Ecumenical gathering recalls modern Christian martyrs. The Pilot, Archdiocese of Boston

BOSTON -- At an ecumenical service honoring Christian martyrs, Jan. 25, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley described martyrs not as figures cast in marble but as human beings of flesh and bone -- in some cases people he knew.

Observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Christians of various traditions and denominations from all over Boston and New England gathered at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, swelling the crowd to over 500 gathered in prayer.

Vito Nicastro, associate director of the archdiocese's Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, which worked with the local Community of Sant'Egidio to organize the event, called the ecumenical gathering the largest of its kind in his 23 years with the office.

The service was attended by representatives of dozens of Christian communities and groups including Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Historically Black and Evangelical churches, as well as numerous Catholic parishes, ethnic communities and rites.

Rev. Jeffrey Brown, a minister of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury; Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches; Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodios; and Bishop David, the Coptic Orthodox bishop of New York and New England joined Cardinal O'Malley on the altar during the prayer service.

"Dear brothers and sisters, the precious heritage which these courageous witnesses have passed down to us is a patrimony shared by all Christian churches. It is a heritage which speaks more powerfully than all the causes of division. The ecumenism of the martyrs and the witnesses of the faith is the most convincing of all. To the Christians of the 21st century it shows the path to unity," Cardinal O'Malley said, recalling the words of Pope John Paul II.

Prayers at the service centered on martyrs killed for their faith in the Gospel in modern times.

Read more here:
Ecumenical gathering recalls modern Christian martyrs. Published in the 1/31/2014 edition of The Pilot

Pictures here.