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A desire for God Pilgrimage to Taiz

The enormous ecumenical impact of the Taizé community, with its haunting music and its tradition of silent prayer and meditative chant, is astonishing given that the community never promoted itself. No doubt many American Christians who have made the pilgrimage to Taizé had to suppress their initial disappointment at its unprepossessing buildings and casual presentation. If the brothers of Taizé had just a touch of the American entrepreneurial spirit, surely they would have added a welcome center with a gift shop, some illustrated pamphlets, and a café with views of the Burgundy hills.

The making of Taiz Roger Schutz 1915 2005 Roger Schutz 1915 2005

Almost everyone engaged in the search for Christian unity has at some point received important impulses from the Taizé community. And whoever speaks of Taizé is bound to speak of Roger Schutz (1915-2005), whose intuitions and initiatives turned the community into a focus and center of the ecumenical movement.

Taiz founder buried in service led by Catholic cardinal 12 000 attended funeral

An estimated 12,000 Christians from many denominations attended the funeral of Brother Roger, the Protestant founder of the Taizé community in the picturesque Burgundy region of France. Presiding over the funeral Eucharist was Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s top ecumenical officer. The hymns and chants of Taizé, well known around the Christian world, were sung throughout the liturgy August 23 at the Church of Reconciliation.

Founder of Taiz is murdered Brother Roger one of the best loved Christian leaders of our time

The death of the 90-year-old founder of the Taizé Community in France at the hands of a woman wielding a knife shocked world Christian leaders.

Roger Schutz was killed August 16 as he prayed during a gathering of 2,500 young pilgrims at the community’s center in Burgundy. Police arrested a 36-year-old Romanian woman thought to be mentally ill.

Schutz, a Swiss Protestant, founded the Taizé Community in 1940 as an ecumenical monastic community which advanced contemplative life among Protestants and spanned denominational and generational boundaries.