A “jornada da confiança”, as the meetings of the Pilgrimage of Trust are called in Brazil, was held from October 9 to 12 in Salvador in the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Lapinha. Nearly five hundred young people from different cities of Bahia took part in it, some from even further, and even two young people from Bolivia.The adventure began in late May when young people from the parish (...)
10 November 2015
João, a young computer scientist spending some months as a volunteer with the Taizé brothers in Alagoinhas, writes about his experience with children in poor neighbourhoods. He has worked on the training courses which have developed alongside the activities of the "brincadeira", which the brothers have been running for many years.For the second time this year, there have been apprenticeship (...)
4 December 2014
Taizé brothers have been living in Brazil since 1966. The first "fraternity" (house) was at Recife, in the North East of Brazil, in the diocese of Bishop Helder Camara, with whom Brother Roger had established a close friendship during the Second Vatican Council. From 1972, the brothers lived at Vitória, 1,700 km further south. In 1978 they returned to the North East, to Alagoinhas, a medium (...)
14 January 2014
"In heaven, single file, only one door!"The week before Pentecost in Brazil is the week of prayer for Christian Unity. On this occasion we decided to go out to pray “outside the walls”. The thought process was rather unique: in the reality of the North East of Brazil ecumenism is quasi non-existent, all the more so now that the new Pentecostal churches forbid their faithful to enter a Catholic church. In this context of tensions between Christians and even competition between churches, we (...)
28 June 2011
Nippes Department, Anse à Veau Diocese, Maragoâne : paradoxes One of the brothers of Taizé living in Brazil has just spent three months in Haiti.The waters of the Caribbean wash this end of the island whose mountain ranges with their treeless slopes and difficult access leave little room for the plains. Thirty or forty years ago, Miragoâne, administrative centre with some 50,000 inhabitants was the finest part of the country. Today, with its continual water shortages and power cuts, its (...)
4 June 2011
Arrived just recently in the fraternity, one of the brothers shares some of his first impressions.A brother suggests I accompany him to pray with a little community which meets at the only Catholic chapel in the neighbourhood. After our prayer, about 19.30, we climb up to Alto da Cruz, a few streets away from the community house. There is a full moon and, for the first time since I arrived, the night is beautiful to behold. We go up and greet an old man who is strumming his guitar on the (...)
25 May 2011
“Keeping two hours of childhood a day for the children” is how one volunteer described the “brincadeira”: daily meetings for children led by one of the Taizé brothers living in Alagoinhas in the North East of Brazil. “Brincadeira” means “play and joy”. These afternoon meetings are also a place where the children can talk about their little or big problems at home or on the street.The story of Dourado (...)
12 September 2009
Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 May 2008 The day before the meeting began, the priest in charge of the diocese (at present there is no bishop) spoke to the brothers about the team of young adults who had prepared the meeting: “Even if the meeting could not take place, all the preparation would have been worth while because of the number of young people who have found an (...)
28 May 2008
Taizé brothers have been living in Alagoinhas, in North East Brazil since 1979. Their home is in a very poor neighbourhood of the city. Through the years, they have tried to reach out, to respond to the needs around them. Among the various activities they undertake are several programs for the children, among them “Emmaus”. Every morning, after prayer, some forty children come for breakfast. These are children who have no regular home; they come from very poor situations; often they are (...)
4 June 2007
A young volunteer working with the brothers in Brazil writes.“Keeping two hours of childhood a day for the children.” That is the idea behind the daily meetings for children at the small fraternity of the Taizé brothers at Alagoinhas in the North East of Brazil. These hours are a simple as the name indicates: “brincadiera”, which means “play and joy”. The rules are equally simple: it is forbidden to fight and to throw stones, but there are no barriers for fantasy! At the entrance to the play (...)
27 July 2006
Saturday morning in Sao Lazaro Street. There is a lot of activity in front of the house of the Taizé brothers. Nearly everybody is there. Mr. Mario with his guitar, Vital and his youngest daughter, Noélia and her children, Fagner, Ana Lucia… Deaf people, blind people, people who can see and hear, adults and young people, are meeting once again to finalise the schedule of their activities. All of them belong to the “Seeing and talking hands club”. The name may seem a bit long, but everyone (...)
13 November 2004
TAIZÉ
