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"This pandemic shows us that the desire for a spiritual link remains very much alive in France!"

2020-03-25T11:30:34.873Z


FIGAROVOX / INTERVIEW - Mgr Bruno Valentin tells of the way the Church is organizing, despite the pandemic, to maintain links between the faithful and to help the most fragile. He recalls that historically Christians have already been obliged to live their faith in the privacy of their home.


Mgr Bruno Valentin is auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Versailles.

FIGAROVOX.- The confinement instructions are very strict, even for bereaved families, and many of our fellow citizens have experienced the pain of losing a loved one without being able to go to their bedside or attend their funeral. How to face this test? How does the Church accompany bereaved families in such conditions?

Bruno VALENTIN.- In all of the very strict measures that it is led to take, the government has taken care, so far, to keep the possibility of celebrating the funeral. The essential, therefore, is preserved, even if it is in a very small committee, at least for us Catholics: the sacrifice asked of Muslims is more painful, because they currently have to give up the funeral toilet which is part of their rites.

Having to go through the mourning of a loved one without being able to be present, and knowing that he is buried without any form of rite, inevitably leaves deep wounds.

We are touching on the lasting wounds that this crisis will leave in our hearts, when it is resolved. Everyone can recover from having been deprived of jogging for a few weeks, or even from not having been able to go to mass on several Sundays. But having to go through the mourning of a loved one without being able to be present, and knowing that he is buried without any form of rite, inevitably leaves deep wounds.

The Church, therefore, is particularly mobilized on this issue, to be present with the dying, to welcome families, to support them. Today, it is still possible to go through the church, but if tomorrow we had to be simply present in the cemeteries, of course we would be. And the day after tomorrow, when the crisis is over, we will remain at the disposal of families who want to remember their dead.

More generally, isn't the vocation of the Church in particular to forge links between men, to “build bridges” as Pope Francis likes to repeat? How does she do it in the situation we are in?

This is indeed the essential challenge of this time of confinement: for the Church of course, but for society as a whole and for each of us. Because to be human, quite simply, is to be in relation: we are made of all these links that we weave with each other for life. The specificity of those woven by the Church is that they serve each person's relationship with God. This is their reason for being.

The desire for this spiritual link remains very much alive in France!

The challenge for us is therefore technical, fraternal and spiritual at the same time. On the technical level, we have been witnessing for 10 days an impressive proliferation of initiatives on the internet to maintain links: parishes retransmit their mass on Facebook, others post videos on YouTube for children, etc. The creativity is incredible! At the fraternal level, much is also done from the parishes to weave a network of local solidarity, in order to help the most vulnerable in this crisis. The stake of all this is spiritual: it is ultimately to help support hope, that of Christians of course but that of all our compatriots as well. Since the beginning of the confinement "the Day of the Lord", on France 2, achieves audience records, in front of all competing programs at the same time: it is the sign that the desire for this spiritual link remains very much alive in France !

How to maintain a life of prayer at a distance from each other, without bringing together the community, which etymologically gives meaning to the word "church"?

The Internet, as I said, offers great tools for praying together without physically coming together. But you don't have to be a geek for that: all you need is a Bible! We Christians read the Bible as the very Word that God addresses to us, and by which he himself forges a link with us. Opening the Bible, taking a moment of meditation in front of this or that text while wondering what light it brings me in the exceptional situation that I am experiencing, it is still the easiest way to connect in the prayer to those who nourish their spiritual life with this same Word. Other prayers just as simple, such as the rosary for example, are very easy to live at home.

Living one's faith at home is not at all a situation unprecedented in the history of the Church.

Living one's faith at home is not at all a situation unprecedented in the history of the Church. This is how it all started. For almost 300 years, before Emperor Constantine gave Christians the right to organize in a public way, the ordinary face of the Church was that of domestic churches. So we have a lot to draw from our own tradition to live in the present.

The President of the Republic turned to religious leaders on Monday. Even before the prohibition for the faithful to attend mass, the French were already few in number to go there regularly ... Does the Church still have answers to provide to the questions posed by the tragedy of such an epidemic?

Pope Paul VI, before the UN, had a famous expression: "The Church is an expert in humanity." I believe that the Church, in the crisis we are experiencing, simply has to bring this expertise. It is neither a question of proselytizing, nor of lecturing anyone. It is simply a question of sharing, in a moment of intense crisis, the two-thousand-year-old wisdom that the Church draws from her own experience, and from her listening to God. The consultation of the philosophical and religious leaders that you evoke shows that the President of the Republic is well convinced of the need to go beyond a simple scientific and technical management of the crisis. We must understand the person, the patient as his entourage, in all its dimensions, including spiritual. Favoring dialogue can allow a multidisciplinary approach to the questions that arise. These questions must finally be inscribed in the horizon of hope, like that which gives the conviction that life does not stop at the gates of death.

Many doctors are already, or will soon be, confronted with difficult questions, in particular the possible "sorting" between patients suffering from coronavirus because of the lack of space and means to deal with all of them. What can a bishop say to these doctors?

First and foremost, thank you: thank you for their tireless commitment, at the risk of their own lives. Several doctors in this crisis have already testified to the situation of "war medicine" in which they are in certain places. Such a context raises specific ethical questions about the proportion of care, the limit of relentless therapy, and the possibility of support in palliative care.

It is essential to succeed in "humanizing" the disease and not to fall into automatism.

Faced with these questions, it is essential to succeed in "humanizing" the disease by maintaining as much as possible the quality of discernment so as not to fall into automatism, by safeguarding relationships, but also by demonstrating to the sick and fragile people their belonging to the national community by the extent of the mobilization that takes place around them. In this mobilization, the doctors are on the front line. It is up to us not to leave them alone.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-03-25

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