Alfred Ancel (1898–1984), a priest of the Diocese of Lyon (in 1923), General Director of the Association of Priests of the Prado (1942–1971), Auxiliary Bishop of Lyon (1947–1973).
A member of the French Episcopal Commission for the Working World since its foundation in 1950, he served as its chairman in 1964 and again in 1967. It is fair to say that Alfred Ancel’s career largely mirrors the history of the worker-priests, a brief overview of which is provided here, covering the period from 1944 to 1974, divided into four periods: 1944–1947; 1947–1954; 1954–1965; 1965–1974.
For each of these periods, the contexts are not specified so as not to make this article too lengthy (economic, political, social, cultural, religious and ecclesiastical contexts), but they form part of this history and would help to understand it. Furthermore, this overview is only part of the real story. To speak of the history of the P.O. would be to describe their ordinary lives amongst the people, within the working class and working-class communities, local churches; it would mean recounting what they experienced, did and thought; describing their daily lives, their relationships, their work, their activism, their reflections, their discussions, their actions, their words, their spiritualities and their prayers.
1944–1947: the first worker-priests
In the mid-1940s (from 1944 onwards, to be precise, in France), a small handful of worker priests (abbreviated to P.O.) emerged as a collective phenomenon. The first diocesan priest to become a P.O. was in Belgium in 1942. The years 1944–1947 (which are sometimes all too readily overlooked) mark the first chapter in the history of the P.O.s.
The P.O.s do not have a founder
No one founded the worker-priests. No one had planned or organised them. They did not appear out of the blue. They form an informal movement. They have come together via different paths. Worker-priests are not an invention of the Catholic Church; they are an innovation within Catholicism. The 1940s, against the economic, political, social, cultural and religious backdrop of the time, were a period of great missionary fervour, fuelled by the realisation of the divide separating the Church from the working classes of that era, following the considerable impact of the little book Is France a mission country? published in September 1943, written by two chaplains from the JOC.
The first P.O.s were to form part of this missionary movement. They were not the only ones, which helped to prevent them from becoming self-centred. They were linked to ecclesiastical institutions (dioceses, the Paris Mission, the Mission de France, religious orders and institutes). To clarify: the Mission de Paris included priests from various dioceses and priests sent by the Mission de France, not to mention that laypeople had also been part of the Mission de Paris since its foundation and launch by Cardinal Suhard in January 1944. In Paris that year, two diocesan priests from the provinces became P.O.s; a few others would follow in the years to come. The surprising novelty of the P.O.s’ existence raised many questions, as it revolutionised the traditional image of the Catholic priest.
Ancel and Suhard
Alfred Ancel (auxiliary bishop of Lyon in 1947, at the age of 49) was sympathetic to the initiatives taken by Cardinal Suhard, the bishop responsible for the missionary renewal in Paris. In 1946, Ancel founded the Mission de la Part-Dieu in Lyon, with a view to contributing to the evangelisation of the working class. He entrusted this mission to René Desgrand, a priest from the Prado who, quickly convinced of the need to share in the working-class experience through labour, took up employment in 1947. In 1949, he was joined by two other members of the Prado community who became P.O.s, Paul Guilbert and Jean Tarby; A. Ancel also encouraged Jean Fulchiron and René Margo to take up manual labour.
Ancel was concerned with improving the living conditions of the working class. At the time of the major strikes in November–December 1947, he published a forceful statement in the bulletin of the Diocese of Lyon to draw Christians’ attention to the plight of the working class and their right to demand higher wages. At the same time, he was concerned that the Church should be capable of fostering faith in Jesus Christ and a Christian way of life amongst these people. Ancel was certainly close to Suhard, who is even said to have considered appointing him as auxiliary bishop of Paris. Both men were keenly aware of the barrier separating the working-class masses from the Church.
1948–1954: towards the end of the P.O.
1947 was a pivotal year. The years 1948–1954 marked another period, which came to an end with the closure of the French P.O. on 1er March 1954, by a decision handed down from the Vatican. Given the highly complex overall situation, these years are difficult to examine closely without resorting to lyrical or ideological excesses. There is an abundance of documents from the episcopate, the Vatican and the P.O., but the story is not limited to discussions and relationships—whether muddled, incompatible or tumultuous—between the P.O. and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church; to view it in such terms would be a reductive, ideological and clerical interpretation of our actual history.
Letter from Ancel, June 1949
On Suhard’s death on 30 May 1949, Ancel sent a surprising letter, dated 2 June 1949, to Gerlier, his bishop and cardinal in Lyon; here are some extracts from it: « You cannot ignore certain speculations circulating about me regarding Cardinal Suhard’s succession (…). Should you ever hear that my name has been put forward, I would be grateful if you could bring to the attention of the Nunciature, before any more formal steps are taken, certain objections which I believe, in all conscience, I must raise (…). » Having highlighted his «personal shortcomings», Ancel went on to express his conviction that Antoine Chevrier’s message represented an opportunity for «spiritual renewal» for the Church. « If Father Chevrier’s message had been heeded sooner, it seems to me that the barrier between the workers and the Church – which now seems insurmountable – would not have arisen. Father Chevrier’s mission dates back to 1856. It came eight years after the Communist Manifesto. Certain parallels are hard to ignore (…). » Finally, after reiterating his obligations regarding the Prado extension project, he reveals to Gerlier for the first time a very surprising project that is close to his heart : « … I very much hope that, in a few years’ time, I will be able to hand over my post at the Prado to someone else. At that point, I might ask the Pope for permission to join our priests working in factories. They would like to have a bishop with them. Admittedly, they are pleased with the trust shown in them by the hierarchy. But if they had a bishop with them, their fellow workers would understand better that they belong to the Church. Remaining as auxiliary bishop of Lyon, I could, if I were able to live amongst them, demonstrate both the unity of the Church and its presence amongst the working class ». This letter from Ancel, written in 1949, says it all! It sets out what motivated him and shaped his journey through life (see the conclusion of this article).
The organisation of the P.O.s.
In 1949, on the initiative of the Paris Mission, the P.O. (numbering a few dozen) organised their first national meeting; they set up an informal secretariat; and they decided to meet regularly at national level twice a year. Between 1950 and 1954, there were seven or eight national meetings. In 1951, at a national meeting in Lyon, the P.O.s organised themselves as a trade union (explicitly referring to a «national secretariat» and an «executive committee»); a national secretariat was therefore elected, from which certain P.O. members were deliberately excluded. This stance towards the episcopate probably complicated matters in the context of an already difficult situation in which suspicions, slander, denunciations, misunderstandings and warnings were mounting against the P.O. In a situation that was to become increasingly alarming and critical, it was not easy to navigate the necessary and fruitful tension between innovation and institution.
During the period 1948–1954, however, it must be acknowledged honestly and objectively that there were differences amongst the P.O. members themselves (before 1954, there were around 130 of them) regarding their approach to their presence, their work, commitment and mission amongst the working class and the proletarian masses. Issues of leadership also arose, with subtle differences becoming more pronounced until they turned into fundamental disagreements and tensions that were very difficult to reconcile. These profound differences between the P.O. were often overshadowed by their shared resistance and solidarity in the face of the hierarchy’s misunderstandings and mistrust, or the Vatican’s directives. Perhaps, too, the spiritual dimensions of this unprecedented style of priestly life were more or less overshadowed by the hold of temporal and theological ideologies.
A complicated relationship with the P.O.s.
Against this backdrop, Ancel’s relationship with the worker-priests was to prove complex. He was, however, deeply concerned about the issue of evangelising the working class (see his pamphlet published in 1949 The evangelisation of the working class) and he was not opposed to priests working amongst the working class, hence his interest in the ongoing experiment of the P.O. In 1950, Ancel was a member of the Episcopal Commission for the Working World. It seemed to him that the P.O. were heading in the wrong direction, particularly due to the influence of the priests« temporal involvement in the labour movement. In agreement with the bishops who had P.O.s in their dioceses, he envisaged a draft Directoire aimed at guiding the activities of the P.O.s. In 1950–1951, as this matter of the Directoire had provoked numerous reactions and discussions from various quarters, this controversial draft, as it stood, had no chance of success given the climate of the time. Criticised, disavowed and, in a sense, discredited, yet not wishing to cause any trouble, Ancel took a back seat at both national and local levels, without losing interest in the P.O. Indeed, he continued to reflect on the value of priests working as labourers, even considering ‘ to ask the Pope for permission to join our priests working in factories », as he wrote in his surprising letter of June 1949.
Letter from Ancel, August 1953
A letter addressed to Cardinal Gerlier on 12 August 1953 concerning the establishment of a « Prado Workers’ Mission » (subsequently referred to, more modestly, as « one the Pradosian community in a working-class neighbourhood ») reveals how Ancel envisaged carrying out the project that had been taking shape in his mind since 1949. « …I feel that, in all conscience, I have no right to allow priests from the Prado to enter the working-class world if I am not going with them. I would feel as though I were an apostolic vicar from the Far East who wanted to lead his priests whilst remaining in Paris… My contacts with the A.C.O. and with working-class parishes, my membership of the episcopate and the relationships I have had with the worker-priests, my doctrinal training and my social studies on the working-class condition and Marxism, seem to me to offer some guarantees for a ministry that will be extremely difficult if it is to be, at the same time, fully faithful to the Church and truly present in the working-class world… I feel drawn, constantly and almost irresistibly, towards poverty and towards the poor. Admittedly, I have failed more than once to remain faithful to this attraction; yet I am continually drawn back to it. It is stronger than I am. I am well aware that I would have no peace if I were to take a decision that would prevent me from remaining faithful to it… » At the time Ancel was writing this letter, the prospect of the P.O. being shut down by a decision from above was becoming increasingly clear.
The clash on the 1ster March 1954
On the 1ster March 1954 was the final deadline for the dissolution of the French P.O., as decided by the Vatican and implemented by the French episcopate. The Belgian P.O.s ceased their work at the end of July 1955; there were eight of them at that time. The French P.O.s were faced with an impossible choice, a crucial decision: to leave their work and remain within the Church, or to remain in their work and leave the Church. Some P.O.s hesitated greatly, whilst others changed their position in the days, weeks or months that followed. There were around 85–90 of them on the eve of 1er March, including five from Prado. Some P.O.s had already stopped working or were not directly affected by the ultimatum. Around forty P.O.s decided to temporarily leave their jobs whilst remaining within the Church. From 1954 onwards, little by little, they committed themselves to defending this priestly way of life and, in agreement with their bishops, they gradually returned to manual labour, taking more or less account of the restrictive conditions laid down by the hierarchy for carrying out such work. Around fifty P.O.s decided to remain in employment and leave the Church. Among them, several subsequently left manual labour for professional careers better suited to their education, background and abilities; they married a partner sooner or later. Around twenty others, several of whom remained single, continued their commitment to the working class and the labour movement.
1954–1965: Hopes for a revival of the P.O.
History did not come to a halt in 1954 or in 1959. The revival of the P.O. in 1965 did not happen overnight; it did not come out of the blue. Following the decision taken by the Catholic hierarchy to disband the P.O. on 1er March 1954; then, in July 1959, there was a further setback from Rome. At that time, there were not many who still believed in a possible future for this form of priestly life, which had been initiated by a handful of P.O.s during the 1940s in France and Belgium.
Ancel and his time at Gerland (1954–1959)
Despite these extremely unfavourable circumstances, Ancel nevertheless went on to realise the remarkable project he had harboured deep within him since 1949: to experience, in a sense, the life of a labourer for himself. After requesting and obtaining «permission» from the Vatican on 15 June 1954, Ancel, together with four other members of the Prado (consecrated laypeople and priests), established a small Prado community in the working-class neighbourhood of Gerland in Lyon, which involved living close to the working class and sharing in the working-class experience through labour, with Ancel himself working as a home-based labourer. This unprecedented community lasted until July 1959, when a new ban was imposed by the Vatican. Despite the limitations of this experiment, it was nonetheless something entirely unprecedented as a form of episcopate! And perhaps also, a small sign of hope.
On several occasions, Ancel spoke of the profound spiritual intensity he experienced during that period at Gerland. In 1959, when he was about to comply with the decision that had just been communicated to him by the Vatican to bring this experiment to an end (letter dated 27 July 1959 addressed to Cardinal Ottaviani, one of the Vatican’s leading figures) : «I think I can say that this five-year period has been one of the most fruitful periods of my ministry». In 1963 (from the book *Five Years with the Workers*, p. 364) : «I must admit that I learnt more spiritually during the five years I spent in Gerland than during the rest of my priestly life.». In 1972 (as at the 25the (the anniversary of his ordination as a bishop) : «I particularly remember the years I spent in Gerland, amongst the workers, striving to experience a little of the workers» way of life for myself. I believe those years were the richest and most fruitful of my episcopate, both spiritually and apostolically… It was there that I felt most like a bishop and a successor to the Apostles.”. The end of this workers’ experiment in 1959 certainly constituted, for Alfred Ancel – with his unwavering devotion to the Church – a profound spiritual ordeal, a harrowing spiritual upheaval that strips one of one’s very self. One might say that true spiritual life is physical!
The setback of 1959
The end of the P.O. on the 1ster March 1954 was primarily a disciplinary measure taken by the episcopal hierarchy, whilst the ruling of July 1959 was presented more as a doctrinal measure. On 3 July 1959, a letter from the Holy Office (the Vatican’s doctrinal office) was sent to Feltin, Bishop of Paris and President of the Workers’ Mission, and to Liénart, Bishop of Lille and President of the Assembly of Cardinals and Archbishops. This internal document was leaked by the newspaper *Le Monde* (15 September 1959) and published by the newspaper *La Croix* (16 September 1959). Taken as a doctrinal statement, this letter prohibited priests from engaging in any paid professional activity, which implied that the priesthood was incompatible with working-class life, and that the life of a priest was incompatible with the working-class condition.
However, this ban will, on the whole, have no effect, as if the Vatican had merely issued a statement of principle. It is as if the Vatican had said: ‘We are banning it, but we will turn a blind eye; we will allow the ban to be circumvented; we’ll see how it turns out.’ In fact, the Priests of the Order who had found work again after 1954 did not give it up. Furthermore, without being formally disavowed, a significant number of priests took up paid employment, discreetly and often on a part-time basis. They viewed work as a means of maintaining a presence, of being close to people, and of carrying out their apostolate amongst the working class. However, the unresolved issue was that of full-time work, the life of a worker, sharing in the workers’ condition, the possibility of involvement in the trade union movement, social struggles and liberation movements – a temporal commitment which constituted the main source of complication and friction between the Catholic hierarchy and the P.O.
Initiatives by the P.O.s.
Staff who were still at work on the 1ster In March 1954 (there were about fifty of them), they considered themselves to have broken with the Church as an institution and declared this publicly. From 1957 onwards, a few of them took the initiative to form a group consisting mainly of P.O. members who had remained celibate, committed to the working-class condition, manual labour, trade unionism and a life of daily militant labour. From 1957 to 1965, they organised national meetings, with varying numbers of participants (from 10 to 20), to which they would sometimes invite one or other member of the institutional Church. In June 1964, fifteen of them sent a long «Letter to the Fathers of the Council». Later, these P.O.s would be labelled, or would define themselves, as «rebels», whilst the others did not describe themselves as «submissive». For various reasons in different circles, the term «rebels» came to be used more widely from the 1980s onwards.
Several of the P.O.s who had temporarily left work on the 1ster In March 1954, they did not comply with the disciplinary decision of the hierarchy, whilst nevertheless accepting it. Between 1954 and 1965, their tenacity kept alive the hope of a revival, fuelled by the prospect of a council. Very soon, a majority of them came together, along with a few bishops, to work towards restoring this way of living out the priesthood and to plan delegations to Rome. For the most part, they quickly found work in small or medium-sized businesses, with the consent of their bishop. They made several delegations to Rome; one delegation was finally received by John XXIII in February 1960. By the end of 1964, there were around forty P.O.s, most of whom were from the first generation prior to 1954. To remain faithful to the actual history, and to avoid a biased, romanticised or ideological interpretation, it would be preferable to refer to them as ‘dissidents within the Church’ and ‘dissidents outside the Church’.
The Second Vatican Council
In the Catholic Church, this period was, of course, marked by the major event of the Second Vatican Council (which opened on 11 October 1962 and closed on 8 December 1965). On 25 January 1959, John XXIII, who had been elected Pope three months earlier, announced his intention to convene a council before an audience of stunned cardinals. Without regarding France as the centre of the world, one should draw a parallel between John XXIII’s intention and the fact that he had been the Vatican’s representative in France, in Paris, from late 1944 to 1953, where he witnessed all the apostolic endeavours taking place, even though he was very reserved regarding the Priests of the Orient. It is also worth noting the considerable impact of John XXIII’s encyclical «Peace on Earth», in 1963.
On 23 October 1965, during the final session of the Second Vatican Council, the French episcopate, meeting in Rome in plenary assembly, « proposes, with the Holy See’s approval, to authorise a small number of priests to work full-time in factories and on building sites, following appropriate preparation. This authorisation to undertake paid manual labour, which is currently very limited in number, is intended to apply for an initial period of three years… This initiative will fall under the responsibility of the Episcopal Committee for the Workers’ Mission, which is authorised, on behalf of the episcopate, to oversee this initial phase. ». On 7 December 1965, on the eve of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, the decree on the ministry and life of priests was promulgated. This decree (Chapter 2, paragraph 8) mentions, amongst the various functions of priests, « those who do manual labour and share the working-class experience ».
Ancel and the Second Vatican Council
Alfred Ancel certainly devoted a great deal of himself, with humility and determination, to the work of the Second Vatican Council. In 1964, he was president-elect of the Episcopal Commission for the Working World (of which he had been a member since 1950) and a member of the Select Episcopal Committee of the Bishops’ Mission for Workers (an institution founded in 1957). It was in this capacity that he drafted notes on the work of priests. Following the vicissitudes of a Directoire for the P.O. (1950–1951), which was ultimately abandoned, Ancel had humbly stepped back from the P.O. collective, whilst continuing to believe in this form of priestly life.
At the crucial moment when the French episcopate revived the Pastoral Orientations (1964–1965), it seems likely that Alfred Ancel, whilst acting discreetly, was one of the key figures behind this development. Furthermore, like other bishops of the Council, he was also motivated by the vision of a servant and poor Church (see his pamphlet The Church and Poverty (published in 1964). Despite his strong reservations about priests devoting time to such work, Ancel did not question the idea of priests carrying out manual labour. DaIn a letter dated 1978, he would describe, in a more nuanced and favourable light, what had become of his views on the priest’s involvement in the labour movement.
1966–1974: a new boom for the P.O.
1966–1967–1968 marked «an initial three-year period» for the deployment of priests to work amongst the working class, in accordance with the decision of the French episcopate. Direct responsibility for launching this initiative was entrusted to a «select team» appointed by the Episcopal Committee for the Workers’ Mission. This team consisted of five priests (an official coordinator; a priest from the 1940s and the Paris Mission; the general secretary of the Workers’ Mission; a representative from the Mission de France; and a representative of religious institutes and orders).
Getting started in the workplace
In 1966, the list of priests authorised to work as labourers was drawn up diocese by diocese, in accordance with criteria established by the Workers’ Mission. This official list contained 52 names, including one priest ordained before 1954, and amongst them were eight priests from El Prado. They were divided into around fifteen teams. Several of the 52 candidates had already gained some experience of working-class life in various ways. For this first deployment, there were more volunteers than the limited number envisaged, which caused some frustration.
On 4 October 1966, a final preparatory session for these priests took place at the seminary for adult vocations in Morsang-sur-Orge. Ancel was called upon to lead the spiritual retreat there. He began as follows: « I would like to express my joy at seeing you all gathered here. We have suffered greatly, all of us who, in the past, were forced to stop our work; but it is a source of joy for us and gives us immense hope to see that what was begun yesterday will continue tomorrow. Admittedly, the approach will not be the same, but the underlying impetus is the same. Through a priestly presence right at the heart of the working world, we wish to show the workers in a tangible way that the whole Church, with its laypeople and its priests, stands with them. We also wish to bring them the message of Christ—in its entirety, of course, but in such a way that they can understand and accept it. A presence as a sign, a presence of evangelisation: this is what the first worker-priests sought, and this is what you too seek, as you are about to take up your work. The second wave follows the first; it is the same tide. »
The Workers’ Mission and the P.O.s.
In late 1965, the decision by the Church hierarchy to allow priests to return to manual labour came as quite a surprise to those within the Church who did not believe it would happen. However, as soon as the new teams of «priests at work» were set up, between 1966 and 1968, reactions were varied and long-lasting. Within the P.O. movement, some were more receptive to the hierarchy’s decision to «resume» work, whilst others were more concerned about the conditions of this «resumption» (which some viewed as «compromises»). Furthermore, many felt more strongly than others that they were under the supervision of the Workers« Mission; quite soon, too, the new teams found themselves constrained by the established arrangements. Even though the main objective had been achieved (being able to work as a labourer), the operational arrangements put in place could appear, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the location, as supervision rather than support. Clarification came gradually, accelerated by the events of 1968. »Priests at work« was the official term adopted by the hierarchy, but elsewhere people continued to use the term »worker-priests’.
Despite an agreement reached on 30 May 1966 between the Mission ouvrière and the Mission de France, the bishops’ decision to launch this initiative, entrusted to the Mission ouvrière, led to tensions—some of them more or less simmering—between these two Church institutions, amongst the P.O. members themselves, and also to an internal crisis within the Mission de France in 1969 following the resignation of its Central Team. In 2014, in the press pack presented to mark the 60th anniversary of the apostolic constitution granted by Pope Pius XII to this Church institution (1erAugust 1954), the French Mission itself reported on this internal crisis as follows: « 1965: Pope Paul VI authorised the resumption of the workers’ priests’ movement against a backdrop of conflict between the Mission Ouvrière and the Mission de France. 1969: The Council of the Mission de France tendered its resignation. It felt that the episcopate was not listening to its views on its pre-eminent role as a missionary instrument of the Church in France. »
The upheavals of 1968
And then came the shockwave of the social movements of spring 1968 (notably «Workers» May’). That year, at Whitsun 1968, there were plans to take stock of the first three years, but, given the events, this was postponed until All Saints’ Day. This national gathering brought together in a single collective the former P.O. teams who had refused to conform to the Church (those who had left their posts on 1er March 1954 and had subsequently returned to salaried employment in agreement with their respective bishops) and the new teams sent out in 1966. At the end of the meeting, eight P.O. delegates were elected to the new «National Team of Worker-Priests» (abbreviated to E.N.P.O.).
Between 1969 and 1973, the E.N.P.O. evolved into an autonomous body comprising P.O.s elected by the regions (one per region or specific group). In 1971, a Synod of Bishops was held in Rome, focusing on two main themes: the ministerial priesthood and justice in the world; the E.N.P.O. submitted a contribution which was published by the Workers« Mission: “ Worker-priests: their experiences and their views on the ministerial priesthood ». In 1973, whilst maintaining links with and participating in various Church bodies in France, the E.N.P.O. was established, for practical reasons, as an association under the 1901 Act (Official Journal of 8–9 October 1973), with the canonical status of each P.O. remaining that of a priest of a diocese, a priest of the Mission de France, or a member of a religious order or institute. Then, in 1974, the E.N.P.O. proceeded for the first time to elect a P.O. as secretary, recognised as such by the ecclesiastical authorities.
Against the very particular backdrop of the post-1968 era, characterised by criticism of institutions, various movements swept through the French clergy and many priests left the ministry. The years 1969–1974 saw the arrival of new P.O. members, whose numbers grew steadily over the years, and at the same time an expansion of their geographical reach (into the regions, most departments, small and medium-sized towns, and rural areas). They joined the E.N.P.O., whose primary concern was not the social status of the clergy or the institutional transformation of the Church. Almost all the P.O.s were involved in trade unionism, either with the CGT or the CFDT. By 1974, there were around 750 P.O.s in France, including some sixty from Prado. Then, from around 1975 to 1985, this was, so to speak, the heyday of the P.O. (we were numerous then and in fine fettle!), a period in which it also seemed right not to become, within the Church, «a separate priestly body», to use the phrase employed at the time. To a lesser extent, the P.O. movement developed in Belgium, Italy and Spain.
Ancel after the Second Vatican Council
Following Vatican II, Alfred Ancel continued to chair the Episcopal Commission for the Working World (CEMO); he was re-elected as its chairman in 1967. He was also one of the five bishops comprising the Episcopal Committee for the Workers’ Mission (the CEMO), which, on 29 June 1965, signed the foreword to a document that was significant at the time, the priesthood in the mission to the working class, drawn up by the National Secretariat of the Mission Ouvrière. On 27 October 1968, Ancel co-signed, alongside Marius Maziers, a Letter from the bishops of the Commission for the Working World and the Committee for the Mission to Workers to the Catholics of France. In 1972, it was a « Reflections by the CEMO in its dialogue with Christian activists who have embraced socialism ».
In 1971, Alfred Ancel became involved in pastoral care for migrants. Back in the 1930s, he had already been paying particular attention to Italian families living in squalid shacks in the Gerland neighbourhood. In this final phase of his remarkable journey, he showed great concern for the various immigrant communities. At the many meetings he attended, he encouraged participants to gain a better understanding of the issues at stake in migration. In the final years of his life, he was a constant presence amongst the North African community in the «Place du Pont» neighbourhood, living in a humble flat in an old block of flats.
Following the death of Alfred Ancel on 11 September 1984, Henri Krasucki, then General Secretary of the CGT, wrote to Cardinal Decourtray, Archbishop of Lyon: « I know that, in him, the man of the Church was one and the same as his thoughts and actions. I respect that truth. For a long time, I have known and admired the story of his life, his understanding of the world, of the humble and the oppressed. His perspective on the world of work as it is, and on the labour movement, is particularly close to my heart, without, however, diminishing the scope of his work and his vision of humanity […] He was a trailblazer of great stature, opening up paths which I am convinced have a bright future ahead of them » (telegram dated 13 September 1984).
Ancel’s life story has remained true to his remarkable letter of 1949 (see the beginning of this article). This letter served as a roadmap, in particular by drawing a bold parallel between Antoine Chevrier’s conversion and mission at Christmas 1856 and the publication in 1848 of the Communist Manifesto (at that time, there was no political party by that name). In Ancel’s letter, one can discern: 1- his desire to live as a bishop amongst the working class (which he would, in a sense, achieve from 1954 to 1959), without claiming to be a «worker-bishop»; 2- his conviction that the life and charisma of Antoine Chevrier, founder of the Prado, represented an opportunity for the spiritual renewal of the Church, a free gift to the whole Church; 3- his focus on social issues, his presence amongst the poor, his interest in the study of Marxism, and his genuine dialogue with communist activists and leaders; 4- his unwavering commitment, grounded in an intense spiritual life, to a Church open to the poor.
What does the future hold for all this?
Alfred Ancel died in September 1984, five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. The following years saw the break-up of the USSR and the collapse of the communist systems in the countries of Eastern Europe. One might therefore think that Ancel’s objectives are now outdated. Furthermore, the heyday of the worker-priests was half a century ago (the years 1975–1985). The world and societies have changed considerably; that much is clear. This process is not yet over, and we must expect the unexpected! The history of the Workers’ Mission and the worker-priests – like that of the Catholic Church – is not without its flaws. But we must not forget or disregard the spiritual, Christ-centred and liberating dimension which, since the 1940s, has been at the heart of the missionary concerns of those earlier periods.
Today, just as in the past, many people are exploited, oppressed, excluded, despised, mistreated and forgotten. The powerful, the wealthy and their empires continue to impose their system of domination. There will always be a need for liberation movements. Here, we might think of Gustavo Gutiérrez, who passed away on 22 October 2024. He is recognised as «the father of liberation theology», which he promoted as a liberating spirituality – something far more revolutionary than progressive theologies. The history and existence of the Workers’ Mission and the worker-priests may be seen as one of the signs of the mystery of God incarnate, which transcends the Churches. Christianity can thus be seen as a way of life or a lifestyle (this is even the title of a book by Christoph Theobald: Christianity as a lifestyle) and an insurrection-resurrection of the human. One can also view the human future as a matter of great religious, theological and spiritual significance. There will always be a calling, despite opposing forces, to serve the human future, to bring life into being and to be reborn, to be co-creators of a good and righteous world in the wake of the splendid seven-day poem of creation, which opens the mythical account of the origins (Genesis chapters 1 to 11) and the entire Bible, by adopting the manner of Jesus and being inspired by his spirit. Quite a programme!
15 January 2025
Françis Gayral – Retired worker-priest
If you notice any errors or significant omissions, please bring them to the attention of the author of this article, who will be happy to receive your feedback.
Sources relating to Alfred Ancel
- Priests and Workers: A Dual Loyalty Put to the Test, 1944–1969, Charles Suaud – Nathalie Viet-Depaule, Karthala, 2004 (pages 12–13; 447–463; 465–488; 555–557; 561–562).
- Biography of Alfred Ancel by Yves Musset, in *Le MAITRON*, the monumental biographical dictionary of the French social and labour movements.
- Five years with the workers, Alfred Ancel, *Le Centurion*, Paris, 1963.
- A Life with Christ: Alfred Ancel (1898–1984), a dossier compiled by Yves Musset in 2005; an unpublished document focusing mainly on the period at Gerland.
- Alfred Ancel: A Man Dedicated to the Gospel, 1898–1984, Mgr Olivier de Berranger, Centurion, 1988. Extracts from this book are featured as supplementary material for the Ancel exhibition in Lyon (14 September – 31 October 2024).