Departure of the nuns from Nantes: "It is indeed a formal attack against Catholicism"

Marc Eynaud is a journalist and author of

Who wants Catholics?

FIGAROVOX.

- After eight years spent in the Sainte-Croix church, in the heart of Nantes, two nuns prefer to retire, undermined by a feeling of permanent insecurity.

Is the situation in Nantes particularly worrying?

Beyond the specific case of these two nuns, this is indeed the first part of this information.

Nantes is sinking into insecurity and we are inundated with testimonies from Nantes residents fleeing the city.

We are not just talking about one or more isolated neighborhoods.

Of these territories "in republican reconquest" to use the modest terminology of the time.

We are talking about the Sainte-Croix church in the old historic center of Nantes.

So much so that the city had to benefit from reinforcements and devices similar to what the Guillotière district in Lyon experienced.

As an indication, and even if its reliability is often questioned, the Numbeo site has ranked the city of the Dukes of Brittany at 407th place in its world ranking in terms of insecurity behind Bogota.

You can also refer to the site ville-ideale.fr which compiles hundreds of averages issued by Internet users.

With a score of 2.25/10 in terms of security, we can get a fairly precise idea of ​​the feeling while browsing the 34 pages of comments left by unanimous Internet users.

In terms of insecurity, Nantes is second behind Sarcelles but ahead of Grenoble.

But what remains totally significant is the self-satisfaction of a municipality which says it does not understand the decision of the nuns to leave the city.

We are no longer even in the case of equivalent large cities which see the municipalities strive not to eradicate insecurity but at least to circumscribe it.

In Nantes, the situation seems out of control.

A situation which,

“After how many murdered priests, assaulted nuns and desecrated churches will we realize that these are not acts hostile to religion in the vague sense or a misguided interpretation of secularism but well and truly an attack in order against Catholicism for what it is but because it still says what we have been, what we are and what we want to continue to be.

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Is this representative of the violence suffered by Christians in France?

This aspect must be measured effectively.

The fact that these are two nuns obviously marked the spirits.

Especially two guardians of a church by definition a place of peace and openness but above all a sacred place.

One would be tempted to say “especially nuns” because Catholics are often on the front line facing this new phenomenon.

In the last three weeks alone: ​​mid-February, a decapitated statue of the Virgin in Choisy-Le-Roi, February 10 a desecrated church in Orly, February 7 an Islamist on file S arrested for threatening a Parisian priest with death, January 10 desecration of a church in the Lyon region, two fire starts in a church in Ligueuil, and three fire starts in the Saint Roch church in Chanteloup-Les-Vignes.

This March 3,

we learned of the desecration of the Church of Saint-Eustache in Paris.

This is only what the press has reported in recent days and it is only the tip of the iceberg.

We can also cite a priest and a nun stabbed in April 2022, not to mention the attack committed in the basilica of Nice, the assassination of Father Hamel and various plans for Islamist attacks in churches foiled in extremis... Sociologically, the Catholic religion is by far the most attacked religion in France and it is the figures of the Ministry of the Interior which confirm it.

How many times will we tirelessly recite this string of violence?

After how many murdered priests, assaulted nuns and desecrated churches will we realize that these are not acts hostile to religion in the vague sense or a misguided interpretation of secularism? but indeed an attack in order against Catholicism for what it is but because

The nuns said, “We are not Bronx Franciscans.”

Isn't their role, too, as Catholics to be light in the midst of chaos?

It would be too convenient to give these nuns who have given their lives to God and devoted years of their existence to the service of the inhabitants of the neighborhood and of this church any lesson in courage.

Each order has its vocation and we cannot require these women to make the same choices as a Christian de Chergé or some Jesuit missionary going to be massacred in Japan or America to convert the peoples.

Nevertheless, one cannot look at this decision without thinking about recent events.

During two years of the Covid epidemic in a context of generalized loss of bearings and moral distress, the clergy were explained that they were providing non-essential trade and they were forced to close their doors.

We doubtless underestimate the violence that this has provoked in certain priests to whom their own bishops have forbidden the dispensation of the sacraments, which is the basis and the first meaning of their priesthood.

In 2023 the priests are unanimous: the practice has decreased.

Some parishioners have simply lost the habit of going to mass, others have withdrawn into even greater solitude… Moreover, abandoning the churches a little more to their fate and their emptiness.

Basically, we can note two simultaneous factors: the multiplication of attacks against Catholics and a general decline in courage in the face of this adversity, at least a terrible feeling of helplessness and temptation to abandon.

In 2023 the priests are unanimous: the practice has decreased.

Some parishioners have simply lost the habit of going to mass, others have withdrawn into even greater solitude… Moreover, abandoning the churches a little more to their fate and their emptiness.

Basically, we can note two simultaneous factors: the multiplication of attacks against Catholics and a general decline in courage in the face of this adversity, at least a terrible feeling of helplessness and temptation to abandon.

In 2023 the priests are unanimous: the practice has decreased.

Some parishioners have simply lost the habit of going to mass, others have withdrawn into even greater solitude… Moreover, abandoning the churches a little more to their fate and their emptiness.

Basically, we can note two simultaneous factors: the multiplication of attacks against Catholics and a general decline in courage in the face of this adversity, at least a terrible feeling of helplessness and temptation to abandon.

Moreover, these two nuns are members of the Benedictine apostolic fraternity.

A religious order which has the specificity of being held in the heart of cities.

That is to say in the middle of what they have that is beautiful and repulsive and the explosion of urban insecurity is unfortunately part of the hazards present in every French city, whatever it may be.

Insecurity drove a monastic community from a city.

The desecrations force to leave the churches closed.

Health crises deprive the faithful of the sacraments.

Dozens of churches burn down every year.

This should encourage us to no longer be silent because today the stones are burning from crying in vain.