Vicar General Fr. Dominic Gomes celebrates Ecumenism Sunday Mass.

Lynette Bain

“We saw the Star in the East and we came to worship him.”

23rd January 2022 - Church of Christ the King, Park Circus, Kolkata, Ecumenical Cell was entrusted to organise a special Mass at 8:00 a.m. on Ecumenism Sunday during this year’s Christian Unity Octave Week, being celebrated over the world from January 18 – 25 January 2022. It could only be celebrated amongst the parishioners, since they were unable to invite the other denomination churches, like other years, due to Covid-19 protocol restrictions. However, the church was privileged to have as the main celebrant at the Holy Eucharist Vicar General Fr. Dominic Gomes, along with Parish Priest Fr. Basil Mandi and Fr. Jesu Raj.

The choir sang the entrance hymn as the altar servers, clergy and members of the Ecumenism cell entered the church in procession to the altar. Then there was a short introduction - “On the day dedicated for special prayers for the unity of all Christians all over the world, to pray for unity amongst us,” by Lynette Bain. The Mass readings were done by Sybil and Dominic Azavedo, Gospel by Fr. Basil and an enlightening homily given by Fr. Dominic.

Vicar General had everyone engrossed in his homily as he mentioned that “the Holy Spirit is the uniting force while it is Satan who brings division: divisions in the family, in the parish and in the church.” He also emphasised that Christians should continue to journey together as one “in seeking God boldly and in concrete ways” and to “keep our gaze ever fixed on Christ,” while remaining “close to one another in prayer.” We all need to be like the Magi to walk together, Christians need to help one another to come ever closer to God, as division is scattering!  It is the Ecumenical Community that complete the One Church, thus we need to unite to proclaim the gospel of liberation. Other churches have gifts to offer us, so we need to divert and journey together as one flock of Christ the church. “United we stand divided we fall.”  Over 360 million Christians were persecuted and 5110 Churches were closed down in 2021. They all belonged to Christ - one baptism, one faith, one Church. He concluded by saying, “God cares nothing about our man-made divisions and groups and is not interested in our self-righteous, hair-splitting, and religious, man-made formulas and organisations. He wants you to recognise the UNITY of the body of Christ”.

The Unity Prayers of the faithful was led by Errol Gonsalves, followed by a solemn consecration, Holy Communion and final blessing. The Mass ended with a summary of the theme and vote of thanks by Fr. Basil, who expressed his appreciation to Fr. Dominic, the Ecumenism cell team, Mohit Pradhan and the choir members for making the day’s celebration a very meaningful one.

Fr. Dominic also thanked Fr. Basil and his team for taking the trouble to organise the service so wonderfully and for inviting him to celebrate the Mass.

After the end of the 90-minute celebration the congregation were treated to a hot cup of tea and biscuits bringing a close to a commemorative Ecumenism Sunday.

The mission of this Christian Unity Octave Week is to bring about communion through prayer, reconciliation, ecumenical dialogue and common action by promoting better understanding and collaboration with all Churches and ecclesial communities in a spirit of openness and love.