“At school, at the kebab shop, at the hairdresser, we talk about God”

How have the communities of working-class neighborhoods changed your way of being a priest?

I learned that it is better to build a parish community on the most fragile than on the most brilliant. Scouting and business school had trained me in a culture of leadership. But in Trappes (Yvelines), for nine years, I learned the essential: to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through people who are not used to being asked for their opinion when they work on construction sites. , make beds in hotels, etc.

How is the vitality of these parishes expressed?

Among the young people and adults who request baptism in the diocese of Versailles (Yvelines), a good third come from neighborhoods marked by diversity. Their presence in large gatherings (World Youth Day, Frat, etc.) is also massive. For me, God gives the Church of France to experience something special. In Trappes, I noticed that a quarter of the faithful choose this parish even though they do not live in its territory. They are attracted there by a fervent and simple community, made up of people whose lives, often complicated, are centered on the essential: Christ, fraternity. We don’t get lost in quarrels.

What attracts these newly baptized people to the Church?

It’s mysterious! The figure of Christ: his teaching speaks to them. As well as the joy expressed in the celebrations, the welcome given to them. They very quickly become missionaries, because secularization has not penetrated the working-class neighborhoods. Talking about God at school, at the hairdresser or at the kebab shop surprises no one.

They rub shoulders with other religions…

Through contact with evangelical Christians and Muslims, young people are quickly led to think about their faith, to put words to it, to give an account of their hope. I believe they are more missionary.

How are they integrated into the diocesan Church?

Last year, it was a young girl of Ivorian origin from Trappes who was responsible for World Diocesan Youth Day, in Yvelines. This year, it’s another, coming from Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines).

Last November, young people from the beautiful neighborhoods of Yvelines shunned this diocesan day – a pilgrimage to the chapel on rue du Bac, in Paris…

It’s a shame ! Forming a Church of brothers, not locking ourselves into our identities would be prophetic for the Church in France. Saint Paul already wrote: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, (…) there is no longer man and woman, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Ga 3, 28). If we put Christ at the center, then we meet.