Faced with the arrival of a non-Catholic audience, communities adapt

While the garden of the spiritual center of Esvière in Angers (Maine-et-Loire) loses its attraction under the unjust greyness of this spring weekend, inside, we focus. Retirement “What to do with what I have become?” Touches its end. For three days, it will have brought together fifteen women and men from 27 to 83 years old, whose link to Catholicism is variable. “I needed to find calm and fraternity. Outside, everything is going too fast, it’s too individualistic, ”says Margaux, who recently returned to faith.

In this case, why not just take a vacation? “I could have made thalassotherapy, concedes Gloria, who also followed a three-day retirement, this time on the theme of silent prayer, with the Dominicans of the Taulignan monastery (Drôme). But it has a cost and what I was looking for was taking care of my soul. I needed to turn to God with a community of people who devoted their whole lives to him. “Samuel, who spent four days at the Notre-Dame de Tournay abbey (Hautes-Pyrénées) and defines himself as” a believer who does not know how to believe “, tells how the monks listened to, guided. Without he feels forced to take this or that path.

These new audiences going from “from non-crushing to catechumen, passing by a large group of people in research” test the adaptability of communities, recognizes Father Paul, head of the Saint-Martin abbey of Canigou (Pyrénées-Orientales). “The monks have withdrawn into the monasteries to be with God, and here they are caught up in all the problems that are expressed in their office. Conjugal conflicts, suicide of young people … They can no longer be content to give answers intended for believers, “underlines Anne Ducrocq, author of a guide to retirement places and director of the Point-Vivre collection (ed. Of the threshold).

Adapt your speeches

Does this mean that we queue to talk to a monk like we go to the therapist? Not quite, even if for Samuel, the two approaches are not without common points. “We must learn to acculturate,” recognizes Father Paul humility. Before, with the “Catholics-Catholics”, it was easy: when we recited a rosary at noon, everyone had one with him. Now, it is up to us to join people where they are, without telling them what is good or not. It’s very beautiful. Adaptation also goes through vocabulary. “Our retirement” Choice of life “addresses the themes of sin, forgiveness, the sacrament of reconciliation …, details Father Clément Nguyen, director of the Manrèse spiritual center in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine). But for students of the Catholic Institute of Arts and Crafts, which bring together all the profiles and which we receive at the end of their last year of studies, we will rather speak of “resistance to life”. And we will call on the sown parable, which has a universal scope, rather than a miracle story. A Dominican hotel sister found a trick: when she visits the premises, she mentions the reading of the psalms during the offices, which gives her the opportunity to see who is familiar, or not, of the religious universe. And to adapt his speech.

Going, far from faith or not

At the center of Esvière, the seat of the Ecumenical Fondacio movement, the team does not hesitate to import tools such as non-violent communication, or the enneagram for the study of personalities. “We are anchored in the Gospel, but our vocation is to accompany the spiritual quest for our contemporaries, including those who will not seek on the side of the Christian faith”, specifies Edwige de Champs, co -responsible for the resource center and Fondacio. To respond to youth concerns, the center programs give pride of place to ecology. In the project too, a session on burnout, as in more and more spiritual places, where the painful relationship at work gives rise to a specific request.

“This diversified offer corresponds to our time, analyzes Philippe Portier, sociologist of religions. These personal approaches can either prolong a Christian experience, or be dissociated from faith, orient yourself outside Christianity or even become very syncretic. The link between all proposals is that they aim to respond to individuals who engage in a search for truth in order to satisfy an existential need. Margaux, who came to Esvière for very precise professional, personal and spiritual questions, testifies: “The church is led by men who are not saints. Also, I pay more attention to the word of the Gospel, to what Jesus says, than to dogmas erected by the institution. »»

What Margaux, Samuel, Gloria and many others find in spiritual places, whether for an individual or collective reception is a haven of peace whose rarity makes the price. Two books published last year confirm it (1). “In a monastery, you are offered silence like nowhere else, and this silence changes everything. When you get out of walking in the park, something grows, matures in itself. At home, we will tend to put the questions under the carpet, to protect their couple, family, or simply because everyday life takes precedence, “decrypts editor Anne Ducrocq. The one who turned to orthodoxy knows this well: “In a monastery, we are dispossessed of our relationship to time, we follow a rhythm that is not ours. Enough to make us available. And if all the answers do not fall from the sky, no one leaves as it happened.

(1) A week of silence, from Florence Besson, ed. Flammarion, 160 p. ; € 16 and the decisive hours, by Stéphane Battalion, ed. Desclée de Brouwer, 168 p. ; € 17.90.

“Go from vague expectation to hope”, according to Bernard Tollec, professional coach

Bernard Tollec is a professional coach and accompanying spiritual pensions at the spiritual center of Esvière, in Angers*.

Do new retreaters come with a clear question?

Many come with vagueness and at one point, it clears up. Registration forms allow everyone to specify their motivation. Conversely, if expectations are too precise, the risk may be to miss the essentials. Rather than expectations, I would say that you have to come with hope. A hope is not called. She alone is good to meet God, meet him in me.

What can prevent it from leaving calm?

Keep your phone nearby! Just an email to spoil the day, so let’s prepare this place of silence and lend ourselves to the game. If some exercises do not talk to you, experience before judging. Tell God: “I am here, available”, and are silent. Over the days, everyone will find their way of connecting to God: some will spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, others will walk in nature or listen to music.

* Founder of Vivvant, a collective and individual program for men in the fifties. Vivvant.fr