They changed their lives after Laudato if ‘

Two years ago, Antoine, 35, and his wife Bénédicte, 33, decided to leave Paris to settle in Chambéry (Savoie), in a former renovated barn. It was there, in the heart of the thorn chain, that they took root with their two children of 2 years and 3 months.

Coming from rather classic Catholic families, Antoine and Bénédicte were both scouts, and lived a year of volunteer, in Lithuania, she in India. Antoine works in finance, while Bénédicte is hired in a large Parisian publishing house. They have “good wages.”

But fairly quickly, they dream of something else. “I have always had a taste for a certain simplicity, explains Bénédicte. Parisian life was nice, but I lost myself in a whirlwind.”

The young couple therefore moved to Chambéry. It is the beginning of a new life, simpler, more sober, in contact with nature. They divide their income by two. Antoine is hired at Bayard Service, where he creates websites for parishes and dioceses. A work “that makes sense”.

Bénédicte sets up her illustration and painting box as an autoentrepreneur, but chooses to work only two days a week. The rest of the time, she devotes it to their children and their huge vegetable garden.

“Day by day, we have changed our way of doing things,” she says. Today, they are equipped on the right corner or at Emmaüs. Bénédicte makes her bread, her yogurts, her laundry, her soap and her shampoo herself.

They have reduced their meat consumption and live sober: at breakfast, no butter on sandwiches during the week, only on weekends! “I like to strip myself, to have the essentials, testifies Bénédicte. We are happy with what we have.” “Seeing a salad push, it changes the relationship to consumption insists Antoine. We learn to wait, when in Paris, I wanted to have everything right away!”

This change of life, these Christians must also read the encyclical Laudato if ‘. “The fact that the Pope puts words on what I had at the bottom of the guts, it freed me from a weight, exclaims Antoine. Under the pretext of ecology, Laudato if ‘is a full guide of life.”

The encyclical helped them make their “come out” green with their parents, who do not always understand their life choices. Around them, many young families share the same state of mind. As for their parish, it is committed to obtain the “Green Church” label.