An ecumenical community and retreat center near Cluny in France. The community consists of about one hundred brothers who have taken vows which are similar to those of many Roman Catholic religious orders, even though many brothers are from Churches of the Reformation, as the community styles them, and are thus Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and other churches from the Reformed tradition.
As a retreat center, it attracts tens of thousands of young people from around the globe, mainly Christians and nominal Christians from Europe, during the summer. Once there, it's like a gigantic post-secondary school summer camp with focii on worship in the Church of the Reconciliation, making friends, trying to translate between half-a-dozen or more languages, and keeping everyone else fed and the garbage bins empty.
Known especially for the distinctive forms of chant which are really quite similar to the styles of chant used by the various Orthodox Churches.
Worth going to at least once in a lifetime, if not many more times. |
