In a recent article published in The duty, Gérard Bouchard wonders about the origin of our values, and especially the value of solidarity. He undoubtedly admits that “Catholicism also taught freedom, mutual aid, solidarity, work ethic”, but immediately affirms that “our values emerged despite the opposition of the Church”. In the rest of his text, he no longer speaks of Catholicism, but of the Church understood not as a community of faith, but as a hierarchy engaged in political action.
However, the hierarchical Church is not the whole of the Catholic Church, and Catholicism cannot be reduced to the values that some of its members could privilege at a given time. To properly take into account the influence of Catholicism on Quebec values of solidarity, should we not also turn to, among others, these daughters of pioneers who, animated by a deep faith, put themselves at the service of the sick, prisoners, the destitute, poor children from the countryside, orphans, itinerant people from cities, etc. ? Little by little, they set up these “hôtels-Dieu” which have become our great modern hospitals; they have established in the towns and in the poorest countryside schools and convents which have served as the basis of our system of education. Through their actions, these women have long imbued the values of solidarity in Quebec, sometimes even when this created tensions with the bishops. And can we be sure that these pioneers mentioned in the article were not partly inspired in their commitments by their Christian faith, however in its infancy Wasn’t their space marked by the village church that they wanted to build? Wasn’t time framed by the rhythm of Christian festivals?
Recognizing this today is not a rejection of the values that Quebec wants to promote in a society where the French-Canadian roots are becoming a minority and where a new nationalism is being built. Indeed, we integrate the history told to us by natives and immigrants who come to us from all parts of the world. But denying what we have been, forgetting part of our own history, is the clear path to capitulation.
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