What are we asking of parishes that want to participate in “Together |Gathering of the People of God”?
A) To all churches and parishes
To encourage young people and the faithful to participate in the gathering and help them prepare for it.
1.You may invite a representative of Taizé to hold a preparatory meeting for information, reflection, prayer… For this, contact info@together2023.net
2. Young people who wish can sign up as volunteers to help with food distribution, circulation, (from lace to place), etc. For this contact volunteers@together2023
B) To the host parishes
You can invite a representative of Taizé to hold a preparatory meeting with young people, families, pastoral council: information, reflection, prayer… For this, contact info@together2023.net
Set up a small coordination committee, involving young adults as much as possible, who will be the contact persons with the Taizé team.
The local preparation team should organise the following activities:
– Hosting and accommodation: find host families through the Sunday services, in the parish bulletin, and by using the website, Facebook account, etc, of the parish. Completed accommodation forms will be collected in the parish office. You can download a form here (available in Italian only) to give to families who want to host young people to help you gather the different offers. The hosting and accommodation group will organise the welcoming of participants on 29 September.
– Prayer: preparation for prayer in the parish on Friday 29 September and the Sunday service on 1 October. The preparation includes singers, readers, musicians and others, for whom guidelines will be available. This group can also help during any prayer times open to all, which will take place before the meeting in the parishes.
– The parish preparation team will inform the central coordination of the number of places available in families and collective accommodation.
You can download a form summarising the parish accommodation offers {link → available only in Italian}. The final number of participants to be accommodated will only be confirmed one week before the meeting, after all registrations have been received.
- Flyers: you can download here a general flyer for “Together” and here with a form for offering accommodation.
- Transport: The parish preparation team, together with the Taizé coordination team, will identify the easiest route by public transport to the meeting points on the morning of Saturday 30 September. During the meeting, ask if possible young people from the parish to accompany the guests.
From June to September, the parish reception coordinator will receive information on the group(s) that will be hosted in your parish. The leaders of these groups will get in touch with you to work out together the details of arrival, departure, number and precise composition of the group. It will be up to the coordinator of the host parish to indicate the arrival address, using GPS coordinates for 28 September.
Would it be possible to schedule a meeting in each parish with all the families willing to host by the end of June 2023?
The preparation centre is located in the office of MEOR, Via del Banco di Santo Spirito, 3, 00186, Rome. It will be open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm Monday to Friday between 9 May and 1 July. Write to info@together2023 with any questions.
