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Date: August 22, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com)

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
August 22, 2005

Church of the Brethren shares in loss of Brother Roger of Taize

August 22, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- "We join the world in this loss," said Stan
Noffsinger, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren General Board, on
hearing of the untimely death of the Taize communityâs founder, Brother Roger.
 "We recognize that the Taize community and Brother Roger have had a
significant  impact on the lives of many Brethren, and will continue to have an effect
on the	church for many years to come."

The founder of the Taize community in France, brother Roger Louis
Schutz-Marsauche, was stabbed to death Aug. 16, during an evening prayer service  at the
community's Reconciliation Church, according to a press report from  France.
Taize's 90-year-old founder was known simply as Brother Roger. Taize is  an
ecumenical monastic community founded in the 1940s with a message of peace
 and
friendship across cultures. The group's unique meditative music and
worship 
style draws tens of thousands of youth and young adult pilgrims from
around the
 world every year. The report said police detained a 36-year-old mentally
disturbed Romanian woman who made the attack in the presence of some 2,500 young
 worshippers.

Several Taize hymns are included in "Hymnal: A Worship Book" and in the
"Hymnal Supplement" series published by Brethren Press. Some Brethren
congregations regularly hold prayer services in the Taize style.

Among the Brethren who visited Taize were several study groups from
Bethany 
Theological Seminary, led by professor emerita Nancy Faus. The manner of
Brother  Roger's death, and his character of "deep compassion and tremendous love,"
made  the tragedy "unbelievable and ironic," she said. "Here was a man that
started  this community with an emphasis on peace and love and reconciliation
for  Christians and the world. For this to happen in a service of prayer is
beyond	all comprehension."

Brother Roger's burial is planned for Aug. 23. Until then, his body will
be 
placed in the Reconciliation Church every afternoon for all who would like to
meditate near to him, Faus said.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith  in
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its  300th
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil,
the 
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.

# # #

For more information contact:

Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org)

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The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,
 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board.
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