Fr Sébastien Vaast sj, who has been on mission in Reunion Island for six years, is a companion of the Church 2.0 and chaplain of the University of Saint-Denis. He presents this initiative, which has met with a great response from young people.

A real and a virtual place

Born in the wake of the Synod of Youth, deployed with the confinement, Church 2.0 is a Church initiative that reaches out to young people with a vocabulary and a way of speaking that touches them and tools - social networks - that renew interaction. Church 2.0 is first of all a real place: a chapel that we have renovated with the young people and which benefits from all the digital technology (tablet, lighting, video broadcasting, etc.). And it is also a virtual place, because we are very active on social networks with more than 22,000 subscribers on Facebook and 4,000 on Instagram.

Using the cultural references of young people

To reach young people via digital means, we have a whole range of proposals: video "teasers" to make them want to join our proposals, using their cultural references (Koh-Lanta, Mission Impossible, Squid Game...); once a month, the "Question to the Monsignor", which answers a question asked by a young person; short films or "covers" that take up well-known religious songs, with a beautiful video clip, to help them pray, and finally MOOCS, small training modules with a slightly offbeat tone, in a maximum of 3 minutes. We also broadcast live masses, allowing those who are at a distance to share their intentions.

With the help of Christian "influencers"

In our videos, we give the floor to Christian "influencers". The aim of these videos is the evangelisation of young people by young people. For example, we make videos with a young Christian leader who has published the book Vivre sa jeunesse autrement (Joseph Gotte), with the singer Missty, who is very popular here, or with a footballer. For me, a video of these young people is worth ten videos of Fr. Sébastien: they have the right language and the testimony of their conversion is able to touch other young people.

An authenticity test

In my opinion, youth is the world where adult words are put to the test of their authenticity. We must reach young people where they are and not try to impose our convictions but, in the name of our convictions, to create the conditions of possibility so that the other, in his or her particular history, also has access to meaning. There is a tendency to make well-lit motorways with magnificent road signs, but sometimes the traffic misses them. But the Church must be where the traffic is. Thanks to social networks, young people who were no longer connected to the Church can reconnect with it.

Watch the Church 2.0 videos

Sébastien Vaast sj (Réunion Island)