Wresinski and the Church of his Time – Etienne Fouilloux

Posted on 10 June 2017

When the Poorest Became Partners in History – June 8, 2017

Etienne Fouilloux is a historian, biographer, and professor emeritus at the Universite Lumiere de Lyon.

Having remarked certain limits in the previously published biographies of Joseph Wresinski, particularly with regards to the diversity of sources used, Etienne Fouilloux brings his perspective as a historian to bear on the character and life of Joseph Wresinski. Looking particularly at the way Wresinski interacted with the religious world during the first forty years of his life prior to the decisive shock of his arrival in Noisy-le-Grand. From the Angevine Christianity to the “Picardy Siberia,” from the experience of the army and the war, to his discovery of the world of workers through the Maison de France. “The goal is not, of course, to reduce his itinerary to just these few stops, but rather to show how these moments contributed to his training and to his religious evolution, all comparing and contrasting with the originality of his own vocation.”