On Pilgrimage with 20,000 Young Catholics ‘Tradition is the only safe future we have,’ says a 24-year-old, on the way to Chartres Cathedral. ‘What are you going to build your life on, if not God?’
“In the past decade, the Latin-language rite—which was made the standard liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church in 1570—has been at the center of an apparent Catholic awakening among young people,” writes Rod Dreher. (All photos by Julien Faure for The Free Press)
PARIS, France — On a cool, wet June morning on the Left Bank of the River Seine, cheerful throngs of young adults are padding along the streets with packs on their backs. They are converging on Saint-Sulpice, the bulky 17th-century stone church that dominates the Saint-Germain neighborhood of Paris. From the giddiness of the kids, you might think there was a pop concert planned in the large square in front of the old church. Non. “We’re here to pray,” says Cyriaque, 25, who came to the capital from the country’s southwest. “It will be fun.”
Cyriaque is one of about 20,000 limber young Catholics—and a few stiffer older ones—about to embark on a pilgrimage to the cathedral of Chartres, 62 miles southwest of Paris. The annual Pentecost trek—the 43rd such march in modern times—is a moving youth festival of old-fashioned Catholicism, featuring hymns, devotions, and the Latin Mass. It’s Woodstock for Catholic traditionalists, if Jimi Hendrix had been a Benedictine monk singing Gregorian chant. “People just want to find something outside of their day-to-day life,” explains Cyriaque. “They’re looking for transcendence.” This article is featured in Faith. Sign up here to get an update every time a new piece is published. Hence the Latin Mass: It’s the “most beautiful,” he says. In the past decade, the Latin-language rite—which was made the standard liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church in 1570—has been at the center of an apparent Catholic awakening among young people, from France to America. ...
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