Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Justin Welby and ten other leaders of Orthodox and Protestant denominations are due to attend, along with several of the fraternal delegates to the synod.

Archbishop Welby said that it was "an opportunity for all of us to come together and inspire change".

The service, organised by the ecumenical Taizé community, follows celebrations for the cross-denominational Season of Creation and a series of workshops for young adults designed to promote Christian unity.

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It will take placein wellington between 26 February and 3 March and will be centred in a Vigil Bus.

Anyone is are welcome to join the bus at any time, day or night.

The location of the bus on any particular day can be found on this FaceBook page or by calling 022 1600 751

Participants will be exploring gentleness, vulnerability, prayer and enemy love in the service of a non-violent engagement with the discipleship queries of our age.

Starting on every second hour (8am, 10am, 12pm...) all day and all night, there will be a short prayer liturgy for about 15 minutes.

In the times between prayer, participants will do Christian meditation, Taize, reading and discussion of peace texts.

To conclude the week, a propitiatory* offering of blood will be made to the GCSB.

The participants will call for them to take their blood instead.

U.S. drone strikes have killed thousands of innocent civilians in 7 Muslim majority countries. The killing continues.

New Zealand's Defense Forces (GCSB) are helping the killer drone programme, by giving signals intelligence to the U.S.A

*To sacrifice something in order to stop something else being taken.

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Family Life International is holding a 40 day anti-abortion prayer vigil outside the Wellington Hospital.

As part of it's 40 days for life campaign, Family life international the vigil is due to to continue from 8am till 8pm until April 13, in the lead up to Easter

Spokeswoman for the 26 secondary school pupils who attended the feminist club's demonstration, Sylvia Thomas-Edmond, said members of the Family Life International Catholic organisation should not be protesting against abortion outside the hospital.

"It is a big decision to have an abortion and an even harder thing to go through with," Ms Thomas-Edmond said.

"We also think that every woman should have the right to choose what she does with her body."

Four members of the Catholic group quietly stood, saying the rosary, 50 metres away from the student protest.

Source

• The Wellingtonian
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: LifeNews.com