(ENI) Geneva — The leader of the Taizé community urged tens of thousands of young Christians from Europe, who gathered in Geneva at the New Year to organize “vigils of reconciliation,” for unity between churches that are divided from each other.
“How can we be credible in speaking of a God of love if we remain separate?”
Brother Alois, prior of the ecumenical Taizé community said in his meditation at a televised prayer service on December 30 at Geneva’s Palexpo exhibition center:
“It is up to you young people to take the initiative,” said Brother Alois, who became the community’s leader after the death in 2005 of its Swiss-born founder, Brother Roger. “Those who hold positions of responsibility in the churches will support you. It is up to you young people to prepare these ‘vigils of reconciliation’.”
In launching the community’s “call in Geneva for the reconciliation of Christians,” Brother Alois said (www.taize.fr/en_article5541.html), “Coming together in this way in prayer vigils is already a way of anticipating unity; it allows the Holy Spirit to unite us already.”
The “European Meeting of Young Adults” from December 28 to January 1 included moments of prayer, silence, song, and testimonies. Taizé is a community of brothers that includes Protestants and Roman Catholics. It has developed its own style of music for meditation, using simple phrases, usually lines from the Psalms or other pieces of Scripture.
Brother Alois announced that the next European meeting would take place in Brussels December 29, 2008 to January 2, 2009, and that there would be a meeting for young adults from Africa in Nairobi in November 2008.
“It’s an encouragement to see young people in Europe getting closer when some people say Europe is going through post-Christianity,” Samuel Kobia, WCC general secretary, told Taizé participants meeting at the church grouping’s headquarters.
The Geneva gathering was the 30th Taizé meeting of young adults from Europe.
The first was held in Paris over the 1978-1979 New Year, and the last before Geneva was held in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. The community said 40,000 people took part in the five-day Geneva gathering, 30,000 coming from outside Switzerland. The biggest national grouping was from Poland, with more than 9,000 participants.
