Le père Phillipe Jullien est à l'initiative de la quête connectée. Midi Libre – K. H.
Il faut vivre avec son temps ! À l’église Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc, on peut désormais verser son obole en carte bancaire. Le père Philippe Jullien explique le succès de cette nouvelle quête 2.0
The collection is no longer a success! Yet it is vital for the life of a parish. The ranks of the faithful are thin at Sunday mass and the youngest do not even have a handful of coins in their pockets when the basket circulates between the rows to collect the donations. Not enough faithful, never enough donations… an inevitability ? For Father Philippe Jullien, priest of the Nîmes Est parish (1), it is rather a challenge to take up and an equation that is not so insoluble to solve…
The Wow Effect
“I have been a priest since 2008, in Calvisson before Nîmes, and since then I have continued to use modern means to evangelize. We must live the faith in our time”, says the man who describes himself as a “geek priest” and who was a trained programmer analyst and computer researcher in a company before becoming a priest. Never short of ideas to revive the faith of his followers and bring back new ones.“I like the wow effect, he says with a real sense of the formula as he opens his dual-screen smartphone to show the photos of his last candlelit mass.
A SumUp fixed on a basket. Midi Libre – K. H.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Five times more faithful
“When I arrived here, at Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc, the parish was dead”,remembers Father Jullien. Barely 35 people at mass on Sunday, average age 80. His karaoke masses have boosted attendance, “in one year, the number of faithful has increased fivefold”, he smiles. And the first Sunday of the month reserved for families (with catechism, mass and shared meal) is full. He does not hide his pleasure when parishioners whisper to him “your masses make you want to come back”.
What is the purpose of the collection ?
“The Church lives only on donations,” explains Father Philippe Jullien. The Church's resources come from the collection, the church tax and sometimes from legacies. The collection represents approximately 30% of the diocese's resources. Each parish donates 20% of the collection amounts to the bishopric. The rest is used to pay for heating, electricity, maintenance and the priest's monthly allowance. “For churches built after 1905, such as Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc built in 1914, the building belongs to the diocese, which must also pay for the work. The old churches belong to the municipalities.
But the quest remains modest in this working-class district, barely €200 per mass, while the cathedral in the city center can hope for up to €600. While it represents 30% of the resources of a struggling diocese. “With a €400,000 deficit, it may be necessary to sell some assets ?” Setting up connected baskets was therefore an obvious choice for him for “being in the world and being in the church, you must not be afraid of technology”.
30% more donations
The concept has existed for about fifteen years. Two years ago, Father Jullien initiated an experiment in three pilot parishes: Sainte-Jeanne-d'ARc, Nîmes Cathedral and Uzès Cathedral. “We had to deal with providers who were not suitable or too expensive”, he explains, presenting the model he finally came up with. A traditional wicker basket for cash donations on which a support designed with a 3D printer fixes a SumUp, a small bank card payment terminal that allows you to donate €2, €5, €10 or €20 with a simple click. “I can follow in real time on my phone”, says the geeky priest.
The three new connected baskets set up since September are already fulfilling their mission. “We are recording 30% more donations to the collection”, rejoices the priest who has also published “envelopes to collect offerings at baptisms or funerals, it's usual, but also for communions and professions of faith, which was not done before. It brings in double the collection.”
(1) Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Dominic, Our Lady of Salvation, Courbessac and Santa Cruz.