70

Is the Catholic world interested in the city and its growth? During the “Thirty Glorious Years” urbanization gradually became an issue for Church authorities and many activist movements. The adaptation of the parish network is undoubtedly its most visible form: the construction of new places of worship on the outskirts of cities testifies to real urban planning, inspired by both missionary tradition and the new urban context. But relations between the city and Catholicism were not limited to that. Sociological studies in Catholic circles, work by pastoral officials to build a new form of city-related diocesan governance, or the involvement of Christian activists in urbanization at various levels contribute to the hypothesis that the city served as a laboratory for the participation of Catholics in the modernization of French society.