Christian movements in France: decline or revival?

The bell towers of parish churches are not the only ones to evoke the vitality of the Catholic Church in France! Thus, for more than a century, lay movements have taken over from the “good works” founded by priests or congregations at the time when the social doctrine of the Church was taking shape, at the end of the 19th century. Although they are still supervised by chaplain priests, these associative groups have quickly spread throughout the territory. Coming together to pray, train, support each other and act in society, these movements were also a response to the politicized associations of the time, communists and socialists in the lead, to whom the Church did not want to give free rein, particularly in popular circles.

This is how the great adventure of Catholic Action (CA) was born, which will train several generations of Christians engaged in the projects of children’s education, active solidarity with the poorest, social and spiritual support for families and elders… With a simple and effective intuition which, in France, particularly took shape from the 1930s: the apostolate through fellow men. “It is a form of worker evangelization carried out by the workers, for example, and which seeks to improve the living conditions of the members of the movement,” recalls Bernard Giroux, historian within the Society, Religions, Secularism research group of the CNRS and a good observer of social Catholicism.

Revalued working-class environments

The missionary momentum generated will be extremely effective: starting from the working world (Catholic Workers’ Action and Christian Workers’ Youth (JOC)), it spread in a few years to the agricultural world (Catholic Agricultural Youth, which will become Christians in the Rural World (CMR) and Rural Christian Youth Movement), to students (Catholic Student Youth (JEC)), to children (Catholic Children’s Action), to the world of independents and executives (Christian Independent Youth, Christian Movement of Executives and Managers, Entrepreneurs and Christian leaders)…

“Enough to restore real social pride to the often despised working classes. The youngest, the marginalized and women are thus highlighted in these movements and fully exercise their right to speak,” continues Bernard Giroux. A revolution of minds for a movement which, while remaining under the supervision of local bishops, made it possible to “complete the entry of Catholics into the Republic”. If the AC has often been at the forefront, creating for example a union to defend the rights of apprentices, it has provided society with numerous economic and political leaders.

Living the theology of action

There remains a philosophical question: in society, should we act “as a Christian” or “as a Christian”? In the first case, we can allow ourselves to be very daring, to the point of sharing work and social struggles with communists for example. In the second, we take care to stay in line with what the bishops say. This “apostolate of the laity” was particularly recognized during the Second Vatican Council, which reaped the fruits of these commitments. A theology of action as participation in the Kingdom through work.

What remains of this pastoral momentum today? This diverse network would still bring together a few hundred thousand members, according to work by recent historians. But the Catholic numerical decline is also clearly visible there: the JOC had nearly 90,000 members before the war, today it has around 6,000 young people, from 13 to 30 years old. On the student side, the JEC had nearly 100,000 members in the 1960s and more than 3,000 in 2025. But these teams “are still very much a living reality, bringing together young people, couples and families who regularly share their experiences of work and faith,” insists Arnaud Favart, priest of the Mission of France, who accompanies several CMR teams. “The challenge is that they are geographically much more dispersed than before!”

New initiatives are necessary to come together and replace the historical network existing until now: last summer’s Festi’rural gathering in Cantal or the very recent farmers’ pilgrimage to Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées), which go beyond activist affiliations, are good examples.

Experience sharing

Just as venerable as the AC, the Catholic scout movements are enjoying growing appeal among families, with more than 170,000 young people, boys and girls, supported. “Perhaps because they have a less intellectual, more flexible approach and they assume they are more visible?” asks Bernard Giroux. For many young priests in training, going through scouting is a royal road to engagement with the youngest.

But this is also one of the constitutive weaknesses of these historical movements: their supervision, local and national, by priest chaplains. When the latter were numerous, they favored rich and living spiritual support. Today, their limited number reduces their availability for the life of the movements. Like Pax Christi, 80 years old and which had a chaplaincy in each diocese, which is now struggling to find chaplains in the field and maintain local teams. The same goes for the Notre-Dame teams, which are still very active, but whose number of spiritual advisors is decreasing.

But other approaches are emerging, launched by committed lay people and project leaders for new current projects. Sharing experience between associations becomes natural and necessary, as evidenced by the current Catholic Committee for Sick and Disabled People, which brings together associations caring for people with disabilities.

Or other emerging associative structures which support street people or migrant populations, such as Lazare or the Association for Friendship in Paris, which gives new life to unused diocesan or congregational houses. An ecumenical network of lay people, like Fondacio, has understood the need to open new third places where life shared with people in precarious circumstances is combined with Christian, artistic training and personal development. Without forgetting to take care of the surrounding natural ecosystem. Church movements have not finished renewing themselves.

The Catholic “start-up nation”

With the weakening in numbers of parishes and congregations, a new generation of Christian activists has recently emerged, as evidenced, for example, by the vitality of the Mission Congress proposals.

Between new evangelization and the desire to respond to the current challenges of a community that has become a minority, thanks in particular to digital tools, personal and collective initiatives have multiplied: support for prayer, spiritual formation (coaching), services (parish management, monastic retreats), charitable commitments. Even if it means sometimes confusing the know-how of business schools and pastoral needs…