On Sunday 19 January the Cathedral began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by inviting the clergy and people of St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral to sing Solemn Vespers in Southwark Cathedral. The choirs of the Cathedrals joined together to sing, and the clergy of the Cathedrals processed side by side together.

The Dean welcomed the congregation by saying that the week of prayer was to help ‘safeguard love’ between Christians of different traditions. He quoted Pope Francis: ‘Prayer for unity is the primary responsibility in our journey together. And it is a sacred responsibility, because it means being in communion with the Lord, who prayed above all to the Father for unity’.

The Dean of St George’s Cathedral, Fr Michael Branch, preached the homily in which he said, ‘It is a profound privilege to stand together as members of the Body of Christ, Anglicans and Catholics alike, seeking the unity for which Our Lord prayed on the night before His Passion: “That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) This evening, in this sacred space, we celebrate not only the bonds of history and geography that bring us together, but also the deeper bond of our shared baptism, our shared faith in the crucified and risen Lord, and our shared mission to proclaim His love to the world’. The full text of the homily may be found here.

This coming Sunday, at 4.30pm, Southwark Cathedral choir and clergy visit St George’s to sing Choral Evensong. All are welcome.