From Parish to Transcendent Humanism in France
Résumé
The purpose of this chapter is to outline the main conclusions od a study of the changes which have occured in a rural French parish from the beginning of this century to the present day. The distinguishing feature of this parish is that is located in a part of Brittany which remained firmly a part of Christendom until the 1950s. Its evolution since then has been very striking : a fall-off in religious practice, a halt in vocations, a crisis in belief as well as the ascendancy of a new form of Catholism. The situation provides the opportunity to reveal in a very clear manner what happens when a traditional rural society is violently thrust into the modern, even post-modern, world.