I will not assume everyone in here knows what the community of Taiz̮̩̉̉ is, will care about it or agree with it. For those who do, I'd just like to mention that yesterday evening, (what is reported to be) a mentally disturbed Romanian woman stabbed brother Roger just after the start of the evening prayer. He died of the wounds not much later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm incredibly sad right now, because I really think you'd be hard put to find anyone who was more loving, caring and forgiving than brother Roger. It's unbelievable that he died in such a way. Right now, my prayers are with everybody who is there, especially the people I met this summer or the last. May fr̮̬̉̉re Roger's ideas live on in the community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing as the website is experiencing trouble (no doubt traffic-related), let me try to explain what Taiz̮̩̉̉ is for those who do not know:

 

 

 

Taiz̮̩̉̉ is a Christian community made up of brothers, Protestant and Catholic alike, who try to live their life as simple as possible. Fr̮̬̉̉re Roger was the leader of the community. They are joined in doing so by more than 200 000 young people every year (this week alone, 2500 people were visiting Taiz̮̩̉̉). The visitors and the brothers pray and sing together 3 times a day, and discuss all kinds of topics (both religious and non-religious). It's a great place to reflect and share with other people.

 

 

 

It's also something that's really worth more than the few lines I'm putting in here right now, and very hard to explain. It's something you have to experience, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~edit: News articles may be found here: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=u ... 6id%3D1803

Was that there u went to stay earlier this year Han? :( Harsh way to go for such a caring person.

Was that there u went to stay earlier this year Han? :( Harsh way to go for such a caring person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was. I was there 10-23 July.

To be honest, I never heard of the man, and I never heard of "Taiz̮̩̉̉" either. But I'm sorry for you Hannibal, don't really know what other things I could say, since I don't know anything of this subject.

Merm. So, I'm back from going to the funeral. Video of the funeral is linked from the Taiz̮̩̉̉ homepage, for those who care :).

Welcome back Han. Theres some good articles on the BBC about him. Do a search if you want to read them.

Sounds like a genuine christian community to me, they are obviously trying to emulate Jesus' teachings correctly unlike the "churches" of todays worlds. After all, Jesus didn't even own currency or barely anything at all. You don't need a huge church which costs hundreds of millions to spread the word of religion when you could feed a lot of starving people with that money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don't even need clergy. Nope, it's all about brainwashing. I dislike all sorts of organised religion, but this community is something I'd like to visit some time and try to live as minimally as possible for a few weeks, or a month or 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have only briefly read about Brother Roger and seen a few pictures, but he seemed like a good guy. Did you ever meet him in person?

Sounds like a genuine christian community to me, they are obviously trying to emulate Jesus' teachings correctly unlike the "churches" of todays worlds. After all, Jesus didn't even own currency or barely anything at all. You don't need a huge church which costs hundreds of millions to spread the word of religion when you could feed a lot of starving people with that money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don't even need clergy. Nope, it's all about brainwashing. I dislike all sorts of organised religion, but this community is something I'd like to visit some time and try to live as minimally as possible for a few weeks, or a month or 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have only briefly read about Brother Roger and seen a few pictures, but he seemed like a good guy. Did you ever meet him in person?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No - I saw him during prayers, later supported by some other brothers because he couldn't walk very well anymore (he was in a wheelchair most of the time).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basically, I went to the funeral to pay my respects to the community he left behind and the ideals he stood for. Also, when I was there in July, I met some people who stayed there for 2 months from that week. They were sitting behind brother Roger when this happened, and I wanted to talk to them. Not to get a scoop out of it or anything, more to be a source of comfort and someone to talk to. It must have been horrible :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are welcome to visit the community, and follow the youth program for a week or so (that's recommended if it's your first time there). Some people like it so much after that week that they decide to stay longer. :)

 

 

 

Basically, a week there consists of 3 prayer sessions a day (I know this must seem like a lot, but you get used to it, and it helps keep an ongoing rhythm to your days). There's a 7 or 8-minute moment of silence every prayer service to give people time for prayer or reflection (quite impressive already, keeping a crowd of 2-to-5000 youngsters silent), which is unfortunately talked all the way through by the commentator to the video of the funeral :roll: . Then you have a bible reading with an introduction by a brother every day. After the introduction you go into small sharing groups to discuss the bible text and any other topic you may be interested in. Sometimes a group plays a game or sings a song when they grow tired of discussing or all agree about everything ;) . The bible reading and discussion lasts half a day, the other half of the day you spend some time working - every young person visiting the community is expected to help out by giving out meals, cleaning, working in the non-profit shop, whatever :)

 

 

 

There are workshops just after teatime, and you have time to relax with people from all over the world (though mostly Europe) in the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's rather hard to convey the meaning or feeling of such a week there by posting on a forum, or even looking at pictures or videos. The atmosphere of trust and kindness is what makes the place so special, in my opinion. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or what you believe in. This was also expressed by the new leader of the community, brother Alois, during the funeral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brother Roger opened a road and led us on that road with exceptional energy and courage. Some intimate convictions led him to go forward tirelessly on that road. Allow me to mention just two of these convictions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Often Brother Roger repeated these words: ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅGod is united to every human being without exception.ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ