Caux - a place where new beginnings happen.

In a Swiss Alpine village young Latin Americans dance to the vibrant rhythms of their continent. Under the same fairy-tale castle roofs are men and women from some of the world's tensest areas, students from Europe, South African farmers, a Swedish artist, Russian intellectuals, a Bosnian broadcaster ...

Why does the world come to the MRA conferences in Caux each summer? Is it the conference titles--this year, `Cleaning the slate, the promise of a new start'? Is it the chance to meet people from other countries, perhaps to glean some pointers for resolving difficulties back home? Or is it the `atmosphere', the sense of being apart from the everyday rush of life, with the chance to reflect and the inspirational input to lift those reflections?

People attend the Caux conferences for all these reasons, and several more. Some, for instance, come to serve--such as the students who head up some of the work-teams without pay, or the interpreters who work on the same basis.

For whatever reason he or she has come, each individual soon finds him or herself part of a small `community' within the conference. The community meets daily, both to exchange thoughts and experiences and to help with the practical running of the conference centre. The exchanges which take place in the intimacy and confidentiality of these groups often touch on the deepest motives and hopes of those present--issues of life and faith, how to sort out the past and make real the promise of a new beginning.

The straight talking on vital issues continues in the public sessions, and it is from these that we draw most of the material in this special issue.