seemed like forever, we were forced to resort to whatever combination of alternate transportation we could find. When the buses and planes, and buses and trains were all over and done with, the 8-10 hour trip had taken us nearly 22! We arrived at Taizé exhausted, were sorted and assigned to bible studies and work groups, and went almost immediately to bed. The daily regimen at Taizé was quite busy. Morning prayer was at 8:30 sharp, and was immediately followed by a breakfast of French bread, butter, 2 sticks of chocolate and hot cocoa. Bible introduction was immediately after that, then small groups, then noonday prayer, then lunch, then just enough time to change before my 3:00 practical work. After work their were 2 hours to attend workshops, nap, walk the paths of La Source St. Etienne, or meet with a Taizé Brother, or a Catholic Sister if you preferred. After that came dinner, evening prayer, an hour at the snack shop OYAK with your friends before bed. Needless to say, it was difficult the first few days. Even without jet lag, the schedule would have been draining for me. I normally require equal parts active social time and quiet alone time to think and pray and write. The first few days I mechanically moved my way through the schedule thinking the cyclical thoughts “This ABOVE:
RIGHT:
Patrick Greene (far Left) to the Church and Susan Pracht for morning (far right) prayer with new friends.
Three Girls Walk
About Our Pilgrimage: Our little group of Pilgrims numbered 9 altogether, and we set out on a Peter Pan bus to Logan Airport on Saturday May 23rd. Most of the pilgrims were college students that had been, or were currently involved with summer camp at ECC. Raechel Doughty, Laura Sidla, Cece Cookingham, and Ian Holliday all came along. Many of them had been to Taizé before. Patrick Greene, a seminarian and itinerant priest from St. John’s Barrington came on his way to study for a few weeks at Canterbury Cathedral in England. Patrick Campbell, the minister of music at St. Paul’s Pawtucket came to learn how to lead Taizé prayer. Canon Tylan Creason and I represented the Diocesan House, and my part time roommate Susan Pracht who attends St. Martin’s, Providence took a week out of her European vacation to meet up with us once we arrived. We flew on a 5 hour KLM flight to Amsterdam, and after a short layover hopped on an hour long Air France flight to Lyon, where a minibus was supposed to meet us and drive us the another hour and a half to Taizé. It never showed. After waiting for what
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RISEN / SUMMER 2009
isn’t at all what I expected. I have a bad attitude. It just isn’t what I expected. I’m not experiencing God. I have a bad attitude. It just isn’t what I expected.” I wasn’t at all prepared. I wasn’t prepared for the 1200 German teenagers on field trips with their public school religion courses, and the post-junior year abroad students who thought Taizé would just be a cheap place to stay. I had expected solemn pilgrims, and the chattering during the silence of the prayer service disturbed me. I wasn’t prepared for the exhausting manual labor projects I had inadvertently signed up for with my work group,