‘We are better together’
Christian Unity Week 2025 in Nenagh
The Nenagh Church of Ireland and Catholic parishes invite you to join them, with Christians of all traditions, in an ecumenical prayer service for Christian Unity Week, in St Mary’s Church of Ireland, Church Road, Nenagh, on January 24 at 7pm. All are welcome.
The service will be based on materials prepared by the community of Bose, an ecumenical monastery of women and men in northern Italy. They have been distributed by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
We will listen to Martha confess her faith in Jesus, ‘Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world’. In this 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, we will affirm the faith we share by saying together the Nicene creed in its original form, shared by both the Western and Eastern churches before the ‘filioque’ schism. And the moment will be marked by sharing the light of Christ, symbolised by lighted candles, as the flame is passed on from the Paschal candle to candles held by the congregation, filling the church with light.
Deborah O’Driscoll, Minister for Catechetics in the Ódhrán Pastoral Area, comments: “God calls us to unity, not uniformity. Each of our Christian traditions has its own gifts to share, and when we come together, we enrich one another through the love of Christ.
“Let us celebrate the diversity God has made and recognise that, though we may worship differently, we are one family in faith. Unity doesn’t mean thinking the same way - it means walking together in love, listening, and learning from one another as we strive to build God’s kingdom together. We are better together.”
Echoing Deborah’s words, Joc Sanders from the Church of Ireland Nenagh Union says: “God surely loves the diversity of our Christian traditions, just as he loves the wonderful diversity of life he has made. We do not all need to worship in the same way, nor even hold exactly the same beliefs.
“But when we gather to pray together as Christians of different traditions, I believe the Spirit urges us to the unity Christ prays for, which is unity in diversity. We have much to learn from each other. We need each other to be salt and yeast to build God’s kingdom in the world. We truly are better together than apart.”