CHAPTER 6: TEMPORARY SOLUTION FOR A PERMANENT PROBLEM 195 time it's meant for all.”449 The monastics consider their solution particular in the sense that it is the fruit of the specific journey of their founders and communities. This implies that the practice that evolved in that particular situation cannot simply be copied and applied to other contexts. The monastics explain their views on the function of their practice within the ecumenical process in terms like ‘sign’ and ‘parable.’ These terms express a tension between the lived unity in their own communities and the ecumenical goal of full visible unity that is still pending. TA says: In the historical context of Taizé, uh… that is… … so it… … Taizé which began as a Protestant, as a Reformed community. And where we can, now, every Sunday… celebrate the Catholic Eucharist… that is, as a sign, already something so big {laughs} um… so, that’s what I mean with it, you know, that… um… … looking at that, you know, what that means already, with regard to the progress we’ve gone through here, and the trust we get from… from the churches, and as… um… as sign that we can live together every week with the people who join us um… that is something huge in our context, you know {laughs}. It’s not something that will change the world straight away, but on the small scale of this small hill or of Taizé… that is something huge and we should not forget that. (…) it is, of course, difficult to… to let that touch you on an emotional level each Sunday, you know. But still, that each brother should realize deep inside, how big a sign of reconciliation um… … that is… that, we should not forget that.450 This quote contains two elements that I see reflected and explained in other parts of the interviews, which are constitutive of the way the monastics understand the place of their practice in the bigger picture of the ecumenical process. The first is the significance of actually and concretely living this reality of reconciliation. To the monastics, this is more fundamental than the theological concept or the scale of the impact their actions might have. Discussing this with BG, she indicates that the purpose of the Bose community is simply to live together as Christians from different churches: BG: we are very popular now, but we, we don’t look for that, okay? So, there are people in [with us in Bose, which are really important] in churches, in the ecumenical dialogue, we organize congress, okay, but uh, I think, if all of that stop, we are the same, okay? Because the true sign is to, to be um… a place open of the people. That’s the sign. 449 TB-1,52. 450 TA-2,14.
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