80 association leaders, 300 business leaders including around ten from the CAC 40, 25 priests, religious men and women, dozens of political and media personalities… There were more than 500 “decision makers” who gathered at the Musée des fairground arts in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, Thursday November 14 in Paris, for the second edition of the “Builders’ Dinner”, a meeting to unite and promote the commitment of Catholics in society.
The organizers – four young lay Catholics in their thirties – understood this well: the credibility of the event this year rested on the diversity of guests they would succeed in attracting. In fact, we were able to see personalities from backgrounds as varied as Vincent Bolloré, Cécile Duflot, Jean-Dominique Sénard, Marine Tondelier, François-Xavier Bellamy, and even Sister Albertine. The casting stands out, and that is precisely the goal. Because much more than the first edition, this dinner wanted to escape the indifference of the hard core and succeeded in bringing together a wide range of Catholics, more or less close to the institution, of all sensibilities. “You are from the right, from the left, from the extreme center, charismatic, traditional, diocesan, social Catholics, it’s a real synod! »exclaimed one of the organizers at the opening of an original-style meal.
“A pretty crazy climate of truth”
To avoid the pitfall of a simple social dinner, the organizers innovated: each guest had to pick their place from a jar, creating random tables conducive to improbable encounters. A method which has borne fruit, as evidenced by the spontaneous creation of WhatsApp groups between guests wishing to extend their exchanges beyond the evening. The theme of vulnerability, a common thread around which the guests exchanged around large banquet tables, quickly made it possible to “drop the masks” and of “break the ice”says a guest. “We shared painful and intimate moments of life, which created a pretty crazy climate of truth and trust,” reported one participant.
The evening, with a cozy atmosphere in a baroque setting, was punctuated by testimonies from several faithful who publicly recounted their experience of faith in the face of their fragilities. Here, a father profoundly transformed by his daughter’s disability. There, a police commissioner who, confronted with the incredible violence of maintaining order, testifies: “Without my faith, I could not carry out my missions without getting lost”. Or the edifying journey of a disabled young man who, having arrived in France fifteen years earlier from Angola, is today a prep student at Henri-IV. Far from being content with emotional storytelling, these witnesses, each in turn, challenged their audience on their commitments and responsibilities in their respective fields of action.
Because this is also the challenge of this dinner: to succeed in generating a new generation of Christian “builders” who will commit over the long term to serve society. On this occasion, the organizers commissioned a study from which they shared the lessons: 51% of practicing Catholics have carried out voluntary activity in the last two years, i.e. twice more than the average French person, and 70% of them give money to associations, 20 points more than the national average. “ There are Catholics who, far from scandals and caricatures, work to serve their country,” insisted Louise Chaulin, one of the organizers.
An impetus given by young lay people
A revealing word from a new generation eager to write a new page in French Catholicism which, in recent years, has been marked by the crisis of sexual violence within it and the erosion of the number of faithful. Notable fact: this initiative comes from the laity, not from the hierarchy. “For once, it’s not us who are organizing, there’s nothing to do other than have dinner,” smiled Mgr Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the bishops’ conference, before returning to his table. The momentum is given by young lay people, hyperaware of the urgency of overcoming divisions and internal quarrels, through a common commitment to serving the most vulnerable.
However, the clergy was not absent from this evening, as evidenced by the presence of numerous consecrated persons and the speeches of Mgr Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, and the Archbishop of Marseille, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline. The latter subtly came to shake up his audience on subjects that are dear to him, such as dialogue with Muslims, in a preaching that mixed theology and literature. “Without vulnerability, grace is powerless”, he recalled. A message that particularly resonates with this assembly of “powerful” people who have come to recognize themselves as fragile.