January 18 marked the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity and it turned out to be one of the coldest of the winter. The evening temperature hovered around -27c with a wind chill beyond that but it didn’t stop people from showing up for the prayer service held at First Presbyterian Church. It was the first event held in the week which ran from January 18-25.

Holy Cross Roman Catholic hosted a second event Sunday January 22 with the weather much more amenable which probably explains the much larger turnout.

Both services featured Polish traditions. “Poland has done some remarkable things with ecumenism” said Reverend Trish McCarthy, Pastor of All of Saints Anglican and one of the organizing committee members. McCarthy was at both services and was guest speaker at Holy Cross. The history of Poland’s ecumenical efforts dates almost from medieval times but it was in 1946 when the first council was formed and it spread from there. The country now has a national ecumenical committee composed of almost all Christian churches in the country. January 10, 2012 is the 50^th anniversary of the first ecumenical service held in a Roman Catholic Church in Poland.

The services at First Presbyterian and Holy Cross featured a distribution and sharing of the Oplatek, a very thin wafer. Each person offers it to others who break off a small piece and eat it. “This sharing of the wafer expresses unity, love and forgiveness,” said the service program.

Both services followed the same program developed by an ecumenical committee with Very Reverend Tonny Dizy, Chancellor of the Regina Archdiocese and Reverend Trish McCarthy as co-chairs. It featured bible readings, common hymns, a homily and joint choirs from several churches. Argyle Baptist Church Choir and First Presbyterian Choir led the service at First Presbyterian while a choir from St. Anthony’s Polish Church in Regina performed several Polish hymns at Holy Cross.

Three charities, Habitat for Humanity, Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) which provides support for released sex offenders re-integrating into society and Plan Canada: Because I am a Girl, were the beneficiaries of the collection at First Presbyterian while  Visitation House, a drop in centre for women in Regina received the collection from Holy Cross.

At the University of Regina, Campion College Chaplain Stephanie Molloy organized an ecumenical service to open the week on January 18, and Luther College Chaplain Reverend Cheryl Toth closed the week January 25 with a service in the Luther College Chapel. Both services used a shorter version of the program developed by the ecumenical committee.