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Three questions….to Jacques Gaillot
 
 

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Three questions….to Jacques Gaillot

For ten years now you have been preaching in Partenia, a virtual diocese…how do you assess the situation?
 
regarde l'océan

On January 13, 1996 I wrote my first letter on the Partenia website.

To be on Internet was first a dream for me. The dream of a child who is walking on the sand along a beach and looks at the sea. He feels alone and weak facing the immensity of the ocean. 

 
Suddenly was the desire to communicate with all the people on earth wherever they are. To be on the Internet is also an adventure, a beautiful one for me. I took the risk to be received by men and women whose faces I don't know.
Partenia evokes an unknown and remote country.

Partenia opens a space of freedom where you can meet and speak to anybody just like in a public square.
During 10 years the web site has been maintained. It has been developed and transformed. Presently it is translated into seven languages thanks to wonderful volunteers.

How to assess it?
A new world is under formation, beyond boundaries of countries, cultures, religions and personal positions… 
If you choose diversity you will receive one hundred time more. 
Hierarchical differences between humans tend to smooth out. The distance diminishes between those who decide and those who execute. 
 
During these ten years how will you describe your relationship with the institution (the Church) and do you think that your relationship with Rome is improving?
 
de l'oubli For Rome, the Gaillot affair is closed. It has sunk into oblivion and there is almost no relation with Rome. The Roman forecast is: no improvement. 

For the French bishops, there has been a bright spell in 2000 with the action of the President of the Bishop Conference. But it had no following. Each time that John-Paul II came to France I was invited. The cardinal of Lyon asked me to preach a retreat for the priests of his diocese. With these few exceptions, I don't have the opportunity to meet with the bishops. My life is elsewhere. In this aspect the forecast is: no change.
 
In another century, Partenia was a diocese …in the desert…would you like to continue like that or would you like that the hierarchy proposes you another diocese in France?
 
Partenia has no frontier. It gathers women and men who are excluded and live on the fringe of society. I have been pushed out of the institution because I was on the side of this kind of people. I stay with them. It is my mission. I could not have found and fulfilled it without the help of my Church. I am fully satisfied and my heart is filled with joy. 

dehors des murs


(Interviewed by Olivier Galzi)