Schutz, Roger (Brother Roger) (1915-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Aug 29 p. 3

Birth date: 1915

text of obituary:

Taize group founder stabbed to death

By Religion News Service

Brother Roger, the 90-year old leader of the Taize community that fostered relations among Christians, was stabbed to death by a woman during a prayer service Aug. 16 at the community he founded in eastern France.

Authorities said a 36-year-old Romanian woman stood up during the service attended by about 2,500 peo9ple and stabbed Brother roger in the throat three times. He died immediately.

Worshipers overpowered the woman, and she was detained.

The leader of the Church of England, Archbishop Rowan Williams, described Brother Roger as "one of the best-loved Christian leaders of our time."

Brother Roger, a Swiss Protestant, founded Taize in 1940 in a remote village in the hills of southern Burgundy. Today the community numbers about 100 Catholics and Protestants. In the 1950s, Taize became a place of pilgrimage for young people from all over the world.

Chants the community developed for its worship ware widely used by churches of all denominations. (Hymnal: A Worship Book, the Mennonite Church USA hymnal, includes 14 Taize hymns: 101, 103, 113, 152, 204, 242, 247, 294, 298, 348, 452, 471, 554 and 562.

"Short chants, repeated over and over, emphasize the meditative quality of prayer," Brother roger wrote. "They express in a few words a basic truth which is quickly grasped by the mind and gradually penetrates into one's whole being."

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Aug 29 p. 6

text of obituary:

Fond memory of gentle Brother

By Janeen Bertsche Johnson

For Mennonite Weekly Review

In June 1991, my parents, husband and I ventured to eastern France to experience for ourselves the ecumenical Taizé community. I was drawn there because I had learned to love Taizé music a few years earlier, and I wanted to sing it in its original setting.

But what I found at Taizé was deeper than a style of music. I discovered a community of brothers that welcomed thousands of Christians from many denominations and nationalities, and lived out their message of reconciliation, trusting faith and simplicity.

And at the heart of that community, I encountered its founder, Brother Roger Schutz, who at age 90 was tragically murdered during an evening prayer service Aug. 16.

I remember Brother Roger addressing a congregation of thousands, with simultaneous translation into several languages. His quiet words drew me. But even more attractive was the glow on his age-lined face as he encouraged us in our faith.

I bought several of Brother Roger's books and began to read his theology of forgiveness and peacemaking, which resonated deeply with my Mennonite faith.

"Reconciliation makes us fully consistent with the gospel . . . and so offers a leaven of peace and trust to the entire human family," he wrote.

A year later, in May 1992, I joined 2,000 North Americans and about a dozen Taizé brothers at a gathering in Dayton, Ohio. This time, I served as a cantor, or soloist, for the worship services, and sat close eno9ugh to Brother Roger to observe his connection with God and with his fellow worshipers.

When Brother Roger offered to pray with participants during the closing songs, I went to meet him and was deeply touched by his blessing on my ministry and on my soon-to-be-born child.

I went to the Dayton gathering as a pastor desiring spiritual renewal. I received that, but also a calling to take back to my congregation encouragement for authentic faith in daily life.

Two weeks after my return, our congregation's copies of Hymnal: A Worship Book arrived, and I was thrilled to find 14 Taizé songs in it. These songs introduced even more Mennonites to the Taizé community.

In early 1997, I learned that Brother roger was coming to northern Indiana to receive the Notre Dame award for international humanitarian service. I invited him to visit Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

The reply from Taizé was affirming: "Brother Roger was very happy to learn of your invitation. It had been precisely his wish that, on the occasion of his visit to Notre Dame, there be a contact also with a Protestant institution or group."

On April 25, 1997, I picked up Brother Roger and two other brothers and drove them from Notre Dame to AMBS for a worship service that blended elements of both Taizé ans traditional Mennonite worship.

As Brother Roger arrived at the AMBS chapel, he was drawn to the young children who were being brought to the worship service by their parents. The denominational and seminary leaders waiting to greet him in the chapel foyer would have to wait longer, as Brother roger blessed the infants and toddlers in the courtyard.

Brother Roger's gift to us that day was not his oratorical skill but the presence and witness of a man of deep faith who had given his life's ministry to encouraging faith and reconciliation.

He gave us, in his own handwriting, a short prayer for our reflection: "Jesus our peace, if it happens that we lose confidence, you, the Risen Christ, cause a tiny flame to flare up in us. This flame can be quite faint, but already faith sheds its light in our night; and God's fire, the Holy Spirit, comes rushing in."

As I grieve the violent death of a gentle brother who preached peace, the flame of faith gives light in this night, and makes me, with Brother Roger, "more eager than ever to go on toward the One who is Risen."

Janeen Bertsche Johnson is campus pastor at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.