Brother Roger R.I.P.
I spent most of the last week completing our house move to Cumbria - clearing the last of our things from the house in St Albans where my family have lived for 45 years was something of a major exercise.
As we returned to Cumbria after leaving the old house for the last time, I was horrified to learn on the radio that Brother Roger, founder of the Taize community, had been murdered a few days previously. He was 90 years old, and was stabbed to death during a service in front of 2,500 worshippers by a mentally disturbed woman.
Brother Roger founded the interdenominational Taize community in 1940 as a refuge from war. He was a protestant but worked to heal the divisions between churches of all denominations and was accepted by Catholics almost as one of themselves: at the funeral of Pope John Paul II he received communion in his wheelchair from the then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict.)
A special tradition of prayer through singing which began at Taize has had a huge influence on many of the churches I have visited during the past two decades. In St Mary's Marshalswick where I sang in the choir
for many years, we had regular services in the Taize style once a month which were often very moving and attracted dozens of visitors from other churches in St Albans. St Mary's in Gosforth where my family usually worships since moving to Cumbria often includes a Taize chant in the communion music. Brother Roger himself once said that He who sings prays twice - once in the words and once in the music.
Sometimes when something terrible happens a strong religious faith can help you to deal with it, but there are other times when an evil event is real challenge to that faith - you ask yourself, "How can God allow
this ?" The senseless murder of a 90-year old man who had dedicated his life to peace, and and probably probably done more than any other person in the 20th century both to bring churches together and replenish the spiritual power of church music round the world, is one of those times.
At Brother Roger's funeral yesterday his successor, Brother Alois, prayed for forgiveness for the woman who killed him. "God of goodness, we ask you to forgive Luminita Solcan, who, in an act of wickedness,
ended the life of our Brother Roger," he said yesterday. "Like Christ on the cross, we say to you, 'Forgive her, for she knew not what she did."
That is quite typical of the forgiveness which Brother Roger exemplified in life, and which his death will have no power to end.
As we returned to Cumbria after leaving the old house for the last time, I was horrified to learn on the radio that Brother Roger, founder of the Taize community, had been murdered a few days previously. He was 90 years old, and was stabbed to death during a service in front of 2,500 worshippers by a mentally disturbed woman.
Brother Roger founded the interdenominational Taize community in 1940 as a refuge from war. He was a protestant but worked to heal the divisions between churches of all denominations and was accepted by Catholics almost as one of themselves: at the funeral of Pope John Paul II he received communion in his wheelchair from the then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict.)
A special tradition of prayer through singing which began at Taize has had a huge influence on many of the churches I have visited during the past two decades. In St Mary's Marshalswick where I sang in the choir
for many years, we had regular services in the Taize style once a month which were often very moving and attracted dozens of visitors from other churches in St Albans. St Mary's in Gosforth where my family usually worships since moving to Cumbria often includes a Taize chant in the communion music. Brother Roger himself once said that He who sings prays twice - once in the words and once in the music.
Sometimes when something terrible happens a strong religious faith can help you to deal with it, but there are other times when an evil event is real challenge to that faith - you ask yourself, "How can God allow
this ?" The senseless murder of a 90-year old man who had dedicated his life to peace, and and probably probably done more than any other person in the 20th century both to bring churches together and replenish the spiritual power of church music round the world, is one of those times.
At Brother Roger's funeral yesterday his successor, Brother Alois, prayed for forgiveness for the woman who killed him. "God of goodness, we ask you to forgive Luminita Solcan, who, in an act of wickedness,
ended the life of our Brother Roger," he said yesterday. "Like Christ on the cross, we say to you, 'Forgive her, for she knew not what she did."
That is quite typical of the forgiveness which Brother Roger exemplified in life, and which his death will have no power to end.
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