206 PART TWO: AN EMPIRICAL ACCOUNT way how… yes, the life together with uh… Catholics made me discover that I was Reformed.465 Interestingly, both TB and TA indicate that they tend to be more critical of their own tradition than of the other traditions they encounter in Taizé. TB says: “of course, I see the shortcomings in that church, like I see shortcomings of other churches, and I see maybe better the shortcomings in that church, because I know more what is really going on.”466 TA adds that it is important to “have a healthy relationship with the tradition of one’s origin, both the ecclesiastical tradition, but also culturally,”467 in order to balance critical and affectional feelings towards the different denominations and to enable a genuine dialogue. To the monastics, faithfulness is not exclusive. They value a sense of openness towards others. TA indicates: Thankfulness indeed that I, both towards my parents and the church I come from, that there’s always been openness, for that matter, I mean, that it was always… um… explicitly or not, that there are people who think different than, than us, and that this is not a bad thing {laughs}, and that they might as well be right, you know, uh, which helps me a lot, here, you know, I mean, to focus on… um… the good in your, in your own identity than to prove that what others do, what those others do, is wrong, you know…. Um, and I think that that’s something we’ve always tried to do in Taizé~ what we always try to do in Taizé, you know.468 Similarly, referring to Godfried Hamann, TC says: Faithfulness is not that we keep... ... ... the refusal of the other, you know, that characterized certain moments of our relationships, no? between churches and [there are moments when] we refuse~ that's not the fidelity that's asked of us, no? In that sense, we're not asked to find our identity by saying no to another church, so that's... that's, sometimes people think that that's fidelity. But it's, I think, that I say, no, we're asked to let go of things that were just distractive, [-] that were not unity, and uh... ... ... ... But people are entitled to be proud of the gifts of their churches. There they can see what their parents 465 BE-1,32. 466 TB-1,20. 467 TA-1,24a. 468 TA-1,24b.
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