Christian Groups United, Divided by 'Jesus Week'

A prayer service at 8:30 p.m. this Sunday marks the beginning of Jesus Week, an event organized by various Christian student organizations to take place during Holy Week.

During this week--which begins Palm Sunday and continues through Easter--various groups will "inform the campus about Christianity and invite Christians and non-Christians to learn about the different [religious] groups on campus," said Matthew S. Vogel '01, a member of the Catholic Student Association (CSA).

The event aims to bring together Christians who might not ordinarily come together and share in their faith.

Some of the Christian groups most involved in the event are the CSA, the Asian Baptist Student Koinonia, the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship, the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship and Christian Impact.

One of the highlights of Jesus Week will be a candlelight service on Good Friday, April 21, to pray for persecuted Christians everywhere, Vogel said.

Publicity is a major focus of Jesus Week, and the organizations are currently trying to get access to publicity boards in the Science Center and Loker Commons.

The groups are distributing fliers and posters to commemorate the week as well.

One flier has a picture of a hill with three crucifixes and says, "Somebody thought you were to die for. So he did."

Some students have expressed discomfort at some of the fliers and said that their aim has been to convert students to Christianity.

This has been unsettling to some Catholic students who say they do not want to be associated with forceful evangelicalism.

Vogel said there might be signs that "make a lot of Catholics feel uncomfortable" and that many may feel that it is better to "go about things in a different way."

He said some of the discomfort might be caused by differences in attitudes toward evangelism between Catholics and other Christian groups.

"We [Catholics] tend to be more dialectical" and don't seek to convert people to Catholicism, Vogel said.

But he said the Jesus Week posters were not intended to antagonize or isolate non-Christians.

Lisa J. Wilde '01, also a member of the CSA, said that it would go against the fundamental purpose of Jesus Week to condemn anyone.

Wilde believes that the posters that may have been controversial came from other Christian groups unrelated to Jesus Week, and that amongst the many fliers taped together, people may have confused some posters from Christian groups that seemed to proselytize with the Jesus Week posters.

"The focus of Jesus Week is strictly informational and not at all proselytizing," Wilde said.

Groups at other schools, such as the University of Pennsylvania, also participate in Jesus Week.