Priest‐Workmen: Their Present Position in France

Extract

At the present time the problem of priest-workmen is once more to the fore. This is not due to any advertisement of their experiences which such priests have made, for they dread nothing so much as publicity. Their action can only develop in silence. Moreover, it is difficult to present their work to the public in its true light. Many of the superficial or impulsive judgments which one hears passed on the priest-workmen come from an insufficient knowledge of the milieu they are trying to reach and of the conditions of their apostolate. Today the silence is broken but the necessity of prudence remains, a requirement which is not always observed as it should be.

For practical purposes, the first publicity in the press dates from 1946, when several articles on the apostolic side of their activity were published in Témoignage Chrétien. The second phase dates from 1949. In March of that year an account of ‘The Paris Mission’ (which remains one of the best and most solid explanations of the task undertaken by the priest-workmen), appeared in Etudes. A little later, in July, articles of the ‘sensational’ type began to appear. Almost at the same time, Jean Balensi published an extensive inquiry in Paris-Presse under the title ‘'Shock-Christians’, and Jean-Loup Dariel published an article in France-Soir under the title ‘The Church’s Commandos’. It was just at this time that a decree of the Holy Office excommunicated all those adhering to the materialist and anti-Christian teaching of the Communists, and particularly those who defended or propagated it. M. Dariel’s account was afterwards reissued as Chez les prêtres ouvriers (Editions Chambriand). These inquiries and accounts were confined to the superficial aspects of the mission of the priest-workmen.