Journals Of Brother Roger Of Taize Volume 3

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.

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.

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 Taize 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 Taize during World War II through to the 1960s, in which young adults found the hill of Taize in their searching. These collected reflections on personal and current events offer an illuminating portrait of the founder of Taize, bringing to light key aspects of the community putting into practice the vision that inspired him. The second volume of Brother Roger's Journals covers the years 1960-1972, focussing on the birth and initial preparation of a 'Council of Youth', a project catalysed by the crisis in the Roman Catholic Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Brother Roger also details the ongoing life of the community, the paths of his personal spiritual journey, and other encounters across those remarkable years.

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 Taizé Community in France, an ecumenical monastic community that strives to live as a “parable of community” in a divided world. Taizé 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.

Roger Schutz-Marsauche, known around the world 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 its distinctive music and contemplative style of worship, spending time in prayer and reflection. Yet it is the community of monastic brothers, from differing Christian traditions and over twenty-five different countries, who make this contemplative experience possible. These brothers stand as a ‘parable of community’ and as a sign of unity in the midst of a divided world and a divided Christianity. The second volume of Brother Roger’s Journals covers the years 1960-1972, focussing on the birth and initial preparation of a ’Council of Youth’, a project catalysed by the crisis in the Roman Catholic Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Brother Roger also details the ongoing life of the community, the paths of his personal spiritual journey, and other encounters across those remarkable years.

In 21st century Britain, we are increasingly concerned about the effect of the modern world on our children's health and well-being. While different secular agencies have had an important role to play in this debate, the voice of the Church is frequently misrepresented, misunderstood and undervalued. Called by Mind and Spirit: Crossing the Borderlands of Childhood seeks to redress this imbalance. The book begins by exploring how our own family stories, passed down through generations, combined with our Christian heritage, influence our identity, its continued formation, and our sense of vocation. These themes of identity, formation and vocation are then related to modern childhood from a combined perspective of theology and psychology. In the process, the book asks how, in contemporary Britain, we encourage and nurture children's faith, and how we might better equip today's children to understand and explore for themselves the world in which they are growing up. The sacramental rites of anointing and initiation (baptism, confirmation and ordination) provide the theological basis for the book; and the main stages of childhood (infancy and early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence) offer a framework for reflecting on these rites. The authors draw from a wealth of personal and professional stories to explore the multiple tensions and opportunities of childhood today.

This book is written for people who are tempted to leave the church because the message they have been hearing has come to seem intellectually unacceptable, morally objectionable, or spiritually deadening, maybe even all three. Often, these people see no alternative to the version of Christian faith that they now find difficult to accept. They have been told that rejecting anything they have been taught means ceasing to be a Christian. What they have been told is wrong. But seeing new possibilities means reconsidering assumptions that are often taken for granted, and it can be difficult to imagine on your own a form of faith different from what you are used to. This book provides some help. It can be thought of as a guide for those who see the need to let go of some of what they have been taught, but don’t know how to replace it with something better. Rethinking your faith can be scary. But giving up on what is unbelievable can help to clear the way for the kind of faith that is more believable and ultimately more satisfying. Changing your mind can be a way of saving your faith.

Centering prayer, both a meditative technique and the experience of God’s presence in every waking moment, is a spiritual practice that all Christian continue to strive for. David Keller, close colleague of Thomas Keating and director of Keating’s Contemplative Ministry project, offers practical suggestions for personal prayer, addresses its difficulties, and reveals what is special about it in relation to other prayer traditions. Short but substantive, this book is for Christians looking for new insights about prayer and for people who are drawn to contemplation, but do not think the church has much to offer them. Above all, Keller emphasizes that it is the integration of personal prayer and our day-to-day activities that forms a life of prayer. Prayer is a life-long vocation, he reasons, not a separate compartment of life.