As part of the celebrations of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which ended on 25 January, an ecumenical service was held in Utrecht Cathedral on Sunday 23 January. It was dedicated to the victims and survivors of the tsunami in Asia. The Dutch ecumenical movement invited “not only the Christian churches, but the whole ecumene” to take part in its prayers. A statement issued in recent days by the World Council of Churches declares that “now that millions of people have been struck by the destructive earthquake and tsunami, we cannot do other than find an important place for them in our prayers”. The material for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2005 was gathered by an ecumenical group from Slovakia. This year’s theme, “Christ, the one foundation of the Church” (1 Cor 3: 1-23), though chosen long ago, takes on, according to the secretary of the Council, Ineke Bakker, “a particular resonance, now that the foundations of the earth have been shaken with such violence in Asia and throughout the world countless people are helping, as far as possible, to relieve the emergency”. The liturgical service, open to everyone, was attended by the highest representatives of various churches. The Catholic Church was represented by Monsignor J. Van Burgsteden, auxiliary bishop of Haarlem and ecumenical delegate within the Episcopal Conference.
