The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu is to lead a group of Year 10 and Year 11 students from Manor CE Academy, Archbishop Holgate’s,  All Saints Ingleby Barwick, Archbishop Sentamu Academy and Abbey Grange CE Academy Leeds, to Taizé next weekend.The Yorkshire Schools Pilgrimage has been coordinated by the Archbishop’s Youth Trust.

112 students, staff and the Archbishop depart to Taizé on Saturday 15 July from Bishopthorpe Palace and will return the following weekend.Archbishop Sentamu said; “Taizé is an extraordinary place, a place of trust, joy, simplicity and compassion. My Young Leaders Award encourages people to look beyond themselves in the service of others.

To be able to join with young people from more than 100 countries in sharing food together, worship and learning is a wonderful experience, and each time I have returned from Taize I have returned blessed, inspired and encouraged by others”. Founded in 1940 by Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche (known as 'Brother Roger'), the Taizé Community is an ecumenical monastic order of mainly Catholic and Protestant communities drawn together from thirty countries across the world, and is based in the south-west of France. Every year, over 100,000 young people from around the world make their pilgrimages of trust and reconciliation, prayer, bible study and communal work.

Kay Brown, Chaplain at Abbey Grange Church of England Academy Leeds, said: “Abbey Grange is thrilled to be invited to join the Yorkshire pilgrimage to Taize. It is such an amazing opportunity to explore what faith means in an open and questioning environment, to experience and be involved in music in a new way and to meet so many new people from across Europe and beyond. I am sure everyone who goes will be challenged and inspired in equal measure and I look forward to seeing the growth in all of us through this week.”Dan Finn, the Director of the Youth Trust, said; “This is the second group of Young Leaders that have chosen to extend their learning of the Awards with a Pilgrimage to Taizé.  

There is something for everyone at Taizé, a chance to meet new friends, to join in and volunteer with others, to pray and to study in small groups. It is a place of incredible welcome which is something the Young Leaders will be exploring in depth as part of the structured workshops next week at Taizé on migration, asylum seekers and refugees”.

In addition to the normal youth meetings, the week of Monday 17 to Saturday 22 July at Taizé includes special sessions on the theme of migration with speakers:  Father Michael Czerny – Migrants & Refugees Section at The Vatican; Catherine Wihtol de Wendenformer research director at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); Archbishop John Sentamu; Pascal Brice, director of the French Office for the protection of refugees and stateless persons (OFPRA); forums with some European political representatives and those involved in the accompaniment of migrants.

Taize 2016 Pilgrimage Video:

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About the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust

To date the Youth Trust have enrolled over 450 Primary and Secondary schools to the Young Leaders Awards, empowering some 50,000 young people to put leadership into action and make a difference in other people's lives through acts of service and community volunteering.

For more information on the Young Leaders Awards, please visit www.abyyt.com or contact The Archbishop of York Youth Trust: 01904 231010 or youth.trust@abyyt.com