The Fruits of Grace: The Ecumenical Experience of the Community of Grandchamp

Before Taize there was Grandchamp. The lesser-known Protestant womens community initiated in 1936 grew out of generations of womens groups in French-speaking Switzerland. It was heavily influenced by Wilfred Monod the Student Christian movement Swiss Reformed efforts at liturgical renewal and Bonhoeffers Life Together. It was deeply affected by the angst generated by World War II and the search by European Christians for new ways to be Christian. This volume by the third prioress of the Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland reflects on the origins of the community the sources and development of its spirituality and on its ministries. Foci include the involvement of the community in the ecumenical movement and in mission around the world. There is also important new information about its interaction with Taize Catholic religious communities and the women themselves as individuals and as a community. Sister Minke de Vries also provides an intimate view into the inner workings of a womens community and the structures of the spiritual practices of the Community of Grandchamp. The Fruits of Grace is a powerful analysis of a European Protestant womens monastic community. Sister Minkes book the fruit of her long years at Grandchamp is a moving testimony to the wonderful spirit of forgiveness reconciliation and striving for unity that animates this wonderful community of Protestant monastic women. It touched me deeply. --Thomas P. Rausch SJ Loyola Marymount University The communities of Taize and Grandchamp have much in common. Born from the same milieu their leaders drew upon one another as they formed and matured as thoroughly ecumenical communities. This translation of Sr. Minkes account of the growth and development of Grandchamp offered here by Dr. Nancy Gower an expert on the formation and growth of Taize brings new insight into their relationship. --Cecil M. Robeck Jr. Fuller Theological Seminary The account of Sister Minke de Vries provides an important insight into the recovery of monasticism within the churches of the Reformation. Her personal perspective as the third prioress of the Community of Grandchamp gives us an insight into the evolution of the community during a period of intensive renewal and ecumenical encounter. Nancy Gowers well-documented introduction provides a window into the origins of the community in the confluence of movements that also gave rise to the communities of Taize and Pomeyrol. This work is a welcome contribution to the history of monasticism and of ecumenical spirituality. --Catherine E. Clifford Saint Paul University Ottawa Minke de Vries became the third prioress of the Community of Grandchamp in 1970. Nancy S. Gower is a historian of Protestant religious communities in Europe and an Oblate at Saint Andrews Abbey Valyermo California.