Taiwan Church News

3295 Edition

April 20 - 26, 2015

Headline News

Taizé Weekend Meeting Held To Promote Cross-Denomination's Unity And Communion

Reported by Simon Lin

In order to propmote a cross-denominational unity, a Taizé weekend meeting,sponsored by PCT Youth Ministry Committee, Taizé volunteers in Taiwan, Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics Campus Apostles and Taiwan Catholics Aurora, held at Holy Love Mountain Resort from April 17 to 19 in Taichung. Noteworthy is that Brother Han Yol, the representative of Taizé Community, is first-time invited to visit Taiwan to help Taiwan churches learn more about the communion spirit of Taizé community.

Taizé community, an ecumenical monastic order established by Brother RogerSchütz in 1940, proposed to start the unity between churches and then extend the communion as the reconciliation into the world. Consisting of cross-denominational Christians, like Catholics, Anglicans and Christians, now Taizé has grown to an ecumenical community with members from over 30 countries. Among the split Christian denominations and divided countries and people, Taizé community witness the concrete fruit in faith and hope.

Brother Han Yol remarked that the critical contribution of Brother Roger ishis high esteem and trust on youth generation who became the foundation of the first-wave ecumenical leaders in 1950s from Protestants, Catholics and Orthodoxy Christians. "When we pray together, the communion and unity get started!", a famous quote showing the ecumenical spirit in that post-war period, said Borther Han Yol.

Ms Young Tsuei-ju, a volunteer worker ofTaizé Weekend Meeting and also an co-worker of Catholic Campus Apostles, expressed that she was very pleased to see the spirit of Taizé community could be realized in this activity across denominations and areas due to "a desire to co-operate and pray together". She hoped the unity and communion of Taiwan Church could be facilitated through such invitation of Brother Han Yol from Original Taizé community to share with us.

About 100 youth came from different denominations attended this weekendTaizé meeting. During the prayer sessions from the second day, either they read with different versions of Bible, be it Chinese Union Version or Studium Biblicum Version, or they spoke different languages in Taiwanese, Chinese or Hakka, an urnest heart to delve into the spirit of unity and communion is enthusiastic! The youth also prayed together for the poor children in South Eastern Asia, the ethnic conflict and expulsion of the Chinese in Viet Nam, the crushing tragedy of steel girder at Taichung MRT construction site, Taiwan's serious drought, the unpredictable Ebola infections in Africa and etc.

Translated by Peter Wolfe