New solidarity

For the first time since its establishment 34 years ago, the “pilgrimage of faith on earth”, organized by the brothers of Taizé will take place in Berlin. The German capital is preparing to host, from December 28 2011 to January 1st 2012, some 30,000 young Europeans who decided to spend new year’s eve in a different way, marked by common prayers, meditation, meetings with other youth, and reflections on profound themes related to social and faith life as well as discussions on current problems, under the guidance of the brothers of the Community founded by frére Roger in France. The youth will take part in prayer sessions and will convene together for the meals in the large structure within the Messegelände fair, while in the morning they will attend small workshops in the parishes of the families they will be hosted by, with debate sessions after their prayers and the reading of passages from the Bible. A prayer vigil for peace is scheduled to take place on the evening of December 31st, followed by a “feast of the nations”. On the occasion of the European meeting the prior of the Community, frére Alois, released a letter titled “Towards a new solidarity”. Frére David, who is in charge of relations with the media, drew a balance of the situation for SIR Europe.Who are the young Europeans who will travel to Berlin for the “faith pilgrimage”? “There will be many Germans, approximately 10,000. The Poles are the second most numerous group, with 6.000 youth, followed by Croatians, French and Ukrainians, 2000 arriving from world countries and 1800 Italians. Remarkably, 700 are arriving from Belarus. There will be 5-600 Lithuanians, Rumanians and Portuguese. For the first time, this year also 30 young people from Hong Kong will take part in the event, along with pilgrims from Japan, Korea and Argentina. The “feature” of last year’s meeting in Rotterdam was multicultural dialogue. What is the distinctive trait of the meeting in Berlin? “The German capital is a city with its own history, marked by the recent experience of physical division created by the Wall, which affected also the family and social environments. Today people want to look ahead; there is a great strength amongst the population who extend their glance to the future with hope, without getting discouraged, whilst bearing in mind the experience of their recent past. There is a strong yearning for reconciliation, in a situation marked by the coexistence of different faith traditions such as Jews and Muslims, with whom we have planned meetings and debates, as well as people from countries such as Turkey, from Africa and East European countries. This wish for reconciliation is felt in all cities, bringing together believers and non-believers alike”.This year’s letter by frére Alois is dedicated to solidarity. Is the ongoing crisis in Europe an issue that will be addressed in this year’s meeting? “ Economic and political questions are the main concerns of European youth. That’s why there will be workshops with lectures by economy scholars. There will be two meetings with German MPs who will answer the questions posed by the youth. We also noticed that many people decided not to come because they couldn’t afford the travel expenses, while others set up self-financing initiatives to cover the costs. Especially the Poles, the Lithuanians and Romanian people, experienced major difficulties to this regard but economic depression is widespread. In his letter frére Alois tackles at length the question of the ‘new solidarity’ and its foundations, that must be sought in the ‘faith’ and in the ‘need for sharing’, capable of bringing together the faithful from different religions’, as well as ‘believers and non believers'”. Have economic difficulties “darkened” the founding values promoted by the Community, namely, unity and the reconciliation of all Christian Churches? “In our meetings, Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox pray together. Unity is already lived. There are no particular differences between them while economic – and not only economic – concerns are the same for all European youth”.The Community of Taizé was to Berlin by the Catholic Archbishop Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky, by the Lutheran bishop Markus Dröge, and by the mayor of the city, Klaus Wowereit. How was the cooperation between the Churches and with the institutions in the event’s preparations? “A group of confreres are in Berlin since September, with the volunteers, for the preparations of the event. The greatest difficulty we experienced is linked to the fact that both Protestant and Catholic parishes are small, meaning that very few people attend them. The logistics organization wasn’t easy in these conditions, but the major cooperation received by civil authorities was surprising, they mobilised the city and German families to welcome the pilgrims, posted the ads of the event in the underground and supported us under all angles”.