Church happy to Profane the Sacred in France

A concert entitled "sacer profanare" (profaning the sacred) is to take place on 13 May in the Church of Carnac during the You Origin festival, from 12 to 14 May, organised by the cultural structure Echonova, in the church made available by the parish, and therefore the diocese of Vannes. The local faithful, who discovered this cultural initiative, which is incongruous to say the least, in a church, are wondering:

"On May 12, 13 and 14, Echonova, a structure heavily subsidised by the Morbihan departmental council and the Vannes agglomeration, dedicated to "current music", i.e. electro-contemporary music, is organising a festival in Carnac, an emblematic place of humanity's heritage, famous for its megalithic alignments.

Here is the programme of the You origin (sic) festival, whoever can understand it (with our taxes).

What is most annoying is that the Parish of Carnac, and the whole parish with it, has agreed to entrust the Church of Saint Cornély for a concert produced by Kali Malone (between us, I prefer Molly), a young American composer of contemporary music, who herself admits that she is not an organist, but wishes to have the historic organ of Carnac, built in 1775 by Fr Florentine Grimont, a Carmelite father. This organ was originally placed in the chapel of the pilgrimage of Saint Anne of Auray.

It is therefore an organ classified as a historical monument, a strong symbol, as well as being a central piece of the liturgy, built by a priest, and blessed for the service of Christian worship that this structure wants to re-appropriate for an evening, in order to deconstruct the sacred.

The organist herself had no say in the matter.

There is no question of questioning the availability of church instruments to contemporary music. The Church has always been able to enter into dialogue with the arts with varying degrees of success over the centuries, but the content of the message must be questioned.

Although the work in question is rather mediocre and insipid and presents nothing reprehensible on the musical level, it is its title that questions the Christian: "Sacer profanare", i.e., to profane the sacred, which is yet another provocation to the Catholic faithful, who have hardly been informed.

Given her repertoire, she could very well have been content with an electronic keyboard in the middle of the alignments of menhirs, the cult of the megaliths having been abolished for thousands of years.

The most serious part of the story is that committed laymen and priests were able to sign a concert permit without reading the title: "Sacer profanare".

For these two words alone, they should have given a polite but firm refusal. And in addition to being subsidised by our taxes, the concert is 20 euros a ticket! The rich will be bored stiff in the meantime.

There are very strict agreements between Dioceses under the 1905 law for the use of churches for cultural purposes, but many parishes don't respect them for fear of being seen as reactionary, or out of ignorance, or out of carelessness.

The concert is to be held on 13 May, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, at 10.30 p.m. in the church in Carnac. 

The authors of the letter invite "the faithful of Carnac, holidaymakers and historical visitors to protest to the presbytery and to pray the rosary in reparation".

In Nantes in December 2021, on the eve of the Immaculate Conception, a profanatory concert organised with the consent of the Diocese of Nantes, first at Saint-Clément, then at Notre-Dame de Bon Port, was prevented by the Catholics of Nantes.

Are the Bretons of Carnac, a land of well-erected megaliths, any softer?

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