A Community Called Taize

Taize--the word is strangely familiar to many throughout the contemporary church. Familiar, perhaps, because the chanted prayers of Taize are well practiced in churches throughout the world. Strangely, however, because so little is known about Taize--from its historic beginnings to how the word itself is pronounced. The worship of the Taize comm...

Brother Roger Schutz (1915-2005) was the beloved founder of Taize, an ecumenical monastic community in France, dedicated to reconciliation among Christians and all peoples. In recent decades Taize became a pilgrimage site for young people from around the world. This book presents the best of his spiritual writings.

Roger Schutz-Marsauche, known as Brother Roger, is one of the most influential figures in Christianity in the twentieth century. He was founder and first prior of the Taizé Community in France, where tens of thousands of young Christians flock each year for their distinctive music and contemplative style of worship, spending time in prayer and reflection. But it is the community of monastic brothers, from differing Christian traditions and over twenty-five different countries, who makes this contemplative experience possible. They stand as a ‘parable of community’ and as a sign of unity in the midst of a divided world and a divided Christianity. This first volume of Brother Roger’s journals covers his arrival in Taizé during World War II through to the 1960s, in which young adults found the hill of Taizé in their searching. These collected reflections on personal and current events offer an illuminating portrait of the founder of Taizé, bringing to light key aspects of the community putting into practice the vision that inspired him.

This is the second volume of the personal journals of Roger Schutz-Marsauche (1915-2005), known as Brother Roger, the founder and first prior of the Taize Community in France, an ecumenical monastic community that strives to live as a "parable of community" in a divided world. Taize is known especially for its music and contemplative style of worship, and as a place where tens of thousands of young Christians flock each year to spend a time of prayer and reflection. This volume covers the years from 1969 to 1972 and is centered on the genesis and first preparations of a "Council of Youth." The project was inspired by the crisis in the Catholic Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, and the slowdown of ecumenism after the glowing hopes kindled in the wake of the Council. It was an attempt to take seriously the aspirations of the younger generation and orient them in a positive direction. Brother Roger also talks in these pages about the ongoing life of the community, his personal spiritual journey, and many important encounters that took place in those eventful years.

When the definitive history of Christianity in the twentieth century is written, one of the key figures will certainly be that of Roger Schutz-Marsauche (1915–2005), known as Brother Roger, the founder and first prior of the Taizé Community in France. Taizé is familiar to many across the world for its music and contemplative style of worship, and as a place where tens of thousands of young Christians flock each year to spend a time of prayer and reflection. What is less well-known is the underlying reality that makes all this possible: a monastic community of brothers from over twenty-five different countries and different Christian traditions striving to live as a “parable of community,” a sign of unity in the midst of divided Christians and a world torn apart. This first volume of Brother Roger’s journals covers the years from his arrival in Taizé during World War II to the turbulent 1960s, when young adults began making their way to the hill of Taizé in their searching. These collected insights, reflections, and accounts of personal encounters and current events offer what is perhaps the best portrait of the founder of Taizé. They bring to light key aspects of the community which continues to attempt to put into practice the vision that inspired him.

This third volume of the personal journals of Roger Schutz-Marsauche (1915–2005) covers the years from 1972 to 1976. Brother Roger was the founder and first prior of the Taizé Community in France, an ecumenical monastic community known for its music and contemplative style of worship, and for its work with young adults around the world. This volume covers the final preparations and the opening of the “Council of Youth,” an attempt to take seriously the desire for renewal of church and society of the younger generations and to orient it in a positive direction. Brother Roger also speaks of the life of the community and its many visitors, his personal spiritual journey, and the trips he took to different parts of the world, notably, at the end of 1976, to a poor neighborhood of Calcutta with an intercontinental team of young people.

Pilgrimage has been a part of Christian experience since biblical times. Creating new stories, pilgrimage affords sacred travelers experiences that transcend nationalism, denominational identity, and cultural borders, melding their individual constructs of meaning with communal experiences to create new insights. On these pilgrimages, music has played a significant role in the development of community. While pilgrimage is an independent act, it is also a shared existence with other pilgrims, with music serving as a bridge between these two realities. With an estimated 100 million people undertaking pilgrimages at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the rediscovery of pilgrimage, and the music that accompanies it, has meaningful connections for the postmodern church struggling to find a new identity. The ecumenical communities at Iona and Taize provide particular case studies for the role of music in forming community among disparate travelers. The individual and communal nature of pilgrimage, the ability of pilgrimage to provide commonality in a diverse society, and the role of singing and traveling music calls for the reexamination of this ancient practice for the postmodern church.