Good Friday - Ecumenical Way of the Cross
10 Mar 2023 - by
11.00am Friday 7 April
Good Friday – Ecumenical Way of the Cross
The Chapel, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, 15 Blackall Street Barton ACT 2600
On Good Friday, the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture will be holding a Way of the Cross event, following Jesus’ journey to the crucifixion through an outdoor theatre performance of the Stations of the Cross. The service starts in the Chapel, with a welcome by Professor Anthony Maher. It then walks around the grounds of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, weaving around the Four Pillars and ending at the Great Cross.
This event is an ecumenical event, with different Christian denominations participating in the event, including people from the Catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal and Uniting Church. Readings will be done by leaders and lay people of different denominations, including Archbishop Christopher Prowse and Professor Anthony Maher. The Stations of the Cross will be performed by the Canberra and Goulburn Diocese Seminarians.
The aim of the ecumenical movement is the "restoration" of Christian unity, which all Christians are called to work towards. Prof. Anthony Maher said, “one of the most significant statements on ecumenism, and to some, one of the most controversial, came from the 21st. Ecumenical Council (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 1965), which said, ‘The church subsists in’ the Catholic church, rather than ‘is’ the Catholic church, meaning that the divine entity of the church exists in churches other than the one church. From Vatican II onwards authentic ecumenism became a realistic possibility for all mainstream Christian denominations and the responsibility of all individual Christians to build various forms of communion, starting with Christian prayer for unity in the way of the ancient Lex Orandi axiom, ‘so we pray, so we believe, so we live’”.
Ecumenical events provide an opportunity for Christians to come together to pray, combining their gifts and traditions to build communion and restore Christian unity. Good Friday is one such significant opportunity to come together as Christians from all denominations. It is a day of mourning when we put our differences aside, pray for peace in our world in the light of the love of Christ we share.
The Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture is an ecumenical centre, representing Christians of different denominations. Ecumenism is an important part of our mission, and we are committed to working towards Christian unity. Good Friday is our largest ecumenical service, held annually. We also hold other ecumenical and interfaith services, such as the Commonwealth Day service (13 March 2023) and the St Patrick’s Day service (18 March 2023).
