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With the debate that emerged following the reassignment of a Muslim teacher wearing the hijab, some speakers drew a parallel between the prohibition of religious symbols among teachers contained in Law 21 and the shelving of religious vestments by Quebec clergy in the 1960s and 1970s.
The columnist Jean-François Lisée recently wrote in these pages that it was “colossal social pressure” that forced consecrated persons to put away cassocks and cornettes (“Laïcité et obscurantisme”, Le Devoir, December 15). Françoise David and Michel Seymour then replied that it was rather the Second Vatican Council that would be in question (“On some assertions about Law 21”, Le Devoir, December 22). What is it really?
It is true that the religious costume was abandoned en masse among Catholic religious in the 1960s, not only in Quebec, but also everywhere in the West. The holding of the last council between 1962 and 1965 may lead us to think of a causal link. But that's not quite it. Historian Kathleen Holscher has shown how social pressures led 23 states south of the border to legislate a ban on religious symbols in schools during the 1940s and 1950s.
For those who promoted dress neutrality in the classroom, the teacher should be a model, an embodiment of democratic values. The costume worn by Catholic nuns working across the country was seen as an obstacle to the spread of these ideals. What did Rome do? She allowed the sisters to teach in secular dress.
Global secularization
One could argue that the United States is a unique case. But everywhere in the West, a strong current of secularization made itself felt at this time. Even in France, the ancient eldest daughter of the Church, vocations have already begun to decline. It is for this reason that in 1952, Pope Pius XII asked female religious communities to simplify their costumes so as not to harm recruitment. On June 27, 1961, Archbishop Paul-Émile Léger of Montreal, for his part, published a letter asking the priests of his diocese to no longer wear the cassock in town, given that “mentalities and ways of life [have ] have changed so much in recent years”.
It would be wrong to say that the Second Vatican Council played no role. The Perfectae Caritatis decree on the adaptation and renewal of religious life, adopted on October 28, 1965, requires that the costume be "appropriate to the circumstances of time and place as well as to the needs of the apostolate". The following year, Paul VI invites all religious communities throughout the world to meet for chapters of renewal. It is at this time that most of their members choose a simplified habit which, for many, quickly gives way to an entirely secular habit.
Some communities went very far, too far for Rome's taste, which called them to order in the early 1970s. inappropriate and would risk shocking an increasingly diverse population.
Personalist movement
The decision of the council fathers is part of a particular context. We have spoken of the process of secularization which affected the West at this time and which accelerated with the new values borne by post-war prosperity. But within the institution itself, the personalist movement, which had a significant echo in Quebec, represents a non-negligible trend. It promotes the primacy of the person, free to make choices as an adult.
We are therefore moving from a Church-institution, where authority comes from above, to a much more horizontal Church-community in which lay people and religious maintain much more egalitarian relations. From this perspective, clothing becomes a useless, even harmful element of distinction. It remains of course, as Perfectae Caritatis continues to affirm, a sign of consecration. But this sign should no longer be thrown in the face of believers.
To paraphrase the sociologist Max Weber, the Church moves from an ethic of conviction — the message is announced, regardless of the availability of the recipient — to an ethic of responsibility — the message is adapted to be better received. As Father Alonzo-M. Hamelin in the review Life of Religious Communities in 1965: “In the apostolic life, testimony has a predominant value; but for this testimony to carry, it must not only be perceptible, but also be accepted by those to whom it is addressed. »
On the question of the religious habit (and many others), the Catholic Church has therefore adapted to a long-term secularization movement. It responded to Western societies asking for a reduction in the presence of religion in the public space. To speak of a “colossal social pressure” exerted on the institution is not an exaggeration.
