The 2025 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Archdiocese of Vancouver arrives with two special emphases: the Year of Jubilee and the Canadian bishops’ new strategic plan to strengthen ecumenical and interfaith initiatives across the country.

This year’s observance of the week of prayer in Vancouver, which takes place from Jan. 18 to 25, will include ecumenical prayer services across the city providing opportunities for Catholics and other Christian denominations to unite in faith and prayer. They will be held at various locations, including St. Anthony’s in West Vancouver, St. Ann’s in Abbotsford, and St. Joseph the Worker in Richmond.

The World Council of Churches said the week is “a unique opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the common faith of Christians, as expressed in the Creed formulated during this Council, a faith that remains alive and fruitful in our time. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025 offers an invitation to draw on this shared heritage and to enter more deeply into the faith that unites all Christians.”

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This year’s celebrations come following the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ unveiling of a new vision for encourage unity among Christians, building on dialogue and collaboration between the Catholic Church and other Christian traditions. 

Last June, the bishops’ National Commission for Christian Unity held a Religious Relations with the Jews and Interfaith Dialogue, chaired by Regina Archbishop Donald Bolen, and developed a plan to bolster ecumenical structures within the Canadian Catholic community.

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Bolen said that inspiring the lay faithful, particularly congregants who are skeptical or indifferent to such pursuits, should be accomplished by informing them that “ecumenical enterprise is not the Church’s idea; it’s the Father’s idea.”

“It comes out of Jesus’ prayer for all His disciples to be one,” said Bolen. “We are deeply committed to that goal of unity among Jesus’ disciples. I think framing it that way: this isn’t a matter of compromise; it’s not a liberal-driven agenda. This is about being faithful to the Lord’s desire that we be one and putting ourselves at the service of that in a way that Jesus did.”

The CCCB and its partners also desire an “ecumenism of truth” with Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Jewish, Hindu, and other faith communities. Dialogues and relationship-building programs will be at the heart of augmenting this interfaith pathway.

There was also a call to observe Pope Francis’ endorsement of the Lund Principle, which affirms that ecumenical partners should act together in all matters except when deep doctrinal or other significant differences require separate denominational approaches.

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Finally, the bishops and their allies seek a greater spiritual ecumenism by praying for unity at greater frequency, adding more ecumenical prayer services and identifying new opportunities for encountering Christians of different denominations.

Bolen said, “We do see that there’s much that we can do together that we don’t presently do.” He said much could be accomplished “in terms of common witness, common mission, common study and formation, engagement in the public sphere and taking care of the poor.”