Description
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.
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.
About the Author
Roger Schutz-Marsauche (1915-2005) was a monastic brother and Christian leader who founded the Taizé Community in 1940. He served as its leader until his death in 2005. Schutz-Marsauche received the 1988 Unesco Prize for Peace education and the 1992 Robert Schuman prize for European Unity.
Contents
Volume I
Introduction
The Early Years
1953–1955
1958–1959
1961–1962
1963
1966
1967
1968
Select Bibliography
Subject Index
Volume II
Introduction
1969
1970
1971
1972
Select Bibliography
Subject Index
Endorsements and Reviews
I knew Brother Roger personally for a long time, and I had a relationship of warm friendship with him. He had often visited me, and, as I said in Rome, the day of his death I had received a letter from him that went directly to my heart. . . . I think that we should listen to him, listen from within to the ecumenism that he lived out spiritually, and allow ourselves to he led by his witness towards an ecumenism that is truly inward and spiritual. Pope Benedict XVI
Countless lives have been touched and transformed by the ministry of the Taizé Community and its founder. Now translated into English, this second volume of Brother Roger’s journal is a treasure trove of personal reflections and spiritual insights that will inspire you and make your heart sing. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church
Very few people in a generation manage to change the whole climate of a religious culture; but Brother Roger did just this. . . . He changed the image of Christianity itself for countless young people. . . . His authority was authentically monastic—the authority of a father and elder brother in God who drew his vision from patient waiting on the Lord in prayer, and from the work and study and discernment of a committed community. Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury
This second volume of Brother Roger’s journal reflects the evolution of mission ‘on the Hill’ of Taizé and the growth of concern for youth. It can nourish all of us in the daily searching for faith and fullness. As Brother Roger wrote in his own turbulent times as he reflected on faith in our lives: ‘We have nothing to fear. Simone Campbell, SSS, 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
The second volume of Brother Roger’s diary plunges us into the years 1969–72 when the ‘Taizé desert’ began to bloom with the arrival of hundreds of young people in preparation for the ‘Council of Youth.’ It bears witness to the sorrows, troubles, dramas, disappointments of life, both in the world and in the church, to the difficulties and disenchantments of ecumenism, and brings the good news from the perspective of joy, hope, and love anchored in Christ. Job Getcha, Eastern Orthodox metropolitan of Pisidia
