets of paper of which the other sheet was collected and randomly picked by all after the prayer service. Fr. Retardo made mention Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI who was quoted “to ceaselessly pray for Christian unity”.

Delegations of the following ecclesial communities were present, namely: United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), Episcopalian Church, United Methodist Church and the Lutheran Church. This occasion was particularly graced by the presence of their church leaders such as Very Rev. May Casada (Episcopalian), Rev. Grace Bangisan (UCCP) and Rev. Fidel Castro Quintana (Lutheran) among others.

Catholic participants were composed primarily of REMASE and XACOSE formators and seminarians. But some parishioners from St. Francis of Assisi Parish (La Verna), Assumption Parish (Torres), Fatima Parish (Boulevard) and St. Francis of Assisi Parish (Maa) were also present for this ecumenical endeavour. Furthermore, delegations from the ACLAIM (ANF, HIC, CFC, Focolare, Charismatic, Evangelization 2033, Divine Will Community, Holy Trinity Community and the Biblical Apostolate) and from Religious Congregations (PM, OSB, SFIC and RNDM) also came and joined the ecumenical worship.

After Vatican II’s 1964 Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), the Catholic Church acknowledged that Christian Unity should be among the many priorities in the ongoing renewal of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (Sem. Alfredo B. Elnar, Jr. | REMASE)