Posted on 04/18/2006 12:41:24 PM PDT by NYer
Paris, Apr. 18, 2006 (CNA) - The number of adults receiving the sacraments of Christian initiation is increasing steadily in a country strongly affected by secularism. This year, 2.650 adults were baptized on the Easter vigil. This figure shows a steady increase from last year, when 2409 adults were baptized, according to figures from the national service of Catechumens of the French Bishops Conference (CEF).
The number of catechumens, refering to the adults currently preparing the sacraments of Christian initiation, grew as well, amounting to 9.564 in 2005 ( 9.364 in 2004) . This time of preparation lasts two years.
Among these adults entering the Catholic Church, 48% proceed from other Christian denominations, 5% from Islam, 3% from oriental religions and 22% were atheists. Adults receiving this sacrament of baptism, also receive the sacrament of Confirmation and participate for the first time in the Eucharist during the Easter vigil, steps that are taken progressively by children.
What about the level of priests in France, any increase?
The article doesn't mention anything. Increase baptisms and with time come the vocations.
The French Church has been through worse times than this. All I need to look is back to 1794 when my ancestor who was a bishop in Lorraine was guillotined for being both a cleric and a nobleman.
a collateral ancestor?
Mrs VS
Honestly, those numbers are very very low. That's sad. Hong Kong diocese alone had that many entering the Church at this year's Easter Vigil.
I would imagine so. He was in my French grandmother's maternal lineage. That family, the Remy's have fought for French Catholicism since the baptism of Clovis, which legend says was performed by St. Remigus aka St. Remy, a member of her clan.
Any self-respecting Catholic Frenchman should refuse to fly the Masonic Tricolore. The Tricolore=anti-Catholicism.
Considering that my French ancestors were nobility, I prefer the Fleur-de-lis, the true Flag of France.
The French Republic has been an enemy of the United States since its foundation.
Pope Benedict XVI needs to create a feast day for the Martyrs of the French Revolution. Sort of an in your face to the Godless French Republic.
Actually, there's a few Frenchies I wouldn't mind immersing for, oh, say ten minutes or so, but that's a story for another thread.
Am I reading this correctly? 2,650 for the whole country? France is worse off than I thought if that's considered progress. There are diocese in this country that baptized more than half that number.
Given the total population of France, that's not a lot of people.
I suspect we'll be seeing Catholic refugees fleeing France soon enough.
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Baptism of adults increasing steadily in France
Wow! Impressive! My great grandfather's parents were killed by the Prussians and he was found clinging to their bodies by French seamen. They took him on board their ship and deposited him in various ports of call over the years, in order to educate him. In the process, he became a polyglot - he spoke 7 languages fluently and read Sanskrit. Of all the descendants, I am the inheritor of his linguistic gifts. I speak 3 languages fluently - English, French and Italian.
When he became 'of age', the seamen deposited him on French soil. He eventually accepted the position of translator in the Irish courts, met and married an Irishwoman and migrated to the US. Today, only a small remnant remains. Of what few cousins are still living, I am the only one still practicing the Catholic faith, and in a Maronite Catholic Church :-).
Easter blessing to you and your family!
It's a question of persecution. When under duress, people turn to higher powers. B16 was chosen to 'return' the lost sheep in Europe. Seems that strategy is working, even if the numbers don't measure up to those of the persecuted church.
What an interesting story! Where were his parents from?
Parts of my family were from France. They were the younger sons of provincial petty nobility whose one skill was gambling, and they came here early on, probably to escape their gambling debts. They settled in New Orleans and devoted themselves to gambling, and my direct ancestor married a woman in NO who was of Spanish descent. Eventually, their grandson married a woman who was a governess with the family (an Englishwoman who spoke French and was the well-educated surplus daughter of a British Protestant clergyman) and the family moved north.
Some of them went to California for the Gold Rush; and one of them married into a family of Prussian/Swedish immigrants. The child of this marriage eventually married a man whose family had come directly from Dublin less than a century before. And I was the child of that marriage.
And I married a man of Bavarian/Austrian and Irish parentage whose great uncle had been Bishop of [some city - don't remember which] in Austria.
And I too am Eastern Rite. Don't we have interesting histories here in this US of A?
Citoyen, these are dangerous sentiments! LOL
Vive le Roi! Vive le Catholique!
My monarchist French ancestors fought under the Fleur de Lis for American independence at the Battle of Yorktown. Louis XVI put his nation into debt supporting our independence, and without the French king there would be no United States of America today.
We shouldn't forget that the nascent French Republic attempted to destabilize our republic through the XYZ and Genet affairs.
Next to the American flag of course, the Fleur de Lis should be every Freeper's best friend, especially as an up yours to the Chirac regime.
http://www.flagline.com/id01140127
Vive le Roi! Vive le Catholique!
My monarchist French ancestors fought under the Fleur de Lis for American independence at the Battle of Yorktown. Louis XVI put his nation into debt supporting our independence, and without the French king there would be no United States of America as we know it today.
We shouldn't forget that the nascent French Republic attempted to destabilize our republic through the XYZ and Genet affairs.
Next to the American flag of course, the Fleur de Lis should be every Freeper's best friend, especially as an up yours to the current French Republic.
http://www.flagline.com/id01140127
I just would love to see Chirac replaced by HRH King Henri VII. lol
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