It's finding the right turn of phrase...
So yesterday. Yes. Yesterday.
The church here is ploughing full-steam ahead with the process of calling a pastor (with me pushing hard behind !).
That involves two documents. 1. Projet d'église. 2. Cahier de charges pastoral
(These would roughly translate into a church profile and a job description.)
Over the course of some weeks it has dawned on me that these documents would not materialise without significant investment from my part. So yesterday morning was "Cahier de Charges" morning.
I had two examples to guide me. One beautiful one from a church I know and one much more humbly presented one from a church I know of, but don't know personally.
OK. So off I went. Cut. Paste. Rewrite. Take the outline. Write your own blurbs. Etc. Etc. Etc.
The trouble with writing in French is that you can't just write in English with French words.
It needs to find a way more French to say the stuff. And projects are boys, churches are girls, the church is singular so it does things. A group is a single boy too, as is the government and the country. The police is a single girl. And so on... And it makes your head hurt.
Another problem is that to do this really I need the Projet d'Eglise.
I contact my faithful friends and advisors in Provence and the Cévennes and get back a projet d'église apparently for our church. But it's scrambled and I can't open it.
But hey ! - if it's a projet d'église for our church that should mean it's in my gmail account somewhere, because in theory it has been sent to all the church council, agreed by the church council and everything.
So begins advanced google searching. Eventually I find a document entitled something strange but which could be a projet d'église for our church.
And it is written like this. Lots of bold print. QUITE A BIT OF PRINT IN CAPITALS SOME OF WHICH IS BOLD TOO, and lots of quotations of the heidelberg catechism (4).
Hey, one does not reinvent the wheel, even if one does not like the colour !
I send it to my friend and advisor. He says "Well obviously that won't do ! Try this" and sends back a readable copy of the first document. I have never seen it before and it will need lots of changing before it resembles the church now (there's a lot about looking for suitable premises etc,) but it gives a starting point.
Ah ! Time to scuttle off to Bordeaux for my 3pm appointment.
With a guy who needs my help in writing 10 letters to all kinds of people in officialdom.
The waiter was very kind when he saw me quietly crying into my handkerchief.
At 4pm catch the bus back to Pessac for my 5pm appointment with the doctor.
Vaccination ! The doctor made me laugh. Have I told you he's exactly like Louis de Funès ?
Then home for pancakes and an early bed.
The church here is ploughing full-steam ahead with the process of calling a pastor (with me pushing hard behind !).
That involves two documents. 1. Projet d'église. 2. Cahier de charges pastoral
(These would roughly translate into a church profile and a job description.)
Over the course of some weeks it has dawned on me that these documents would not materialise without significant investment from my part. So yesterday morning was "Cahier de Charges" morning.
I had two examples to guide me. One beautiful one from a church I know and one much more humbly presented one from a church I know of, but don't know personally.
OK. So off I went. Cut. Paste. Rewrite. Take the outline. Write your own blurbs. Etc. Etc. Etc.
The trouble with writing in French is that you can't just write in English with French words.
It needs to find a way more French to say the stuff. And projects are boys, churches are girls, the church is singular so it does things. A group is a single boy too, as is the government and the country. The police is a single girl. And so on... And it makes your head hurt.
Another problem is that to do this really I need the Projet d'Eglise.
I contact my faithful friends and advisors in Provence and the Cévennes and get back a projet d'église apparently for our church. But it's scrambled and I can't open it.
But hey ! - if it's a projet d'église for our church that should mean it's in my gmail account somewhere, because in theory it has been sent to all the church council, agreed by the church council and everything.
So begins advanced google searching. Eventually I find a document entitled something strange but which could be a projet d'église for our church.
And it is written like this. Lots of bold print. QUITE A BIT OF PRINT IN CAPITALS SOME OF WHICH IS BOLD TOO, and lots of quotations of the heidelberg catechism (4).
Hey, one does not reinvent the wheel, even if one does not like the colour !
I send it to my friend and advisor. He says "Well obviously that won't do ! Try this" and sends back a readable copy of the first document. I have never seen it before and it will need lots of changing before it resembles the church now (there's a lot about looking for suitable premises etc,) but it gives a starting point.
Ah ! Time to scuttle off to Bordeaux for my 3pm appointment.
With a guy who needs my help in writing 10 letters to all kinds of people in officialdom.
The waiter was very kind when he saw me quietly crying into my handkerchief.
At 4pm catch the bus back to Pessac for my 5pm appointment with the doctor.
Vaccination ! The doctor made me laugh. Have I told you he's exactly like Louis de Funès ?
Then home for pancakes and an early bed.
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