Ever since the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was first celebrated in 1908, the preparation of a pastoral aid for this event has been entrusted to an ecumenical group from a different country. India has been charged with preparing the aid for 2013.
The task was placed in the hands of India’s Christian Students Movement (which has about 10,000 members) and the Federation of Catholic Universities of India. The International Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity will help the preparatory team redact the final draft of the text, which contains a powerful condemnation of the caste system, the cry of the suffering dalit (those excluded from Indian society, who are for the most part Christians), and a protest against the persecution of Christians and other religious minority groups.
These and other themes will accompany the reflections and prayers of Christians worldwide during the next Week of Prayer (18-25 January 2013).