Philip McKinley

As part of the Archdiocese of Dublin's 'Year of Evangelisation', an ecumenical pilgrimage for young adults, led by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, travelled to the Taizé community in France from July 11-18.

The group of 56 were presented by the Archbishop of Dublin with a booklet written by Br Rob of the Taizé community on the Passion narratives in the Gospels. Ecumenical pilgrims included members of the Church of Ireland United Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, St Finian's Lutheran Church on Adelaide Road and the Irish Inter-Church Committee. Coordinator of the pilgrimmage, Fr Damian McNeice explained ''the response of the participants to their experience in Taizé was very positive. During a meeting with Br Jean Marie (the brother with responsibility for Irish pilgrims) one young person said: 'I am going to have to re-evaluate my whole life in the light of this week when I get home.' Others marvelled at discovering the relevance of the Word of God in their life''.

Fr McNeice added, ''The prayer was beautiful and uplifting. Some of the young people were a bit worried at the notion of 'Bible introductions' by the brothers and faith sharing with their peers, but by the end of the week, it was their favourite time of day'.

The ecumenical nature of the pilgrimage grew out the response of so many different Christian traditions to the Vigil of Prayer with Br Alois and other brothers in the Pro-Cathedral in April 2008. Taizé itself is an ecumenical monastic community and promotes Christian unity particularly amongst young people.

Church of Ireland representatives included Archdeacon Ricky Rountree and Rev Suzanne Harris, while Philip McKinley represented the Irish Inter-Church Committee. Fr Ciaran O'Carroll and Gerard Gallagher, both representing the Archdiocese of Dublin's Office for Evangelisation also attended.

Amongst representatives of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Arklow in Co. Wicklow had 15 pilgrims thanks to the efforts of their parish priest, Fr Martin Cosgrove. Other notable parishes were Malahide, Mount Merrion both in Dublin and Kilcullen in County Kildare.

A Facebook page 'Taizé Dublin' has been set up so that those attending can stay in touch with one another and to keep each other updated on Taizé prayer events around Dublin.

At the end of the trip Archbishop Martin expressed his hope that this trip will be the beginning of many more waves of young people from Dublin visiting Taizé.