New Blood for a New Church

Here's a summary of an article sent in by a reader. It appeared at Yahoo News on April 30. Is it good news or bad news?

Chaldeans from Iraq, Africans, Lebanese, Syrians and Vietnamese: This is the immigration that is filling the Catholic churches in France, as the launching of the construction of a new church in Vaulx-en-Velin, in the suburbs of Lyons, illustrates.

Cardinal-Archbishop Philippe Barbarin laid the first stone on Friday. At a time when the Catholic Church is losing ground, this project appears to be an exception and even a "national event" in the eyes of father Régis Charre, priest of Vaulx-en-Velin. The church will be erected on the site of a makeshift chapel in ruins, scheduled to be demolished in a few days.

Note: A reminder that the Archbishop of Lyons is also the Primate of the Gauls.

In this suburb of Lyons, immigrants have for decades filled the ranks of the faithful and injected new blood into the Catholic Church. Hence the decision of the diocese to make a four million euro investment.

"I've counted 25 nationalities among my faithful," explains father Régis Charre. "Ever since the 90's numerous Iraqi families have come here. There are eight hundred Chaldeans who are very close to their church."

Among the other populations filling the Catholic church in Vaulx-en-Velin, he cites Africans from the Congo, Benin, Cameroon and Rwanda, Creoles from Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion Island, Maurice and Madagascar and "Orientals" such as Lebanese, Syrians, Vietnamese, Indian Tamils, Portuguese and Italians.

"And let's not forget the Gaulois," he smiles.

Note: How kind of him to remember the "Gaulois".

The future church, to be built in a contemporary style, will be baptized Saint-Thomas in honor of the "Orientals" who have made him their evangelist.

"It's a major project, essential," said Cardinal-Archbishop Philippe Barbarin before celebrating Mass, recalling that he, too, was a "child of the suburbs". "There reigns here a collective joy," he emphasized. (...)

In his latest newsletter, available only through subscription, Yves Daoudal has some thoughts on this new church. First he points out that Vaulx-en-Velin has become infamous for its "young people" and its riots:

"To build a house of peace in a place engraved in the collective memory of France as a place of upheavals is very symbolic," emphasized Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who laid the first stone on April 30.

Daoudal: This site is unique in France say the media. Alas, yes, it is unique, when not a week goes by that we don't learn about a new plan to build a giant mosque. The one in Vaulx-en-Velin, for example: the land has been purchased, the building permit filed, and the financing about to be completed.

"Immigrants, new blood for a new church," was the headline of Reuters.

Daoudal: The immigrants decidedly are a universal opportunity for France, even for the Church (that's something new). The population of Vaulx-en-Velin is essentially of immigrant origin. And we are delighted to learn that a certain number of them are Catholic and that they will have a church. But we have to be more specific. Looking beyond the obligatory clichés, such as the one in the local paper Le Progrès that called it an "open and racially mixed ("métissé") site", we note that the priest of Vaulx-en-Velin speaks of 25 different nationalities, the majority of whom are Chaldeans from Iraq. Not to mention the Tamils, who follow the same liturgy as the Chaldeans. Now, the future church is projected to house 450 persons. Even if these Chaldeans are not all practicing, about half of them are. And the church will be called Saint-Thomas, the name of the apostle evangelist of Iraq and India.

"The Christians of the East know how we bear their sufferings, and we are happy to give them this church named after Saint-Thomas, the first to evangelize the Middle East," emphasized Cardinal-Archbishop Barbarin, before laying the first stone, actually two first stones, one of which comes from a 13th century Iraqi church, and which will be encased in the altar.

All of which makes one wonder why they don't build a Chaldean church... Since they are building not only a church, but a whole parish complex, they might have imagined two churches next to each other, one for the Chaldeans, and another for the Catholics of diverse origins, but who follow, in their majority, the Latin rite.

Why? It seems that, once again, it is because of the ideology that prevails even unto the Church of France: the church must be for everyone, open to everyone, etc...

"The religious building will be for all Catholics - Africans, Tamils and others - who can attend the Mass of their choice," says Le Progrès. As if they were building a liturgical supermarket... In truth, they are mocking the liturgical and spiritual traditions. Will they at least conceive the interior of the church in such a way that the Chaldeans can celebrate their liturgy in accordance with their own rite? It could not be less certain. We fear that nobody in the Lyons bishopric explained to the architect that the Chaldean liturgy (like the Syriac liturgy in general) is very special and that it is organized around two altars built face to face.

Clearly the arrangement of the liturgy is secondary in this "Church that is in France," and the essential thing, as the priest re-stated is "to do the Church thing", which is the Catholic version of "living-together". But they are not even aware of the disdain that that implies for Christians who hold their liturgy dear to their hearts, a liturgy they preserved through the Muslim invasions, through centuries and centuries of persecution, and for the Chaldeans of Turkey, even through a genocide.

From what we see of the architecture of the new church, we are not inclined to think that they were very preoccupied with tradition... Here too, it's about "living-together", melting into the landscape: one concrete cube amidst other concrete cubes...

He closes his article by saying that despite everything, it is nice to see a church built on a site that is a reminder of the worst consequences of uncontrolled immigration.

Note: A reminder that "living-together" (in French, "vivre-ensemble") is one of the government's touchy-feely slogans to force people into accepting multiculturalism.

Regarding the riots in Vaulx-en-Velin, the NYT has a summary. Inequality of income, and other social evils are presented as the cause of the riots that took place in October 1990, prompting Socialist President François Mitterand to cite marginalization of the immigrants as the cause, and to vow to repair the problem. The man killed on the motorcycle was Thomas Claudio. Note that even back then the Front National was regarded as "extreme Right". But look at how brutally honest the Front spokesman was, even talking about sending them back! The FN would do well to recover some of its former courage.

Below a plan for the new church. Very inspired, isn't it?