ONE CHRISTIAN FAMILY CELEBRATING ON THE SAME DAY

A Call to Action
An Invocation From The Heart
One Christian Family Same Celebration Date
May 13th 2020

His Holiness Pope Francis
His Holiness the Patriarch of Jerusalem
His Holiness The Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia
His Holiness the Patriarch of Antioch
Their Holiness the Patriarchs and Bishops of The Orthodox Churches His Excellency The Archbishop of Canterbury
Their Excellencies and Eminencies the Bishops of The Protestant Churches World Council of Churches
Leaders of The Christian Faiths Worldwide

An Invocation from the heart
“Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as you are one” (Jn 17:21-23)

Prayer:
“O Holy Spirit, Love of the Father and the Son, always inspire me what I must think, what I must believe, how I must pray, what I must say, how I must say it, when to be silent, what I should write, what I should do, how I should act to obtain Your glory, to work for the salvation of men and for my own sanctification, Amen.”

In obedience to what I believe I am moved to do & in all humility with utmost sincerity I put pen to paper prayerfully with full conviction in, and encouraged by Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s saying, “God doesn’t require us to succeed, He only requires that we try,” so I shall try.- Cardinal Vernier

For reasons unknown, the coronavirus pandemic intensified during Lent. Lent, the pillar of all Christian faiths, ushers the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ declaring 'Jesus’s victory over death'.

Although our faith clearly states one Lent & one resurrection there still are two celebrations. In fact, in the year 2020, both occurred within one week of each other. As a result, those who follow the Gregorian calendar celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ whilst those who follow the Julian calendar started their mourning in the Holy Week commemorating the passion of Jesus and His death.

One Christian family with two calendar dates & two celebrations! It was painful, very, very painful and all failing to understand why!
The unity of the church carries a lot of theological dogmas and convictions. We the laity keep our place and leave these matters to those in leadership roles, across different denominations, who know better than we do. We fully trust The Holy Spirit to lead all to unity in His time.

That being said, observing TWO different dates of celebration are beyond the laity’s understanding. Especially since uniting the date of celebrations does not contradict the dogmas or theological convictions of faith.
In fact, the theological inconsistency of the two dates of Easter is only but one of the nails that still bleeds the precious hand of our Lord.

As stated by The World Council of Churches, it has long been recognized “to celebrate this fundamental aspect of Christian faith on different dates gives a divided witness and compromises the churches’ credibility & effectiveness in bringing the Gospel to the world.”

To be fair and acknowledge the resolve and efforts in history for the unity of the Pentecost feast I gratefully share & commend the 1997 World Council of Churches meeting in Aleppo, Syria. However, to my knowledge, no further steps have been taken since, and the feast is still not one.

At no time in history has the world felt so united as in the year 2020 facing together the coronavirus pandemic. Despite geographical terminology and social science definitions. The inhabitants of the earth at core are but one human family. The church also faced many challenges and decisions concerning Sunday mass celebrations and keeping the doors of worship open for the laity.

Moreover, all Christians are now awaiting Pentecost. It is another pillar of all Christian's faith. Which will also be celebrated one week apart from each other.

Before the feast of Pentecost, during a time when we are all one in anticipation, we appeal and together raise an invocation from the heart to all our esteemed leaders of the church. Uniting our prayers to Jesus’s last prayer on earth, we humbly ask our esteemed leaders of the church to take the first step towards Christian unity by uniting our Christian celebrations.

It is worthwhile noting that for almost 40 years, Christians in Jordan celebrate both Christmas and Easter together: The Christmas celebration date follows the Gregorian calendar and the Easter celebration date follows the Julian calendar.

A humble voice