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Why devote a special issue of `For a Change' to the 50th anniversary of the international MRA conference centre at Caux, Switzerland?

Mountain House is a largely undiscovered story. It is true that the French and German governments decorated Frank Buchman, the founder of MRA, in recognition of MRA's part in healing their relationship after World War II, and that this is being increasingly recognized in academic circles. Some know of Caux's role in easing the road to independence of various African countries or in providing a meeting place for some of those involved in the South Tyrol dispute in northern Italy. Yet to most people Caux remains a beautiful castle romantically perched on a Swiss mountainside.

Year by year for 50 years, Caux has been involved in some of the world's most difficult issues. People from all over the world have gathered there to seek ways forward in sensitive situations: sorting out grievances within industries, building trans-communal links in Lebanon, easing intra-family tensions, helping post-Communist countries lay the moral and spiritual foundations for democracy. This year the centre has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The world needs to find effective ways of tackling economic, social and political problems. If the approach of Caux has often proved effective, all people who want to see a better future deserve the chance to learn more about it. For Caux is not just a talking shop; it is a working experiment in applying a philosophy of life. Those who visit Caux attempt to create a community where people care for each other practically; where God's will is sought, in prayer, for all major - and many less major - decisions; where absolute moral standards of honesty, purity, love and unselfishness are taken as guideposts for actions; and where people search for their role in working for a better world, individually and collectively.

With a small capital fund, hardly any government funding and far fewer paid employees than most operations of comparable size, Caux continues its role as `a temple of silence at the service of humanity'. This issue is devoted to reporting what happened there this summer, and to looking at some of the ways in which the ideas of Caux are affecting humanity.

Editor