DePaul University will host an international gathering of young adults on the Lincoln Park Campus over Memorial Day weekend for the ecumenical Christian community of Taizé’s “Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth.” Founded in 1940 by Brother Roger, the community of Taizé has developed a form of prayer that is now used by Christians of all denominations. It is made up of songs, prayer melodies that can be repeated multiple times, silence and meditation.
 
The pilgrimage, for those between 18 and 35, will take place on DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus, May 25-28, 2012. Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, and other Christian faith leaders are scheduled to attend the evening prayer service at 8 p.m. on May 26 in DePaul’s Sullivan Athletic Center, 2323 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago. People of all ages and faiths are welcome to attend any of the 8 p.m. prayer services in the athletic center on May 25, 26 or 27 during the North American gathering.

For more than 30 years, the Taizé community has been holding annual gatherings where followers come together to worship, attend workshops, reflect and address some of the challenges of today’s world. The annual meetings have been held in many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. This will be the first such gathering in North America since the one held in Dayton, Ohio, in 1992.

“For the city of Chicago and for DePaul, hosting the Taizé pilgrimage is a great gift that will bring our Christian communities together for dialogue and prayer in a way that we don’t often get the chance to do on our own,” said the Rev. Chris Robinson, C.M., pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian community based in the small eastern France village of Taizé. A Swiss-born theologian, Roger Schutz, known as Brother Roger, founded the international community of Taizé during World War II. At great risk to himself, he welcomed refugees from 1940 to 1942, at a time when the French Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis, controlled the region.

Brother Roger was eager for Christians to express gospel realities through their lives. The founding of the community at Taizé is related to Brother Roger’s belief “that there were too many words in Christianity and that people need to see visible signs.” Taizé services are usually meditative, candlelit services that include serene, repetitive chants; songs; contemplative silence; and prayers of praise and intercession. Since the community’s founding, prayers with Taizé songs have spread to churches around the globe, including dozens of churches of all denominations in Chicago. As many as 100,000 attendees have converged on past sites for the worldwide Taizé gatherings.
 
Three brothers from the Taizé community are now living on the DePaul campus to help coordinate preparations for the May gathering. They are working with Catholic and Protestant parishes in greater Chicago to find accommodations with families for the young adults coming from outside the Chicago area. Churches, community groups and those interested in hosting one of the young adults should contact the brothers at chicago2012@taize.fr.

“DePaul’s many contacts with Taizé, along with frequent visits to France from Loyola University students, were a leading factor in the brothers selecting Chicago as the site for the Memorial Day Weekend pilgrimage,” said Brother Emile of Taizé. “We don’t consider ourselves a movement; we encourage young people to become active in their local churches.”

DePaul has long offered Taizé prayer each Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. in the St. Louise de Marillac Chapel in the Lincoln Park Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave. An additional Taizé prayer service with the three brothers now in Chicago takes place daily at 12:30 p.m. in the chapel and will continue up to the start of the May pilgrimage.

For more information or to register for the three-day event, visit www.taize.fr/chicago. A video about the preparation for the Chicago gathering and a provisional program outlining the pilgrimage is also available online. Registration for the “Pilgrimage of Trust” closes April 30.

About Taizé

The Taizé community is self-supporting, living by the work of its members. For more than 30 years now tens of thousands of visitors, mainly young adults between 18 and 35, have been annually visiting Taizé, located in the Burgundy region of France, to share the life of the community for a week of worship, Bible study, work and discussion. The songs of Taizé and its meditative yet simple prayer style have inspired churches throughout the world. The community has no wish to create a movement centered on itself, but instead encourages people to return to their local churches to be creators of trust and reconciliation there.

About 100,000 visitors make pilgrimages to Taizé every year, including groups from DePaul. Today, there are about 100 Taizé brothers from 25 different countries and from various Christian denominations.

About DePaul

With more than 25,000 students, DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. The university offers approximately 275 graduate and undergraduate programs of study on three Chicago and three suburban campuses. Founded in 1898, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds.