Prior of the Taizé community, Frère Alois, steps back and hands over to Frère Matthew

Prior of the Taizé community, Frère Alois, steps back and hands over to Frère Matthew

Frère Alois steps down as head of the Ecumenical Community of Taizé

The Ecumenical Community of Taizé has announced that Frère Alois will resign as head of the community. According to the rule of Taizé, according to which the Prior of the Communauté determines a brother who ensures continuity after him, Frère Alois will be handed over to Frère Matthew. This change should take place on the first Sunday of Advent 2023.

Frère Alois referred to strong changes in the church and society and explained that the time has now come that a brother who joined the Communauté after him takes over his service. As long as he is not forced to do so through external circumstances, he thinks it is appropriate to give up his task. According to information, the administrative office of the Taizé community is not limited in time. Frère Alois became a prior in 2005 after the founder of the community, Roger protection, was stabbed by a mentally ill woman. Protection had founded the community in 1949.

The office is handed over by a German Catholic to a British Anglican. Frère Alois, with a bourgeois name Alois Loeser, was born on June 11, 1954 in Ehingen am Ries. He joined the Taizé Communauté on November 1, 1974. Frère Matthew, with a bourgeois name Andrew Thorpe, was born on May 10, 1965 in Pudsey (Great Britain). He joined the Taizé Communauté on November 10, 1986 and comes from the Anglican Church.

Taizé is a significant place of the ecumenical movement. The village in Burgundy with the Christian Brotherhood has been serving as a meeting point for thousands of young people from all over the world for decades. The brotherhood consists of around 100 men from around 30 countries and various Christian churches.