The great cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France

The members of the church in France have truly been pioneers.  Since I was here in 1963 through 1965 the church as grown from what was considered a “cult” to a “religious movement” if you look at the definition in the French dictionary then and now.  The church has more than 115 buildings and about 30,000 members with third and fourth generations in the church.  Most of the wards have French members presiding.  There is a good history found on Youtube entitled “Road to Zion” in France.  It is a 3 part series produced for BYU TV.  A couple of members from the Talence ward in Bordeaux, where I served at the time, shared an in depth view of the building of a chapel on which I worked during my mission.  Some of the members who joined the church in the 60’s and 70’s when the greatest growth of the church took place in France, were interviewed.  Many of those joining the church today here, are pioneers in their own families and the strength of the church is in families.  We had dinner last week with one such family.  Brother and Sister Collin have one returned missionary son who is going to college close to Bordeaux, France, and another who will certainly go in 3 or 4 years, and two other children who are married.

Christian Euvrard, our St. Merri Institute director, is another individual who fits the pioneer profile and has done extensive research of the history of the LDS church in France and contributed a lot to the series mentioned above.  It is a pleasure to work with him.  He also serves as a counselor in the Paris East Stake Presidency.  He and his wife are great examples of how effective the leadership here in France really is.  We enjoyed a wonderful Sunday afternoon with them and their two boys, sharing excellent French food that sister Euvrard prepared for us the Sunday before Christmas.

We also took the time during this holiday season to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris which is a few block from our building at St. Merri.  Notre Dame is celebrating 850 years of existence this yer.  It is an example of the cathedrals in Europe but the thing that echoes in that experience is how big and unused they are by the French people.  The numbers of people attending mass is ever decreasing.  Visitors can buy almost any souvenir within its walls as well as candles to be lit.  As we witnessed the noon mass with all the sight seers milling around it felt as cold as the building itself.  A far different feel from the meetings I am used to.