As the global Christian community prepares for the 2025 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the theme for this year’s observance is rooted in a poignant question from the Gospel of John: “Do you believe this?” (John 11:26). The theme invites reflection on the profound belief in Jesus Christ as the resurrection and the life, a central tenet of Christian faith.
Father Ryan Muldoon, Director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue, shared his insights about this year’s theme. “This year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity theme is from the Gospel of John, and it’s in the exchange between Jesus and Martha and Mary surrounding the death of their brother Lazarus. And Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?’ And Martha responds, ‘I do believe, Lord.’” That scene, Father Muldoon said, is meant to draw us together in our common Christian belief.
Reflecting on the unity of Christian faith, Father Muldoon emphasized shared beliefs and practices. “There’s plenty that sadly divides us as Christians. There’s so much that does unite us, especially our belief in the one Lord and our common baptism. And so, we think about how at Baptism, parents or godparents or even adults themselves who are being baptized: they are presented with the statements of the Creed, our Profession of Faith. And they’re asked, ‘Do you believe this?’ And they respond, ‘I do,’ in the same way that Martha does,” he said.
He further highlighted the historical context of Christian unity. “We have to understand what was going on in the year 325 when the Council of Nicaea took place. Right after the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension, the church was concentrated in one place. But slowly, Christians began to spread and to move throughout the known world. And so, by the year 325, not all Christians lived in the same place, and Christians here or there had begun to believe things that weren’t true. And there were certain misunderstandings about what it meant to have Christian faith. And so, in the year 325, the bishops of the church gathered to say, ‘What is it that we authentically believe?’”
Speaking about the Nicene Creed, Father Muldoon noted, “Still today, in 2025, we as Christians hold that Creed in common. When we come to the Sacrament of Baptism, even though in different denominations we profess the same creed. When we come to Sunday liturgy, we profess the same creed. And so, it was then, as it is today, what binds us together.”
Fr. Muldoon also encouraged dialogue among Christians. “We need the help of our Catholic faithful in the work of ecumenical dialogue, the work of dialogue among Christians, because we have Christian neighbors, we have Christian coworkers, we have Christian classmates in school, and we come from different parts of the Christian family. But we know one another as neighbors, as coworkers, as peers. But we have to strive to know one another also as Christians,” he said. “To ask your neighbor, to ask your coworker who comes from a different Christian denomination, something about their faith, why their faith is important to them, how they live it out, how they practice, how their community worships and is of service.”
Several key events will mark this year’s observance. “The first and most significant probably would be at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. And that would be this Sunday, at 4 p.m., there will be a Vespers service,” Father Muldoon noted. “We’ve been talking about the Nicene Creed and the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. At that Vespers service, there will be a new musical setting of the Creed that will be sung together.”
Other events include a prayer service hosted by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute at the Interchurch Center in Manhattan on Wednesday at noon and a prayer service at St. Clare’s Parish on Staten Island on Thursday night, organized by the Staten Island Council of Churches.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity provides an opportunity for reflection, collaboration, and renewed commitment to the unity of all Christians. To fulfill Jesus’s prayer to the Father “that all may be one” (John 17:21).