At the Jesus Festival, proselytism and pop music

ReportageThe pious little town of Paray-le-Monial, in Saône-et-Loire, is hosting the first edition of this Christian music festival from July 8 to 10. A seduction operation led by the influential conservative Catholic community of Emmanuel.

On this Monday, July 4, not far from the center of the small town of Paray-le-Monial (Saône-et-Loire), a team of young people is finalizing the installation of several stages, food trucks and entertainment stands … At first sight, nothing differentiates this barnum from all the music festivals that will be held in France during the summer. Except that, in Paray, it will be praises that will animate the crowd for three days around the sanctuary where Jesus Christ would have appeared in the XVIIe century.

Nine thousand inhabitants, a 16th century town halle century, a basilica “masterpiece of Romanesque art” and, therefore, the first edition of the Jesus Festival. Hoteliers and restaurateurs see all this turmoil in a very positive light. At the Hostellerie des Trois Pigeons, we are used to this particular clientele.

“The Catholic tourists who come here to pray every summer at the shrine are very well brought up: they come with the children, then the children come with their families. For the festival, it will be the same. Let’s just hope they don’t sing their hallelujahs too loudly when they come home at night! »,commented Marie-France Cristofoli, who hosted Franco-British actor Michael Lonsdale for many years, familiar with Paray pilgrimages and the hotel’s dessert trolley.

A conservative and very active community

The Christian music festival is organized by the Emmanuel Catholic community. Founded in the late 1970s, inspired by Anglo-Saxon Protestant Pentecostalism, this so-called “charismatic” community is the largest in France, with nearly 12,000 active members and 270 priests, 9 of whom were ordained in 2022.

“Emmanuel’s sociology makes it a unique community, very well established in the world and in France, especially. It is first of all a community of lay people and the very elitist recruitment of its members, within the upper middle class and the aristocracy, assures it of financial means, networks of influence and a real entrepreneurial dynamic in relation to pure religious communities. Gérald Arbola, who led the Emmanuel Community from 1986 to 1995, was thus a former member of the Areva management board”, explains Samuel Dolbeau, specialist in religions at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS). Deriving its financial resources from the payment by its members of approximately 10% of their salary, the community has real capacities for action.

“Emmanuel has several times hosted ultra-conservative Catholic thinkers on the issue of gender relations or homosexuality, which is seen as a source of suffering. They tend to mix spiritual and psychic support on many issues. Cyrille de Compiègne, from the Catholic LGBT association David and Jonathan

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At the Jesus Festival, proselytism and pop music