Irish Church Leaders Join in Televised Service for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Church leaders from across a broad range of Christian traditions in Ireland join together to mark the commencement of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in a service to be broadcast this Sunday 18th January on RTÉ One. The service has been co–ordinated by the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Inter–Church Meeting. 

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is celebrated globally as an opportunity to pray for the unity of all Christian people as they share in Christ’s ministry. This year, the Week is observed from 18th to 25th January and considers the theme ‘the Well is Deep’. The theme is inspired by the church in Brazil and is based on a reading from John 4:7 where Jesus meets with a Samaritan woman by a well.

The televised service will be led by Rev Dr Donald Watts, President of the Irish Council of Churches, with input from: Most Rev Dr Diarmuid Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin; Most Rev Dr Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin; Rev Peter Murray, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland; and Very Rev Dr Trevor Morrow, a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church. The service also features participation from a number of the ICC’s other member churches including the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Church in Ireland, the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Religious Society of Friends. Music is from the Clontarf and Scots Presbyterian Church Choir under the direction of Rachel Simpson.

The service will air on RTÉ One Television at 11:10am this Sunday as well as on RTÉ Radio One LW 252 at 11:45am. The service will also be live online at www.rte.ie/player/live and will remain on the RTÉ Player for two weeks after the initial broadcast.