Joint Ecumenical Communion Service witnesses Christian Unity

Publish Date: 18-May-2021

The Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and South-East Asia, and the Church Unity and Relations Committee of Hong Kong Christian Council jointly organized the 2021 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an annual event where Christians from different denominations pray together for unity, from 13 to 15 May under the theme “Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit”.

The organizers held a Joint Ecumenical Communion Service on 13 May at the ELCHK Truth Lutheran Church. Some two hundred clergy and staff members from different Christian organizations attended the event.

The third version of the Chinese translation of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was released at the end of the service. In his speech, the Rev Choy Wai-man, chair of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, said that the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church reached a theological consensus in 1999 after lengthy discussions. The two denominations announced the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which is a milestone on the journey to universal Christian unity because this theological consensus marked the end of the misunderstandings and divergent views of the doctrine held by the two churches in the past five hundred years.