Kolkata (AsiaNews) Final preparations are underway for an international meeting on October 5-9 in West Bengal. Organised by the Taizé Community, it will bring together several thousands of young people along the 'Pilgrimage of Trust' begun by Brother Roger and is "intended to support young people in their search for God and their desire to commit themselves in the Church and in society". The theme of the meeting, the second in Asia since 1976, is: 'On the road of trust, towards a future of peace'.
Over the past few months, brothers from the Taizé community have worked with 20 different parishes and local Church communities in Kolkata to prepare the event, which is expected to attract thousands of young people from around the world.
The community was invited by the Youth Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and has been working in collaboration with the Catholic Archdiocese of Kolkata, the Church of North India and Orthodox parishes.
The new prior of Taizé, Brother Aloïs, is scheduled to attend the event together with several other brothers, as a sign of the community's full commitment in this step along the "Pilgrimage".
The choice of Kolkata is no accident. In an interview with AsiaNews in December 2005, Brother Aloïs said that the "important thing for us is the revival of the first meeting in Asia in 1976, held by Brother Roger, who lived for some years right in Calcutta (now Kolkata), where he met Mother Teresa. Brother Roger started international pilgrimages 'of trust' in 1985 in Madras in India. Now after, many years, we are returning practically to the beginning. Then there was Brother Roger; now we take up in Calcutta again without the visible presence of our founder."