Brother Roger RIP

It seems that Brother Roger of Taiz? has been killed during one of the services in the community. Apparently a woman stabbed him during Vespers which was attended by 2500 people, mostly young people gathered from all over Europe.

Taiz? was an important part of my own pilgrimage. I spend two separate weeks there in their silent retreat house. During one of those week’s I remember being invited to have late night cocoa with Br Roger. He told me that God needed people to listen to the religious experience of younger people.

Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche was as much showman as saint. He knew exactly how to increase his profile and extend the extraordinary reach of his ecumenical community. His impact on the churches of Europe cannot be underestimated. He must surely have been the most loved protestant saint by the Roman Catholic youth of Europe. Indeed, Taiz? was one of the few places where Catholics and Protestants were authorised to receive the Eucharist together officially.

I am shocked beyond belief at the manner of his death.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

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