“Having young people in formation is a gift that God gives us"
You are the formator of SSCC student brothers and also the parish priest of Thiais. Where does your strength come from at this stage in your life for these challenges?
Regarding religious life.
This is who I am! I believe that there is in me this will to be available. And then to serve. This notion of service is in me, it is part of my personality. I can't help it. I also believe in what is written in the Formation Plan of the Congregation. Brothers in formation are the first actors in formation. And that places you as someone who can accompany the professed in the first years of their commitment.
To help me with this responsibility I can draw on what we have already experienced over the past two years, on the PARL that we put together and that we will work on again as our community has changed. Also I am not alone as a formator; I was able to rely on our Indonesian brother Valent Ritan who was responsible for the scholasticate in Indonesia.
Regarding the position of pastor.
The diocese has just completed its synod, the theme of which was: "With Jesus, caring for one another." What is remarkable is the place of the laity. And therefore it is a joint work, priest-lay people. I like the service of accompanying the laity in their responsibility. And above all, I am on the team that accompanies adult catechumens. A real joy!
For all that I live in Thiais, I never stop thanking God.
In addition, I see that everything I did before, as a religious, as a priest, with my fidelities and infidelities, serves me today in my service to the community and in my pastoral role. I make my own the expression of the Good Father: "I was led by by the hand."
Finally, on a realistic note: on Mondays, as always, I get up when I can, pack my backpack and go for a five or six hour walk in the woods.
What would you highlight from your childhood?
I come from a working-class family. My father worked in shipbuilding at the Brest Arsenal and my mother worked in a shoe store. My mother, before getting married, was a member of the Young Christian Workers (YCW). My parents were believers. They went to mass every Sunday. Faith was part of their lives and it was a faith that set them free. I am the oldest of 6 children, 5 boys and a girl, who is the youngest. Being the oldest, naturally I took care of the little ones and that was normal. My father often said: "We are not rich, but there are some poorer than us." As a family, I learned the meaning of sharing. Although life was not always easy, we always had the love of our parents. They cared for us, for each one of us.
How has the Catholic Worker Movement (CWM) marked you?
Strictly speaking, the Catholic Worker Movement concerns adults. I understand that the question refers to the movements of what we call the Workers Mission. In this context, I have accompanied the children's teams and their leaders, adults and religious. But what has undoubtedly impressed me the most is the YCW. My mother had participated in it before getting married and she used to tell us about it. What is striking is the place of the leader of the team of priests. There is always a team leader, even with young people. The accompanying priest does not vote on the orientations of the movement, but helps young people or adults to live them.
Another thing is that of paying attention to life, to what people live and their surroundings. Everyday life is a "theological place", a place where God speaks, reveals himself. And so, as the CWM says, be a seeker of God.
With the YCW, the "See-Judge-Act" offers a way of seeing life, of appreciating it humanely and in the light of the Word of God, so that it is more in line with the Gospel. Of course there is ever present the missionary dimension, the "going towards" the other and the "coming and seeing".
As the years go by, you are shaped by this way of being a priest and religious.
You have been a Provincial and now you are a member of the Provincial Government. What are the main hopes that you see in the Province of France?
First of all, we have five young professed in Initial Formation. Four are in the community of Thiais and one is in Jerez de la Frontera, in the Iberian Province.
This hope is rooted in our poverty. If we had been "rich" in brothers, we probably would not have asked for help from the Iberian Province for the novitiate and from the Province of Indonesia for the community of the professed. Many thanks to these two provinces.
A hope in action was to dare to have a new community of Initial Formation.
This has generated hope for the future through the links created with other provinces. In fact, this allows us to better experience the international dimension of our congregation.
I would like to point out three aspects of our life as a Province that speak to me of hope.
To see the professed at this stage of Initial Formation take charge of their formation, at the level of studies and at the level of religious life. Their need to live in coherence with the vows they have taken and community life. This lifts the community up.
This reciprocal look of hope exchanged between the oldest and the youngest. The elderly towards the young because life is reborn; the young towards the elderly, as they listen - full of admiration and warmth - to them tell their life story.
Hope also in the expected fruits of our Provincial Chapter, in the way of living authority, emphasising the path of synodality, which is made of listening, sharing, communicating and caring for the brothers.
What do you consider to be the most costly element for religious life today?
I would gladly say the vow of obedience, not, first of all, in its vertical dimension, (the brother towards the superior), but in its horizontal dimension, (the brother with the other brothers in his community).
We need to get into the habit of talking about our projects before they are fully developed or already implemented. We need to dare to share our motivations without ulterior motives. Let the brother see what I am doing or plan to do and be open to feedback.
This is a path of humility and brotherhood in a world that promotes, it seems to me, the individual, self-esteem and personal fulfilment. All good things, but there is the risk that the “me" takes the place of the "we" and may ultimately lead to abuses of power of all kinds. The way of living the vow of obedience, not being the only point of reference for oneself, but allowing the brother to intervene in your life, reflects on the way of life and poverty and chastity and community life. This is a path that lasts a lifetime.
Could it be said that a vocational spring is happening in the Church of France?
I don't know how to answer this question. There are institutes that I call "conservative or traditional" that have many vocations. Certain dioceses, certain places of formation, have people. The question I have is this: when we become priests, what relationships do we have with the People of God and with the world? Are they being formed as the ones who know or the ones who can walk with others and allow others to walk with them?
With that said, I can see that young adults, around the age of 25 to 35, are wondering what meaning they should give to their lives. They wonder about God, about faith, about belonging to a Christian community. I experience it with the young people who come to the Parish House where we live and who enquire about being baptised.
Regarding our Province: having young people in formation is a gift that God gives us. It is undoubtedly also a call to network, that is, to allow young people who so wish to have a place of exchange wherein they can express what makes them live and the meaning they want to give to their lives, and in which we can also propose to them our evangelical itinerary.
Vocationally, who are the people who have shaped your life?
Without a doubt my parents who accepted that I enter the Apostolic School of Sarzeau, as it was called then. They always left me the option to continue or stop. I think of the brothers of our congregation who were my spiritual parents. Father Eugène Gicquel, during my years in Sarzeau. Father Robert Thielen, during my time in military service and then in the novitiate, then in the scholasticate. I think too of Father Jean de la Croix Bonadio, during my years in Rome in San Erasmo, then in Via Aurelia.
In the pastoral life, I remember the many lay people (I include my family members), with whom I enjoyed working, sharing their joys and concerns, their faith for those who are Christians. All this sharing was marked by friendship and trust.
You studied in Rome. How do you see the theological landscape today?
The picture is really very different. In Rome, at that time, there was a lot to learn by heart. Still, I really appreciated the written personal work we had to do.
Today, from what I see happening in the Jesuit Center of Sèvres in Paris, where the professed study, I would say this: Yes, it is necessary to learn, to know the different authors of philosophy, theology, the Bible, the Fathers of the Church, etc. But it is also necessary to make use of your personal or group reflection, to write down proposals (10) so that you can be questioned about one of them at the end of the academic year. That the students have a tutor to guide them in their studies. Schematically they are taught, then they are to assimilate it and finally they are to connect that subject with the different disciplines. The ideal would be that in the end the students can take a personal stance on what they have learned.
It is in this way that the expression of faith comes alive. We are searching for ways to transmit the faith that are comprehensible to the men and women of our time, that connect to their culture. We can also adapt the language of faith to different ages of life.
What would the Founders say to the brothers, sisters and laity of the Congregation?
Two words come to mind: trust and give thanks.
Trust in the infinite love of God who dares, in Jesus, to become one of us, who assumes all of our humanity.
Trust in the infinite love of God that is revealed in the self-giving of Jesus, until the end.
Trust in the infinite love of God that makes Jesus, forever, our travelling companion.
We can never finish trying to understand this love as we try to live more like Him.
Give thanks.
Having immense gratitude, unceasingly directed to our God, for his love that frees us from our fears, from our sin, from the obstacles that we put in our way of love.
Grateful for the love that keeps us alive and sends us to others,
Let us thank God for his Spirit who works in our world, in the hearts of men and women of good will, and let us entrust ourselves and everyone else to the goodness of God.
11/09/2020