January 19 - 25, 2003 will be the week of Prayer for Christian unity. To kick off the week, there will be a prayer gathering at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church at 4:30pm on Sunday, Jan 19. Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, together with the Bishops of the Anglican Church and the Lutheran Church, will be present. All are invited to join in prayer. St. Andrew's Lutheran Church is located at 383 Jarvis St. (corner of Jarvis and Carlton).<br/><br/>

The Catholic Church and Christian Churches of different denominations have reached a mutual agreement on Baptism, that is, they all agree on the validity of Baptism. Also, the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church have reached a mutual understanding on the doctrine of the "justification on the ground of belief". However, there are still divergences on issues such as the Eucharist, and the idea of "one flock, one Sheppard".<br/><br/>

Regardless, the Churches have, in fact, made huge progress in this journey of achieving unity.<br/><br/>

It is a common misunderstanding that, in the name of unity, Catholics can join in the Christian communion, or that Christians can receive the Catholic Eucharist. Sadly, absolute unity has not been achieved yet. Let us continue to dedicate our prayers for unity whilst suffering from differences amongst Churches.