CHAPTER 4: MONASTIC VOCATION WITH ECUMENICAL IMPLICATIONS 133 engaged in ecumenical contacts during the years before entering Taizé. Still, his early childhood was not particularly ecumenical. All Christian activities he participated inwere organized by his own church. On the one occasion inwhich they resorted to the building of the Catholic parish for practical reasons, TA found himself very impressed but not yet inclined to seeking more contact with Catholics. Things changed during his philosophy studies in Groningen, The Netherlands. There, he engaged with the ecumenical university chaplaincy: “and when I was a student, I was active in the university chaplaincy in Groningen, then, that was rather rich, in that regard. There were, indeed, youths from almost all confessions…”322 It struck me that Brother TA used this word ‘rich’ to describe his experiences in Groningen, especially when he also used it to describe his time as a volunteer in Taizé and again when speaking of the value of receiving Communion in Taizé: The fact that we have the right here in Taizé, one of their most beautiful things, you know, the Eucharist, to celebrate that every Sunday here, that is, that is a great good, and I realize… I realize, in a personal way, you know… how, how rich that is….323 I asked TAwhat hemeant by this word ‘rich’ when speaking about the university chaplaincy. Searching for words and formulations, he replied: I think uh, also… how should I put this, also on a very personal, on a personal level, the friendships that I’ve had there, or the conversations one has there, I mean, I think that we can… can see that in Taizé, too, you know. What if we would only have the prayers, or the Bible introductions, um, I think this place would become, would soon become a dead place, because everything is ro… rooted in a common life… um……… it is, and that is maybe what I mean by rich, on many, many different levels… um, and that I am grateful for that time at the university chaplaincy, um… … … because all those levels were there, it was about faith, but also, indeed, to, um, to… show something of the church… um…… um, in the area of friendship and, and living together, um, it is, I also lived in a dormitory, you know.324 The word ‘rich’ connects the different experiences, which obviously have had a significant impact on Brother TA. With the word ‘rich’, he expresses that it has 322 TA-1,4c. 323 TA-1,30a. 324 TA-2,11.
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