An Anglican appointed at the helm of Taizé community

By Lisa Zengarini

Brother Alois has appointed English and Anglican Brother Matthew (born Andrew Thorpe) to take over his office of Prior of the Taizé Community.

According to a press release, the change at the helm of the famous France-based ecumenical monastic order will take place on the first Sunday of Advent, 3 December 2023.

A German Roman Catholic, Brother Alois, who is 69, has been Prior of the Taizé community since its famous founder, late Brother Roger (Roger Schütz), was stabbed to death by  a mentally-ill woman in 2005. 

In a statement Brother Alois explained that after eighteen years “with the world and the Church having changed so much over the last two decades” he felt time has come for a brother who entered the community after him to take over his responsibility. He said the appointment follows a wide consultation with his confreres.

Continuity 

Aged 58, Brother Matthew joined the Taizé Community on 10 November 1986.

In his statement Brother Alois said he has complete confidence that he  “will provide continuity and take the right steps to impel our community to be, according to the intuition of its founder, a ‘little parable of communion’”.

The Community  of Taizé

The Taizé Community is an ecumenical monastic order with a strong devotion to peace and justice through prayer and meditation. Taizé Catholic and Protestant monks, who are bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience,  are committed to material and spiritual sharing.

Ecumenism, prayer and commitment to peace and justice

Since Roger Louis Schutz, a Swiss Protestant monk, founded the community in 1940 in Taizé the French village , in Burgundy, has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage, with a special focus on youth.

Each year, throughout the summer, tens of thousands of young pilgrims from every corner of the globe flock here to share in the Community's way of life centred on prayer and silence.

Following the Benedictine tradition Ora et Labora (Pray and Work), all pilgrims are expected to play a full role in community life, joining in cleaning tasks for the benefit of all.  

Ecumenism is the key to Taizé's appeal, attracting people of different cultures and traditions.

As a concrete sign of their commitment to sharing and solidarity some of the brothers have gone to live among the most oppressed and poorest people of the world. Today they work in Africa, Asia, North and South America.

The  "Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth"

In 1978 the community also launched the "Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth", involving mass gatherings of young people and visits in  every continent. In Late December he 1994, more than 100,000 young people from all over Europe met in Paris for five days of prayer and sharing. Since then the meetings take place each year in a different  European city from December 28 to January 1 every year.

In his "Unfinished Letter” published after his death, Brother Roger proposed to "widen" the "Pilgrimage of Trust"  to other parts of the world. As a result, international meetings for young adults have begun to take place, beginning with Kolkata in India, in 2006.