Interlude: Cité Saint-Pierre

September 17-24, 2019

For the past 7 days I have been in Lourdes volunteering at the Cité Saint-Pierre. The Cité was created in the mid 1950’s to enable poorer people to undertake the pilgrimage to Lourdes. It’s a fairly sprawling complex located a short distance from the Basilica (in any case there is a shuttle for the 10 min ride there) with several housing pavilions, a common building with services and the cafeteria, and other buildings such as chapels and oratories and a very nice ‘green cathedral’ among chestnut trees for outdoor celebrations. The complex is located on the side of a hill (arguably not ideal for pilgrims in wheelchairs) in a very relaxing setting, it’s quite nice.

The Cité offers accomodation and meals to pilgrims (mostly groups) while they are here. My position was to help in the pilgrims’ cafeteria. This means being there ahead of meals to set up the space, during meals to serve and resupply, and after meals to clean up the tables and the room and prepare the next meal. In the mornings I have also been lucky enough to help with meal preparation itself. Nothing fancy, mostly putting cheese on individual plates or laying frozen items in pans, but this is done on a scale that I wasn’t used to. Our busiest meals over the weekend had over 350 guests; putting 350 slices of frozen apple pie on plates is time consuming indeed. It’s also a fairly menial job but I don’t mind; this is a reminder that every job has value.

This job was surprisingly tiring, mostly because of the long hours. On busy days the work goes from 6:45 until 9:30, then from 10:45 to 14:30, and finally from 17:30 to 21:00. These times include our own meals and are a bit shorter when there are fewer pilgrims.

In our area there are maybe 4 salaried positions, and 6 to 8 volunteers. Our roles are fairly well defined; the professionals tell us what to do and we typically follow orders, although after a few days we know most of the tasks that we are expected to accomplish. I admire the professional team for how they interact with a revolving team of volunteers – they are always patient and take the time to explain. Despite the stress of the job (particularly at meal times, with long lineups and all sorts of emergencies linked to special diets, people needing help, or shortages of some items) somehow everybody manages to keep a smile and be nice to each other. There are rare exceptions, I think I have only seen one in my week here. As for the way the restaurant is run, it could be better – on heavy days the lineups are excessive for example. My only regret as a volunteer is that we can’t really make a profound difference on anything organizational or structural that could improve things. But overall things run relatively smoothly.

Pilgrims are also super nice. I don’t know if it’s because they are catholics, but not once did I see one burst out in anger. To the contrary; people thank us, and one morning a whole delegation from the Netherlands came to the front of the cafeteria to sing us a thank-you song before boarding their bus home.

As for the volunteers, a lot of them are retired women or couples, a few men too, and a few of us are still working. Most are from France but a few from other places – Poland or Ukraine in my team. It’s also very striking that many come here every year for 2-3 weeks, and know each other from previous years. All volunteers come with their own backgrounds, life circumstances, difficulties. A very varied bunch. Some are employed in the restaurant like me or to do the dishes or work in purchasing; some clean up the residences, some do gardening tasks.

There are masses daily here – I have been to a few of them. I really like these small celebrations in an simple oratory that is no bigger than a living room, with a small community and a simple rite. Very comforting.

While I was here I also visited Lourdes – both the city and the sanctuary. Lourdes is very small city of 14,000. In the city I have seen the fort and the Maison de la Connaissance du Risque Sismique, a permanent exhibit about the risk of earthquakes in the Pyrenees that my sister contributed to; it’s very hands-on (there is an earthquake simulator) and informative. As for the sanctuary I was a bit afraid of what I would find (to be frank, these stories about the Immaculate Conception are not my thing) but the entire place is actually quite decent. I think it’s one of those places that bring the best out many people – whether it’s the pilgrims or the volunteers helping them. Whether you agree or not with its object or its expression, there is no denying that there is lots of faith here.

All said, it’s been a great week here. The Cité accepted m’y application so quickly (I only sent it from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port) that I was afraid they were accepting anybody whether there was a need or not. Not at all. The work I did here was very useful, made a smqll difference, and for me was fulfilling. Could I have asked for anything more?