Elon’s Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life announces a Spring Break opportunity:
Spring Break 2011: Taize, France
The Truitt Center seeks to encourage students to honor the spiritual dimension of life. In the spirit of this mission, the Truitt Center is sponsoring a “spiritual journey” to the monastic community of Taize, France. (trip concludes with 2 day stay in PARIS)
Why Taize?
For Elon students, Taize provides an opportunity to disengage from the dominant cultural rhythms and norms that guide our lives. In essence, it’s an invitation to immerse ourselves in the unique and soulful rhythm of monastic communal life. Over the course of 7 days, students will live as monks do, leaving behind our daily routines and unplugging from the ever-expanding reach of technology. Students will live the simple life, creating space to nurture and discern the spirituality within.
Spirituality
From the beginning, Taize has been inspired by two aims: to live in communion with God through prayer and to be a leaven of peace and trust in the midst of the human family. A stay at Taize is an opportunity to seek communion with God in prayer, singing, silence and reflection. It can be possible to rediscover an inner peace, a meaning to life and a renewed sense of purpose. For those exploring their spirituality, Taize provides space and a rhythm to center oneself and find balance.
Service
Part of the daily rhythms of monastic life is serving the community. Students spend an hour or two a day in diverse groups caring for the needs of the community. This can involve anything from kitchen prep to stocking shelves to cleaning.
Global Encounter
Students who have traveled to Taize find the experience to be positively life changing:
“The thing that struck me most clearly was that [even though those who journeyed there came from all over we already had so much in common..we were asking the same questions, struggling in the same ways, and drawing strength from the same joys as each other despite living very different lives in far apart places.”
Last year, we made friends with students from Germany, South Korea, Lithuania, France, England and many other countries.
Overall Logistics:
Spring Break Taize will leave Elon Friday afternoon, March 18th. We will spend 7 days at the Taize monastery and 2 days in Paris. We will return to Elon Sunday afternoon, March 27th.
Price:
The cost of this Spring Break trip is estimated at $1,500 before fundraising (cost includes international airfare, all train and travel costs, lodging and food). We understand that while that is an amazing price for all that is included, it is still a lot of money. Our group will utilize several fundraising strategies to attempt to reduce cost.
INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS:
Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 5:15 p.m. in the Moseley Center Commuter Lounge
Monday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Truitt Center OASIS room
Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 5:15 p.m. in the Truitt Center OASIS room
Contact:
Chet Denlinger, Chaplaincy Resident (cdenlinger@elon.edu)
Maggie Castor ’12, Student Trip Leader (mcastor@elon.edu)