Word: gobert
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...depopulated by the rush to the cities, the prayer services have meant a new lease on life. In the Rodlinghem area, for instance, the village of Hocquinghen seemed to be dying. There were only 85 inhabitants left, and the school and café had closed. The Abbé Marius Gobert, dean of the church at the nearby town of Licques, did not have enough help to serve the four parishes in his area and decided to close Hocquinghen's church. But the town's young people, distressed at seeing the parishioners splinter off to other towns for church...
...homemade prayer assemblies have ignited an enthusiasm for worship services that is unusual for modern France. "I thought no one was interested in religion any more," says Abbé Gobert. "Now, in my old age, my parishioners are active in the church and really participate. I have volunteers for everything. I let it all come from them." At Rodlinghem, a permanent committee of 20 prepares the service, but rotates some tasks among other parishioners so that as many as 150 can participate each year. The enthusiasm has spiked over into the regular Masses, in which the congregants now take...
...scrupulous congregants who like the service have a different worry: they don't feel it fills their Sunday obligation. But Abbé Gobert finds their reluctant enthusiasm a good measure of the assemblies' effectiveness. "One woman always takes part in Licques' prayer assembly," he notes. "But she goes to Mass on the Saturday night before to be on the safe side...