Founder of Taizé who worked for Christian unity

Brother Roger Schutz:   Brother Roger, founder of the Taizé religious community in eastern France who was fatally stabbed during…

Brother Roger Schutz:  Brother Roger, founder of the Taizé religious community in eastern France who was fatally stabbed during evening prayers at his ecumenical Christian community last Tuesday, was 90 years of age when he died.

A distinctly undogmatic Protestant monk and theologian, he won a worldwide following among young people - including many Irish - due to his talent for communicating with them in a way they could understand.

Roger Louis Schutz was born in 1915 in the Swiss Jura Mountains. His father, a Swiss Calvinist pastor, was "a mystic at heart", he once said. He encouraged his son to look beyond strict religious borders. To impress this, he sent him to live with a Catholic family during part of his schooling.

After graduating from the University of Lausanne, where he wrote his thesis on monastic life, Brother Roger grew horrified with the fall of France in 1940.

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"If a house could be found there of the kind we had dreamed of," he once wrote, "it would offer a possible way of assisting some of those most discouraged, those deprived of a livelihood: and it could be a place of silence and work."

Settling in Taizé to express solidarity with the French living under Nazi occupation, Brother Roger also helped to shepherd Jews into Switzerland, which angered the Gestapo and got him expelled from the country.

He returned after the war to care for refugees, and for years lived in relative obscurity with a handful of French and Swiss brothers who vowed celibacy and poverty.

The white-robed Brother Roger had a common touch based upon a fundamental generosity of spirit. He disavowed preachiness in favour of plain language and borrowed from eastern religions for his meditative chanting sessions.

He also had a determination and resolve which, even later in life, belied his advancing years. He insisted that his monks, some of them doctors and farmers, earn a separate living to support the community to avoid the "trouble caused by" seeking donations. Over the years, the commune continued to shun materialism.

He wrote in formal commune guidelines that a chief goal was to provide a model for Christian unity. He expanded on this theme in several books.

Both his and the Taizé community's profile grew in the 1960s, after Pope John XXIII invited him to observe the second Vatican Council.

Hordes of young people, including many Irish, other Europeans and Americans, Africans and Asians, began making pilgrimages to Taizé, hoping Brother Roger would provide an answer to their frustrations caused by war and politics.

He said his commune, fuelled by a social urgency and justice, fulfilled their needs. As the years progressed, many Irish youth groups and schools organised week-long visits to Taizé, with prayer groups also springing up in churches around the country. This continues to this day.

His annual "youth synods" which he began in the late 1960s - precursors of the World Youth Day held in Cologne this week - were also attended by many young Irish people. There was little evidence though that Taizé developed into a personality cult, despite some suspicions among the French media.

Brother Roger won the prestigious Templeton Prize for progress in religion in 1974 and the Unesco Prize for Peace Education in 1988, among other honours. He received such visitors as Mother Teresa, a fellow Templeton recipient and befriended the world's religious leaders and politicians.

Despite remaining a Protestant pastor throughout his life, he was seated at the front row at Pope John Paul II's funeral Mass last April, receiving communion from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) who has described him as a "beloved brother".

On hearing of his passing, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern recalled Brother Roger's ecumenical visit to Ireland in 1985. He said he was "shocked and saddened" to hear of his violent death and was "keenly aware" of his positive influence on many Irish people.

Brother Roger was so successful with the young faithful that Pope Paul VI asked him: "What is the key to the heart of the young?"

"I told him we don't have a key and we never will," he said.

Brother Roger - born 1915; died August 16th, 2005