Three faiths will come together next week for a Week of Prayer and Christian Unity.
Bishops from the Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran churches will preside over three worship services during the week of Jan. 18 through 25.
Bishops Paul Dudley (from left), Craig Anderson and Norman Eitrheim plan the services during a breakfast meeting. Argus Leader photo by Dean Curtis
The week is meant to celebrate on the local level dialogue at the international level between the three faiths. People of all faiths are invited to the services.
The bishops involved in the services will be Bishop Craig Anderson of the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota, Bishop Paul Dudley of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, and Bishop Norman Eitrheim of the South Dakota District of the American Lutheran Church.
The Bishops said the services were meant to emphasize the likenesses between the religions, not the differences.
“We’ve got a lot of things in common, the Scriptures, one Lord. It’s so easy to take a look at the differences and unfortunately, when talking about ecumenicals, we talk about differences. We’re celebrating how much we do have in common,” Eitrheim said.
While all three agreed that in Sioux Falls the three faiths have good relations, Dudley said the services were meant to renew some of that spirit.
“I fear we can be a little too complacent,” Dudley said. “I hope this serves as a renewed commitment on the part of the church leaders and our people.”
Each of the churches will be host to a different service during the week. The first will be at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19, at First Lutheran Church. The theme of that service will be inter-faith marriages. All married couples who attend will have the chance to renew their marriage vows.
The Second Vatican Council of 20 years ago placed a strong emphasis on what the Catholic church has in common with other faiths, Dudley said. Strides have been made, especially in the area of inter-faith marriages, but there is still a ways to go to make those unions easier for people, Eitrheim said.
“One of the tragedies of inter-faith marriages is that couples have solved the problem by doing nothing, by going to no church,” Eitrheim said. “We don’t know many marriages where they are active in both churches. We’re saying, again, think of all that’s common in both faiths. Don’t let the differences keep you away.”
The second service during the week will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 21, at St. Joseph Cathedral. The emphasis there will be on healing the wounds of church division.
The third service will be one to celebrate unity that already exists between the churches. That service will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, at Calvary Cathedral.
Lisa Gutierrez – Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D. Wednesday, January 15, 1986