These young people who ask for more

As a sweatshirt, face camera, Shaïna dances all smiles on an urban pop song. A video of the Tiktok social network as there are thousands of them. Except that the legend surprises: “makeup, addictions, gluttony, laziness: in sixty days Ciao”, accompanied by the mention “#caremechretien”.

Surprising but true: two months before Ash Wednesday, Shaïna, 18, is delighted with the renunciations that will accompany his entry into Lent. Since his conversion three years ago, this resident of Arras (Pas-de-Calais) has testified to her faith on the favorite social network of adolescents, and explains what to do “when you are a Christian.

Recently converted young

It’s the same for Raffael, a 20 -year -old Brusselsman converted recently: “The aim is to get you as much as possible of God. He too speaks Catholicism and Lent on Tiktok. And the audience is there, reaching a million views on certain videos.

Shaïna and Raffael come from dechristianized families. Like a good part of those who watch their videos. While only 3 % of Catholics strictly respect the fasting periods proposed by the Church*, the deprivation of Lent are popular with young people who are often recently converted and “out of nowhere”.

The comments under these videos have something to surprise: “It’s my first Lent, I can’t wait! “,” I’m going to fast all day and full screen weaning. “To an internet user who asks if she will be able to continue to” make her nails “, another responds:” Yes, but you have to avoid to get closer to God. »»

These young people are between 13 and 18 years old. “Most have no Christian entourage, they do not know who to ask their questions,” explains Raffael. It is therefore on social networks that they find a community with which to share. Shaïna had also done the same after her conversion.

Does the questions of these young people attached to practice even in his smallest detail destabilize the informed Catholic: with its liturgical and penitential reforms, Vatican Council II (1962-1965) had not precisely distanced himself from an overly formalist vision of the ritual?

“In the West, a whole generation, which experienced a majority practice, lived in the post-Decile as a passage from Catholicism of obligation to Catholicism of adhesion. A revival of observance and rituals therefore seems to them a return to the back and a messembly of Christianity, “explains Yann Raison du Cleuziou, sociologist of religions.

However, attachment to prescriptions has never stopped in certain families: “In popular categories, the relationship to faith involves the relationship to the rite”, he specifies.

A desire to practice ascèses before Easter

Another social context, but even thirst for testing in Sartrouville, multicultural commune of Yvelines. Father Xavier Chavane, parish priest, also notes this great desire for adolescents of “districts” to practice ascetic before Easter. Those he meets come from families from Africa, Latin America or Asia.

Some have received a religious education where the asceticism of Lent is usual. Others are converted. One thing is certain: “We have never had so many people on the ashes Wednesday”, to the point that we must multiply the offices.

In these districts where Islam is pre -eminent and where religious indifference does not exist, young people demand a “serious” Lent. “This is the term they employ, because their Muslim friends explained to them that Ramadan is a Lent in a diligent version,” explains the parish priest.

Preachers who are not very trained on social networks

“Within these young generations, the reference religion, that is to say that of which one thinks when we say” religion “, is Islam, not the Catholicism, analyzes Yann reason of the Cleuziou. Those who seek to live a more intense life of faith therefore refer to that observed with Islam. »»

But if, in Islam, the Koran is perceived as a book dictated to the prophet by God himself, in Christianity, the Bible is not a literal transcription of the divine word: it makes the story of the reception and the interpretation of this word by generations of believers. Hence a very different report to the writings and prescriptions present in the two doctrines, which cannot imitate each other.

The fact remains that some of these young people press their parish priest to tell them that doing, how and when fasting, until refusing a pizza evening at chaplaincy before sunset, because “it’s Lent”. They too turn to social networks, at the risk of following unleashed preachers, if not entirely aligned with the doctrine of the Church.

“The rite must not suffocate religion”

Rather than sweeping this need for framework, priests present on social networks see it as an opportunity to accompany. Like Gaspard Craplet, priest at 87,000 subscribers on Tiktok. He answers questions from his Internet users with videos with catchy titles: “Do certain foods make us unclean?” “,” Can we read the horoscope? “,” Are we obliged to read the Bible every day? »»

Apparently very prescriptive content, which could give rise to directive responses, “but that I spend my time formulating with nuance”, he explains. To the point that some sometimes criticize him for not simply saying what is allowed and what is not. “A binary response does not satisfy intelligence,” defends the priest. For him, this trend says, however, that the need for standard concerns everything believing. However, “the rite should not suffocate religion”.

A rigorous aspect

At the time of Lent in particular, an excessive focus on effort could encourage to pay in heroism and forget to replace God in the center. But if he encourages his parishioners to a certain moderation in asceticism, Xavier Chavane is delighted with a return to a neglected practice: “We can read positively what these young people tell us. Let’s start from where they are, recalling what the tradition of the Church says. »»

“We tend to think that” ritual “means” superficial “, but the meaning of sacramental acts is to propose forms through which spiritual experiences are”, recalls Yann Raison du Cleuziou.

If they can destabilize their practice with a rigorous aspect, the fact remains that it is Catholicism that these “underprivileged” all fire all flame have chosen. The challenge for the church is therefore to explain the demanding crest line to hold between ritual and faith, in order to live its unity. On social networks, Shaïna encourages her subscribers to discover their parishes. She herself has been going to mass every Sunday for three years. In Sartrouville, if the time of Lent is full of parishioners, Xavier Chavane assures that the momentum does not exhaust themselves after the Pascales ville full of joy.

In February, the Pope appointed Étienne Guillet, a priest who had long exercised his ministry in popular cities, bishop of Saint-Denis. Pope Francis received it at the Vatican in January 2024 with young people from the neighborhoods. A strong sign, which says the concern of the church to accompany this particular piety. Especially since the Church today leaves a certain freedom in the way of living the three pillars “alms, fasting and prayer” of Lent.

For Archbishop Guillet, it is a proof of wisdom: “One may not be used to fasting, but fully live a lime of service, prayer, and attention to others. The other lives forty days of fasting as a help to walk towards the Lord. Christian freedom is to let the other make their way to prepare your heart at Easter. »»

*Study “Religious diversity in France”, INSEE, 2023.