The bicycle, a tool for evangelisation in the manner of Laudato Si!
Tuesday, june 7th 2022
Some priests have passions. For Don Jean-Yves, it is the bicycle, which serves him not only as an instrument for transport, but also as a tool for evangelisation. At the same time, it allows him to live according to the spirit of Laudato Si. A testimony…
What is your history with cycling?
I started using the bicycle quite lately while I was at the parish of Saint-Raphaël, after I was given my first road bike in 1999. I took part in the first clergy cycling championship, launched by Don Pierre-Marie de Framond in 2000, somewhat out of sporting solidarity. In fact, this event was for me a revelation: This sport was very interesting both mentally and tactically as well as physically. Sent some time later to Cuba on a mission, I created a parish Catholic Cycling Club (the C.C.C.P.) with the young people of Placetas. In this way bicycling became not only important by the means of daily travel but also a personal and a pastoral sport! When I returned to France in 2016, I decided not to buy a new car, but to use the well-known combination of cassock and bicycle. For longer journeys, the bicycle is combined with the train. Today, as the parish priest of Arles, the bicycle remains a useful and pastoral tool for me. With the men of the parish I have created a new C.C.C.P. And I continue to take part in the French Clergy Cycling Championship, as soon as I can, with 5 or 6 participations to my credit to date! If I have adopted this mode of transport, it is not only out of concern for ecology and sobriety but also for the taste of physical effort, even of a few challenges on occasion.
What role does cycling play in your ministry?
I claim the prophetic character of the non-use of a motor vehicle, and my option should call attention to the possible concrete consequences of reading Laudato Si. There are indeed many other ways to live the conversion to a more sober life and to embrace the orientations of integral ecology. On the other hand, the bicycle is, in itself, a beautiful pastoral tool. This can be seen, for example, in the mountain bike pilgrimages that exist in some thirty dioceses. The cycling camps or the vueltas organised in Placetas have confirmed this to me. Last summer, with 12 riders, we set off on a journey called « Vélo l’alto » — 550 km in 5 stages with 15,000m of ascent — in order to do a Tour du Mont Blanc between France, Switzerland and Italy: a very strong human, sportive and spiritual adventure!
In your parish, have you put in place concrete ecological practices?
Our parish in Arles has been part of the Green Church movement for two years [link to https://www.egliseverte.org/]. This is a tool that allows us to motivate the faithful and pastors in the dynamics of an ecological conversion in order to take into account all aspects of parish life. The process begins with a diagnosis that allows us to measure the great gap between our ecological concerns and the reality on the field. It is then a matter of deciding to take one step at a time (in the liturgy, transport, buildings, etc.). It is in this spirit that we have launched the project called « Maison du Carmel » [link to https://paroisse-catholique-arles.fr/carmel/], a place of pastoral, intergenerational and ecological welcome, in which the principle of integral ecology is at the heart, to respond to many challenges, both ecclesial and societal.
Did Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si encourage you to move in this direction?
Of course, especially in its link with the Zero-Car-Option! The whole first chapter of the encyclical permits to become aware of the seriousness of the situation and the need to take action, one way or another. It is not just for a better carbon footprint: by adopting a means of locomotion such as cycling, we get back in touch with the reality of the terrain, the climate, and the weather. Our modern world is in a constant battle against time and space. We want to be here and there at the same time. There is a strong temptation to achieve ubiquity (a divine, or at least angelic, privilege) instead of being in thanksgiving for the time and space that mark the human experience.
