C’est ce qu’on disait de Montréal, voilà quelques décennies, je ne sais plus si c’est encore le cas, mais cette photo, illustre l’emprise qu’avait l’église catholique sur Montréal et le Québec jusqu’à la fin des années soixante, du haut du clocher on sentait presque l’emprise qu’avait la religion sur le peuple, jeune j’ai été servant de messe, pas le choix, c’était obligatoire dans ma famille…ma première école, il y avait encore des Frères qui enseignaient, il y avait du bon et aussi du moins bon dans tout cela, enfin je n,ai pas l’intention de partir un débat religieux…tout simplement que cette photo fait resurgir un passé pas si lointain, mais tellement éloigné en même temps…le temps où on devait aller à la messe le premier vendredi du mois, faire le carême, se rappelier l’évangile ou l’épître du dimanche…mon père nous questionnait sur cela durant le dîner…

Not sure about the translation, but that’s what Montreal was known for a while ago, the Catholic religion had a large say on the way people in Montreal and Quebec were living back to the late sixties, and there was always an impressive church, with the bell towers running pretty far above the surroundings, maybe a way to remind us that the church was overseeing us…in my youth, I had to be an altar boy, no choice there, my parents were quite involved with the our church…and it was kind of an obligation to do that, in my first year of school, there were still some Fathers teaching, soon after the school became a bit less under the church grasp but still very ‘catholic’, we had to go to church on the first Friday each month, the fasting period before Easter was much more respected, no meat on Fridays, and a house rule, my Father would question us during Sunday dinner about what was the Gospel topic or what the priest has talk about…not easy…so this pic kind of brought back a lot of that when I saw it again…

Montréal., 1981, deux clochers d’église / Two Church Steeples, #038-08_1981-11-xx-R