For sale, house in housing estate “under the veil of the Virgin and in the shadow of the Angel”.
The real estate program of Clos Saint Gabriel in L'Île-Bouchard (Indre-et-Loire) does not hide its Catholic inclination, which makes some inhabitants, gathered in a collective, wink, but not all.
"If it can bring a few more shops, it wouldn't be too much," reacts Françoise, a resident of this large quiet town on the banks of the Vienne, about fifteen kilometers from Chinon.
“Since the press unveiled the project, we have had worried calls every day.
While we advocate living together and fraternity, this project divides.
What would have been the impact if a Muslim, Jewish or Hindu community had had an identical project?
asks Betty Delavenna, a retired German teacher who taught for a long time in the town's college.
A letter sent to Emmanuel Macron
As it has already done near other Christian spiritual places, the Monasphere company, founded by Damien Thomas and Charles Wattebled, plans to build 17 houses, around a hall, a children's play area and a shared garden.
The delivery of this "hamlet" is scheduled for 2024. The land was ceded by the community of L'Emmanuel, an association dependent on the Catholic Church, which has been organizing retreats here for twenty years.
This weekend, young women aged 18 to 30 from all over France were invited to participate in a seminar entitled “God alone is enough”.
Why in L'Île-Bouchard?
It is in this village that in 1947, children would have had an apparition of the Virgin.
And the reason why the community took root.
A group of residents sent an email to the President of the Republic to alert him to this "attack on secularism".