Paper short abstract:

The ethnography of workshops of “conversion to the earth" developed by an institution of research and theological teaching in Paris, will allow us to question the ritual dimension of these spiritual exercises, to understand how the inner transformation of the participants operates, carrying new forms of relationship to the Creation.

Paper long abstract:

In 2015 was published Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si'. In this encyclical the Pope enjoins the Church to be sensitive to the "cry of the earth and the cry of the poor". This text, with an original style and theology, has been received differently according to the countries, the groups, and the territories. I am interested in its reception by a group of theologians and researchers in human sciences attached to the diocese of Paris who have conceived workshops of "conversion to the earth”. These workshops are being developed in parishes, dioceses and congregations throughout France and are designed as a path of conversion to Christ through a new attention to Creation, in the context of the ecological crisis.

The objective of these workshops is to bring about an inner transformation in the participants through a practice of self-description of their living conditions. Contrary to the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola (one of the sources of inspiration for these workshops), these "earthly" exercises are carried out in groups. Being myself a facilitator of these workshops, I propose to return to data drawn from my participant observation in order to question the ritual springs of this "inner transformation" which is supposed to be translated into a new sensitivity to what we depend on to live. What role does the collective practice of these exercises play in this spiritual transformation? Does it carry a ritual dimension and how is it produced? (Turns of speech, writing, prayer). The analysis of this "spiritual pragmatics" will allow us to question what the role of the ritual dimension plays in the transformation of the relations of participants to the "threatened Creation”.