At the end of May 2016, a weekend of celebration for the two communities marked the anniversary. On Saturday, two sisters, one from Australia and one from Congo, made their perpetual profession at Ameugny, in the presence of some sixty sisters, some of whom live on the hill and some who came specially for the occasion from Europe or from Africa.

On Sunday, the sisters joined the Taizé brothers for the midday meal and for the afternoon, during which different meetings and a visit to the brothers’ workshops were on the program.

Then, a prayer in the Romanesque church in the village enabled the sisters and brothers to sing together to express their gratefulness for the half-century together. During that prayer, Sister Agnes, the superior general of the sisters, prayed:

Lord our God, source of all wisdom and goodness,

You wanted to give a beginning to our communities,

keep them, guide them.

Father of all perfect gifts according to your will,

realize in us the prayer of your Son:

’Holy Father, keep in your name those you have given to me;

consecrate them in the truth, that they may be one in us

so that the world may believe that you sent me."

We ask you for this grace, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Brother Alois spoke this prayer in his turn:

O Christ, we praise you for the beautiful collaboration that has united us to the Sisters of St Andrew for fifty years. You want us to serve your Church and you call us to be together, in our complementarity, witnesses to joy, simplicity, and mercy, especially for the younger generations. We praise you for those who have opened the way for us—St. Ignatius, Mother Marie-Tarcisius, and Brother Roger. Send the Holy Spirit upon us, that he may keep alive in us the passion for communion, and that your peace may shine on earth.