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Lipa, Batangas Holds Taize Meeting
1-2011
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Lipa, Batangas holds Taize Meeting
By Marian B. Villafaña (IPLM correspondent)
United together as one, the youth of the Archdiocese of Lipa held a Taize meeting at the Canossa Academy in Lipa, Batangas last November 20-21, 2010, celebrating the theme: Kaberks! Lakbay tayo! Taize sa Lipa, Sama na! (Friends! Let’s travel! Join Taize in Lipa!) “Called Together in God’s Friendship”.
What is Taizé?
According to Lukas Vischer, former director of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and professor of ecumenical theology at the University of Berne, Taizé is an ecumenical council, established by Frère Roger Schutz (1915-2005) after World War II, to reform and reconcile the skirmishing Protestant and Catholic churches. It found great popularity among the youth, thanks to its idea of simplicity, freedom, and commitment.
Vischer wrote in his article, “The Making of Taizé” (published in The Christian Century, Sept. 20, 2005, pp. 8-9): Schutz, the son of a pastor of the Swiss Reformed Church, studied theology in Lausanne and Strasbourg. In 1940 he moved to Taizé in French Burgundy and was soon joined by a group of companions. In 1949 they decided to engage in a radical commitment and to found a monastic community. ... They renewed the tradition of the daily prayer hours. For their liturgical life they owe much to the liturgical renewal movement in the Reformed churches of French-speaking Switzerland.
The Taizé in Lipa
Faithful to its roots, the Taizé Lipa meeting had the following objectives: 1) To promote prayer as a means of consecrating, communing and committing ourselves to God; 2) to celebrate God’s friendship with us, evident in our friendship with others through prayer; and 3) to challenge and motivate young people to be a person for others.
Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles of the Archdiocese of Lipa celebrated mass at 8:00pm Saturday to kick off the overnight event. This was followed by a series of speeches and sharings that lasted until the close of the weekend meeting, around 6:00 am Sunday.
The hundreds-strong attendees actively participated in every presentation, listening, singing and praying with the speakers-facilitators. One of these presenters was the Institute of Preaching Lay Missionaries (IPLM) who talked about prayer, family, barkada (peers/friends), society/community, and God.
As everyone else did, IPLM made their sharings through the aid of songs and visual presentations, adapting a unique characteristic of a Taize assembly. A youth organizer from Lipa commented, “Naku ayos na ayos ang feedback! Lively daw. Tsaka yung mga videos at animations...they just loved it... (The feedback was very good! It was lively. And they just loved the videos and animations...)”. For this event, IPLM received their first certificate signed by an Archbishop.
Due to the successful Batangas event, needless to say, everyone is looking forward to the next Taizé meeting.
