I already wanted to enter religion. I hear those close to me laughing a little, knowing some of my vices… However, in the past, the idea tickled my mind-that-I-would-have-wanted-to-be holy. I have even already got involved in the Young Christian Students (JEC), that will not rejuvenate those who know. It must be said that Father Claude Dion, my great-uncle who died last September, gave me bookmarks with the effigy of nuns as a child which aroused my fascination… This is perhaps why I have always appreciated the presence of Sister Jeanne Lemire at the head of the Paulines bookstore, rue Masson in Montreal. As were the good sisters who once ran the Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes college, where I studied at the time when it was still reserved only for young girls, the bookseller linked to the congregation of Girls of Saint-Paul is one of the most progressive in the Catholic Church. Besides, it always made me smile to find religious and spiritual works on the shelves of the busy business in the Rosemont district alongside the latest opus by Virginie Despentes.
Given the open-mindedness of the believer, I never felt like I was in the confessional while conversing casually with her. Neither does my daughter. Once, when she was just a baby, Sister Jeanne took her in her arms to calm her cries. Her tears stopped immediately. Laughing, I asked her if she performed miracles. Never mind, the nun has the gift of loving people as much as books. She even made it her second religion, convinced like many literature enthusiasts that it is also in words that we find answers, even faith and deliverances in abundance…
Sister Jeanne was 30 years old in 1978 when she was slapped on the wrist after selling tickets to attend a performance of Fairies are thirsty by Denise Boucher, who was causing a scandal at the time, and where she had brought a group of young people. Representatives of the right virulently denounced it. We even feared for his safety. A bishop, Mgr Valois, had taken his side by defending the literary aspect of creation. No wonder she campaigned within Women and Ministries, an autonomous corporation of women involved in the Church who are particularly concerned about improving their situation compared to those of men… It is no surprise to me that someone who admires the work and the necessary existence of feminist bookstores like L’Euguélionne fervently condemns pedophilia, in society as in the Church, even more so, and which, unlike a majority of the most pious of its people, does not oppose medical assistance in dying when the suffering becomes too great.
She knows suffering… Six years ago, on the day she turned 70e birthday, she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. One of those from which there is no cure. She almost stayed there. Since then, chemotherapy has kept alive the woman who believes she has become a better boss – more flexible and empathetic – towards the twenty or so employees who work under her direction. In return, she also saw the call for rest, so much so that in September, the history and politics enthusiast will definitively hand over the reins of the Paulines bookstore to a member of her Pauline community, Father Joseph Sciortino, with whom she worked 40 years ago and who currently manages the Médiaspaul bookstore in Montréal-Nord. The staff will not change. Nor the special vocation of the places. She is passionate about it.
If she wanted to become a nun at 16, while she was still living with her parents in Baie-du-Febvre, the eldest of seven children has never regretted her vocation, just as she is not kind of speaking out once he has made the decision to withdraw from his position. If she will miss the job, she will at least be able to read more and take care of her aging peers. Although I am no longer a believer like I was at the time of the JEC, I liked to find her by going to Paulines. It reassured me to know her there, soothed by her faith, turned towards others, resistant and feminist in her own way; certainly not as the most retrograde of his Church would have wanted… I admire those who dare these little rebellions, who go against the tide and who make the Earth turn more smoothly. Even more so if it’s with books. She’ll miss me.