Congrès eucharistique international 2008. Nation et catholicisme culturel au Québec. Signification d’une recomposition religio-politique

Abstract

This article explores the Church’s recent institutional and symbolic re-articulations with regard to the society and nation of Quebec. Its observations were collected during the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress, and over the course of an investigation led by the authors on the state of different facets of contemporary catholic practices (church involvement, attendance at Mass, marriage and baptism statistics). Tying field observations to statistical tendencies, this article takes a novel approach to better comprehend the evolution of the Catholic Church in its relations to Quebec society. In conjunction with the continued decline in catholic expression in Quebec since the Quiet Revolution, the shaping of a new religio-political configuration has been noted, at the centre of which the Catholic Church seeks to determine its current place and involvement.