Panic at the monastery! This Friday, January 12, in the first part of the evening, C8 is betting big with a brand new entertainment called Welcome to the monastery, and in which the channel invites six celebrities to a Corsican monastery to live a unique experience for seven days. In this new program hosted by the dancer Alessandra Martinesthe actress Fabienne Caratthe choreographer and juror of Dance with the starsJean-Marc Généreuxthe champion of 12 shots of noonPaul El Kharratthe influencer Simon Castaldithe actress Clara Morgane and host Delphine Wespiser have seven days to “open up to spirituality”, far from the waves of cell phones, computers and televisions. But a few hours before its broadcast, the program found itself unwillingly at the heart of a collateral controversy.
Indeed, as our colleagues at Releasethe convent in which this new show was filmed is not the most peaceful… Indeed, the convent of Corbara, in Corsica, houses a religious who was condemned in January 2023 by the ecclesiastical court of Paris for various “sexual assaults” committed against two women, whom he accompanied spiritually between 2010 and 2014. As the journalists of Libération specify, however, this ecclesiastic does not appear at any time in the program. When questioned, the producer of the show, Chantal Barry, claims to have not been informed in advance of the conviction of this man of the Church, which was done only two months before filming (the show Welcome to the monastery was canned almost a year ago, in March 2023).
Congregation accused of being a cult
But as if a controversy was not enough in itself, Release pointed out another concern: the Saint-Jean congregation, which is one of the protagonists of this new program, has been at the heart of sect accusations for more than fifty years. The congregation has also recorded more than 40 sexual predators throughout its history, according to the aforementioned media. Accusations defended by the producer, who at no time wanted to highlight this congregation, but simply spirituality: “The project of the show is not to highlight an institution, but a spiritual proposition.”Attacks that Delphine Wespiser and Clara Morgane can care less aboutwho had a wonderful refreshing experience, which allowed each of them to recharge their batteries, for seven days, far from social networks and the ring road!