BRIGHTON -- The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was marked with a Jan. 15 Taize prayer service at the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brighton. The service was held in the run up to the special week, which was observed Jan. 18 to 25.

Taize is an ecumenical style of prayer named for the ecumenical Christian monastic community of Taize, France, where it originated. The service, held in the meditative darkness of the Sisters of St. Joseph's chapel, included the singing of "Laudate Dominum" and the "Magnificat," the reading of Psalm 15 and Colossians 3:12-15, and prayers for workers, parents, migrants, and those who would die that night. A time for "profound silence" was also marked.

"The decree on ecumenicism of the Second Vatican Council says that the work of unity is the work of the Holy Spirit, it's done by the Holy Spirit," said Vito Nicastro, associate director of the Archdiocese of Boston's Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. "And I believe the things that come out of their efforts, as Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox living together in the monastery of Taize, specifically for unity, are inspired by the Holy Spirit, and they've been very fruitful."

Nicastro and the Sisters of St. Joseph were joined at the prayer service by the Rev. Kelly Fassett, an ordained Baptist minister who works with UniteBoston, an ecumenical movement that frequently collaborates with the Archdiocese of Boston. Nicastro was formerly a UniteBoston board member.

"We are always trying to foster opportunities to bring together Christians of many backgrounds to pray together and worship together and remember our shared bonds in Christ," Rev. Fassett said.

She felt the Taize prayer would make a good opening for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity because "it's a very ecumenical service, very welcoming Christian tradition."

"We're trying to continue to grow a bridge between Catholics and Protestants," she said. "Unfortunately, we tend to be in our own worlds too much, but this is definitely a step in the right direction."

Taize was founded by Brother Roger Schutz in 1940. Brother Roger was nominally a Protestant, but received the Blessed Sacrament at Mass daily. Two popes gave him the Eucharist. His community was a place of peace in the midst of World War II.

"People who were fleeing were able to come and pray together on both sides," Rev. Fassett said. "And so it's been a place of reconciliation for people of differing backgrounds from the very beginning."

She will be going on a pilgrimage to Taize in March. Nicastro has previously been to Taize, and was touched to see thousands of young people there.

"It's nestled in natural beauty, and it's soaked, it's steeped in generations of prayer and generations of discipleship," he said.