Kroaz ar Vretoned/La Croix des Bretons. Meeting with the director of a Catholic and Breton gazette

If the media Ar Gedour is well known to readers of Breizh-info, there is another gazette, Catholic and Breton, entitled Kroaz ar Vretoned/The Cross of the Bretons, which you can discover online (here) and which gives pride of place to spirituality in Brittany. We spoke with its director and founder, Augustin Debacker.

“The Catholic Faith is intrinsically linked to Brittany”

Breizh-info.com: Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Augustin Debacker: I am 33 years old and live in Pontivy (56). I am married, father of 5 children and Regulatory Affairs Consultant. I have been involved for ten years in the Parish or in Scouting, and as Editor-in-Chief of Kroaz ar Vretoned, I simply want to add my stone to the building in the defense of Brittany.

Breizh-info.com: What is the Breton Cross?

Augustin Debacker: Kroaz ar Vretoned/The Cross of the Bretons is a monthly newspaper, created in May 2021 and written by a few Catholics wishing to advance the Breton and Catholic cause, whether at the level of training (via the Social Doctrine of the Church) as well as at the level of the Catholic heritage of Brittany .

In this sense, we want our readers to discover the great Breton authors and historians, such as Arthur de la Borderie, Auguste Brizeux or Charles Le Goffic, but also all these forgotten pages of our Breton heritage, whether material (calvaries, crosses, churches) or immaterial.

Breizh-info.com: There are already Breton and Catholic media, like Ar Gedour. What more did you want to add?

Augustin Debacker: For decades, many Breton Catholic newspapers have been published in Brittany, starting with Feiz ha Breizh, O lo lê or Kroaz ar Vretoned. However, today, there are no longer any: this is why we wanted to relaunch this monthly paper, which complements platforms such as Ar Gedour.

Our articles are also more focused on training, based on the Social Doctrine of the Church, which for me gives all the keys to building the Brittany of tomorrow.

Breizh-info.com: You have also been publishing a paper magazine, for thirteen issues. What is its audience?

Augustin Debacker: Today, we have about forty subscribers, which remains relatively few but allows us to be just financially balanced (all our contributors are volunteers). The objective at the end of 2022 is 50 subscribers, and 100 by the end of 2023. Last year, our Breton/French calendar was a real success, with nearly 250 copies sold. The initiative will obviously be renewed for this year.

Breizh-info.com: Why is it fundamental to bring Bretons back to faith, a faith that has withered over the last centuries?

Augustin Debacker: Because the Catholic Faith is intrinsically linked to Brittany, its identity and its culture. From the Pardons to the Breton Saints, passing through the Calvaries and churches, the processions and customs: all these elements are an integral part of the Brittany that we love, and that we wish to defend in the face of oblivion.

The Catholic Faith has certainly withered away in French society, but it must regain its full place in Brittany: Brittany was once the Catholic beacon of the West, as events like La Chouannerie or great Bretons like the Abbé Perrot, Maodez Glanndour or Jean-Pierre Calloc’h.

Breizh-info.com: For you, who are the great figures of Breton Catholicism, those who are examples to follow?

Augustin Debacker: There would be many to cite, but I would cite four main ones: Blessed Julien Maunoir, who traveled through our Breton lands in the 17th Century to announce Christ there; Abbé Perrot for his courage in defending Brittany and Catholicism at the beginning of the 20th Century; Herry Caouissin in the renewal he initiated in the defense of Catholic Brittany, whether through his drawings or his articles/writings; Finally, Jean-Pierre Calloc’h, through all his writings – starting with Ar en Deulin, which for me is the most beautiful work written on our Catholic Brittany. We feel there all the love for the Breton Fatherland, like a Faith to move mountains.

Breizh-info.com: What do you think of the increasing number of attacks against tradition, particularly in France, attacks emanating from the church itself?

Augustin Debacker: I am deeply saddened by these tears within the Church, especially in these times when all Catholics should shine by their unity in the face of societal abuses, particularly moral and ethical ones.

But in my opinion, these divisions on the Missal to be used only hide the real current rupture, between a Church which does not dare to speak out during societal excesses, and a Church which assumes its positions, especially on the defense of Life . The first was, for example, distinguished by its silence during the vote on the Gaillot Law or during the debates on the PMA, while the second shone during the Pilgrimage of Christianity, the Pilgrimage Feiz ha Breizh or even by the repairs of our calvaries. – via SOS Calvaires for example.

I pray that these two sensitivities find each other, and that our Church can rediscover its unity in Christ, and its role in our Breton society. In any case, this is the line we defend in our newspaper.

Interview by YV

Photo credit: DR
[cc] Breizh-info.com2022, dispatches free of copy and distribution subject to mention and link to the original source

Kroaz ar Vretoned/La Croix des Bretons. Meeting with the director of a Catholic and Breton gazette