Religious Practitioners. Because of the strong influence of the Catholic Church, priests are the most important religious practitioners at the local level.
Characteristic stone buildings in the village of Lot. Privacy is strongly valued in French households.
The village priest was historically a major presence in rural areas. The triad of priest, mayor, and schoolmaster was a feature of village life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Strong anticlerical beliefs, particularly in southern areas, challenged this status. A shortage of priests has reached a crisis point. Reflecting this shortage as well as the decline in religious participation, few village churches hold regular services or have a village priest. People must travel to towns for mass.
France has a variety of religious practices. Immigrants bring new forms of both established and folk religious practices to urban areas. For Muslim immigrants in particular, religious practice is an important way to preserve one's identity in an assimilationist society. In rural areas, folk healers and diviners are consulted. New Age religions are thriving, and herbalists, massage healers, and other practitioners are growing in influence
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