140 PART TWO: AN EMPIRICAL ACCOUNT 4.4 THE PRIMACY OF PRACTICE IN COPING WITH DIFFERENCES Lived ecumenism, probably more than any other form of ecumenical contact, implies that people are confronted with the otherness of others. In the interviews, this theme was addressed substantially. How do the monastics cope with diversity within their communities? On a larger scale and at first glance, there is a difference between the two communities, which, I think, is mainly due to their respective histories and compositions. From the descriptions of both places (see Chapter 3), it is already clear that each has its own distinct ‘style’. Taizé, with its vibrant atmosphere and the colorful church interior, looks and feels very different from the quiet, remote, and austere appearance of Bose. Taizé has tried to accommodate all its guests and members from so many different countries and cultures by integrating traditions and spiritual resources. Bose, on the other hand, seems to focus on the essentials, the things all have in common. Sensitivity and abnegation Bose, with its predominantly Roman Catholic membership and its rootedness in the Roman Catholic Church, applies a strategy that, at first glance, looks like an ecumenism of the least common denominator. Brother BE, one of few nonCatholics in the community, indicates in a lengthy quote that, in his view, the Catholics in the community in fact give up more of the spiritual and liturgical practices typical for their tradition in the communal life than the non-Catholics: I would say that what the community offers to those who enter here, don’t ask…doesn’t ask tome as a Protestant to renounce to something and not to be able to live my own, my own [spirituality]. Probably for Catholics who are used to some Catholic strict rules enter here, means almost more renouncing than, than what it asks to me. So, the simplicity of the, of the few ecclesial or institutional parts of our, of our life makes it perhaps more difficult for a Catholic brother or sister to be here, than uh, than, so, the fact that we don’t have any adoration, Eucharistic adoration, or the devotion to the virgin, uh, is very discreet. Of course, we celebrate the feasts during the year, but it’s part of also, of lit~ so, this liturgical calendar is also based on what the Bible says about the mother of Jesus, and so on, and so, in this sense, to go back to what I was saying before, before opening two or three brackets, um {laughs}, uh… it’s probably more difficult, a Protestant
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