"He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak” (Mk 7,31-37) is the topic of the next Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians, due to be celebrated from 18th to 25th January, 2007. "This subject explains the World Church Council (Wcc) in a release invites Christians to express such increasing unity both by ‘breaking the silence’ and by giving answers to human suffering". The texts that make up the aid, developed by the international preparatory group, appointed by the "Faith and Constitution" Commission of the Ecumenical Church Council and the Papal Council for the Unity of Christians, take their cue from the experience of the Christian communities of the region of Umlazi, near Durban, South Africa. The area has a high unemployment rate, poverty and many people affected by Hiv/Aids, which are at least 50% of the resident population. "Breaking the silence states Wcc means defying the cultural regulations according to which sexuality is a taboo subject. For the Churches working in Umlazi, under such conditions, visible unity is much more than a theological concept. They can bring recovery only if they have been recovered in Christ themselves, and constitute His only body. The Churches and Christians can break the silence by speaking in one voice, working with mercy and unity".
