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.