Taizé Awaits 30,000 Youth in Rotterdam

(December 3, 2010) The 33rd European meeting of the Taizé ecumenical community is taking place later this month in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Dec. 28-Jan. 1 event is expected to bring 30,000 young people to the city, at the invitation of the Bishops Conference of the Netherlands, the General Council of the Dutch Protestant Church and the Netherlands Council of Churches. Some 150 churches will host the youth in the mornings. For the afternoons of the 5-day event, the young people will gather at an exhibition center for meals and prayer. Some of the issues for reflection and discussion at the afternoon workshops will be inspired by the 'Letter from Chile' that Brother Alois, the prior of Taizé, will issue following a meeting of Latin American youth led by the Taizé Community in Santiago, Chile, from Dec. 8-12. Previous European meets have been held in Poznan, Brussels, Geneva, Zagreb, Milan, Lisbon, Hamburg, Budapest and Paris.