French monk to visit Christchurch

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33049, 17 October 1972, Page 19

French monk to visit Christchurch

Brother M. Bergman, a monk from the Taize community, in France, will be in Christchurch during the Labour Day week-end to spread the brotherhood’s philosophy of joy, serenity, and identification with the poorest. He will be in New Zealand for five weeks.

The Taize brotherhood comprises 70 monks from Protestant, Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. All hiave made a life commitment to celibacy, the sharing off all material goods, and the acceptance of a common authority. The brotherhood holds a special attraction for youth. Last year more than 55,000 persons from about 40 countries visited the community to share in the brothers’ ideials.

The brothers’ aim is always to select the poorest countries in the world, find the poorest city, and settle in the poorest area. There they qarry out a simple pattern of Worship, nothing else.

So far, nine brothers have in three cities in Africa, South America, and Asia. They stay there as the “presence of God.” ' People pay $2 a day to live and eat at the Taize community. The monks have a rule of hospitality under which no-one is turned away. They work strongly for social justice and the cause of the oppressed. The community was founded in 1940. It plans to hold a council of youth at the beginning of 1974 which will probably continue for several years.

Brother Bergman is a sociologist with a doctorate from Paris. Of French nationality and German descent, he has lived in more than 100 countries. He joined the Taize community in 1959. He is accompanied by two young associates of the community, the Rev. B. Phillips, an Australian Methodist minister, and Mr A. Prematilleke, a young Roman Catholic layman from Sri Lanka.