HAMBURG, NOV. 9, 2003 (Zenit.org).- From December 29 to January 2, 2004, nearly 300 parishes of Germany’s Hamburg region will welcome thousands of young people for the Taize ecumenical community’s 26th «Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth.»
Hamburg’s Catholic and non-Catholic religious representatives invited the French-based Taize ecumenical monastic community to hold the event there to open the year 2004.
The first such pilgrimage was held in the militantly secular city of Paris, France, in 1978. Last year’s pilgrimage was also held in Paris. It drew 80,000 young people.
«Numerous young people, from Ireland to Poland, are anxious about the future of the world and they do not see the meaning…of life. During times of sharing such as these planned by Taize, young people realize they’re not the only ones asking these questions,» he explained.
Vienna hosted the event in 1997; Milan in 1998; Warsaw in 1999; Barcelona in 2000; and Budapest in 2001. Extra-European pilgrimages have included Madras, Manila, Dayton, OH and Johannesburg.
Taize’s annual «Pilgrimage of Trust» is not to be confused with the Catholic Church’s officially sponsored «World Youth Day,» which will take place in Hamburg in August 2005.
For more information see: www.taize.fr.
