French priests to work on building sites and factories – archive

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/25/french-priests-building-sites-factories

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Paris, October 24The worker priest experiment is to be tried again in France, more than 11 years after the original scheme was suppressed by the Vatican. The plenary assembly of the French Catholic hierarchy, meeting in Rome yesterday, gave permission for the new experiment.

A communique after the meeting stated: “The French episcopacy proposes, with the agreement of the Holy See, to authorise a small number of priests to work full time in factories and on building sites after an appropriate preparation. The authorisation is foreseen for a first period of three years. The choice of these priests will have to conform with certain precise conditions, such as aptitude, suitable formation, community life, close relations with other priests and working-class Catholic Action militants in the sector in which they work.

“The worker priest will be able to join a trade union, but in view of the fact that temporal tasks are the proper role of the militant worker, he will abstain from taking any kind of responsibilities in political and syndical action.”

Opposition Although the revival of the worker priest experiment will be widely welcomed in France, where a decline in Christian loyalty of the working-class is viewed by the Church with concern, it will also encounter vigorous opposition from Right-wing Catholic quarters.

The latter, although small in number, have been active since the opening of the Vatican Council in protesting against the introduction of “progressive” measures in the Church, such as the replacement of Latin by the vernacular, and the adoption of lay-garb by younger priests. The original worker priest experiment which was begun in 1943 was only condemned by Rome after it had been severely criticised within France.