Mass reminds us a little more each Sunday: the practice of Catholicism is faltering in Quebec. The parishioners are graying, the Christian faith is wavering; the Church here no longer has its former vigor. A successor, however, continues to believe and live according to the catechism. Portrait of three devotees who together have accumulated 73 springs.
“I can’t imagine my life without religion,” says Elias Haddad straight away. It’s like sport: it’s very natural for me. »
The 25-year-old attends “two to three times a week” the imposing Greek Melkite-Catholic Saint-Sauveur Cathedral in Montreal. Built in 2007 in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, it is surprising, as much by its size as by its Byzantine accents. In a secular Quebec where the Catholic faith is running out of steam, temples to the glory of God continue to be built, between two church closings.
It is here, under the oriental domes that characterize Saint-Sauveur, that Elias found a second family. Arrived alone in Quebec at the age of 22 and pursuing a master’s degree, this Lebanese of origin did not expect to stay so long away from his family.
“I intended to return to my country,” he says on the phone. I didn’t know anyone here except one or two people who came with me at the same time. I experienced several moments of difficulty and loneliness. »
His Catholic faith, he believes, paved the way for his new life in Quebec. “I couldn’t spend my week without going to church. Honestly, it was like my fuel to get through the challenges of college and my life on my own. I made a network that helped me a lot. The Church has really, really helped me a lot,” he says.
However, he mentions The duty, the Church has not always brought the good that it has promised throughout its history. Sexual abuse, abuse of power, acculturation: the salvation of souls, over the centuries, has also justified much suffering.
“It’s very good to highlight the bad things that happen, to recognize the victims and give them courage,” replies Elias. It’s nice to emphasize that, but we also have to emphasize other good things that the Church does: teaching love, giving hope, encouraging tolerance. »
It is also necessary, according to him, to distinguish the men from the institution which they compose. “It was done in the name of the Church, he acknowledges, but not by the Church. These are men who perpetrated the crimes. Me, I am at peace because I know that it does not come from God. It comes from a human sin because Man, with a capital H, is not very strong. Sometimes he succumbs. »
Tolerance and humility
It was in the middle of high school, that is to say recently, that Rachel Alberni anchored the Catholic faith in her. “I started participating in small group meetings at my church on how to live your faith in society. It really touched me, says the 19-year-old Lavalloise. The values of others were the same as mine. »
Openness to others and tolerance of differences form the two cardinal points that guide his daily life. “I live in a multicultural Quebec, and that’s what’s beautiful: I have friends from all over, with different beliefs, and we live together,” explains Rachel. “There is a great diversity of traditions and roots in society. The Church, she continues, explains how to welcome everyone. »
Is there not a contradiction between this opening sermon and the positions of the Church towards, for example, sexual minorities? “Pope Francis said it,” Rachel recalls: “The Church is a mother who welcomes all her children.” There is a basic commandment in Christianity that says, “love one another”. »
The “penitential pilgrimage” of the sovereign pontiff, which Pope Francis will make in Canada from July 24, goes back to the foundations of the Church, erected, according to her, on a base of humility. “I hope this will be another step in the healing process for Aboriginal peoples,” concludes Rachel. But I think it’s a bit of a shame, she adds, that people couldn’t hear her excuses before leaving this world. »
” Things are moving forward “
At 22, Kevin Murray began a journey once crowned with prestige, today almost fallen into disuse. The young man from Quebec entered the Major Seminary with the goal of becoming a priest.
Now 29 years old, he is doing a one-year internship in Saint-Georges, in Beauce. “God willing,” he explains over the phone, “my diaconal ordination will take place in a year and a half. He would then become a deacon, before attaining episcopal consecration.
It was philosophy that brought him back to religion. Kevin Murray, brought up in a practicing family, saw his faith go through a hiatus as a teenager, before reviving himself by frequenting Christian thought at university. “I discovered a community of thought with Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas,” he says.
His ten years of philosophy find a concrete echo in the meeting of the parishioners that he cultivates in Saint-Georges. “It allows you to be moved and touched by a person’s expression. The gaze of faith is to see that in each story, there is something sacred, incalculable. »
Catholicism, which is collapsing in Quebec, does not bring him to tears. “The Church, he imagines, simply has to resize a sweater that has become a little too big. For him, the decline of the institution allows him, on the contrary, to reconnect with his original modesty.
“The Lord had 12 apostles. We don’t need to be thousands or millions, we just need to have the passion of others and of people, he argues fervently. Our mission is to help men discover the love for which they are made. »
The Catholic Church, asks him The duty, has she aged badly? After centuries of imposed subordination, women are finally beginning, at least in Quebec, to claim their right to equality in society. The Vatican, meanwhile, insists on confining them to mostly subordinate roles.
“The question of women, I find it important, and it has not been developed much in my opinion”, continues Kevin Murray. He notes, however, that Pope Francis is making some important progress. “He recently wrote a legal text that allows a woman to head a ministry in Rome. It is enormous ! »
It is necessary, he adds, to show indulgence towards an institution that can be improved by nature.
“I love the Church like my mother,” concludes Mr. Murray. Of course, not everything is perfect, as in all families. But I have signs that things are moving forward, and that they are moving forward a lot. »