Max Thurian

Who was Max Thurian?

Brother Max Thurian was the subprior of the Taizé community, an ecumenical monastic community in France. He was the subprior at Taizé from the time of its inception in the 1940s. During the Second Vatican Council, he was invited by Pope Paul VI to participate in the liturgical reform of the Catholic Mass. In 1969 he expressed that he was satisfied with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, under the belief that Protestants could receive Holy Communion along with Roman Catholics. This is false, however, as the Roman Catholic Church forbids non-Catholics from reception of Holy Communion at the Mass. On May 12, 1988, Thurian converted to Roman Catholicism and was ordained a priest. In a complete turn of events, on July 24, 1996, Thurian published an article in L'Osservatore Romano that he was actually dissatisfied with conciliar reformation, in that the Mass "has lost its character of mystery."