Still fresh from celebrating the victory in the French volleyball championship, an athlete from Saint-Nazaire Volleyball Atlantique she made the right decision to make a change in her life by entering a convent. From the field to the cloister, a decidedly counter-current choice, as the newspaper Avvenire writes. The player in question is not a complete stranger but the team captain, Ludovic Duee. This is why the news caused such a stir in France. He entered the convent in the abbey of the canons of Lagrasse, a municipality of just 624 inhabitants in the Aude department in the Occitanie region.
Some will think that the choice, albeit disruptive, came at the end of his career. But no. Dueé is only 32 years old and could potentially still have a few seasons at the highest level ahead of him. But evidently that life, although beautiful and, in his case, full of satisfaction, was no longer for him. In an interview he says that he has always been Catholic, but limited himself to the “minimum wage”. The turning point, if it can be defined as such, came with the pandemic, which led him to ask himself many questions about existence and the meaning of life. From there, from that search for answers, the encounter with the Abbey of Santa Maria di Lagrasse. An experience that, from what he says, changed his life. He explains that he no longer saw God as a judging supernatural entity, always with a gun in his hand, but as a “loving father”. A paradigm shift which, together with prayer and reflections, led him to mature his choice of faith.
How did your teammates take it? “We will love you just the same too if you’re crazy“, they told him jokingly. Someone, however, added that “is not serious“. In short, respect and understanding, but up to a certain point. Many will not be surprised, given that they already called him the “priest”.
Ludovic’s new life
In the diocese of Carcassonne-Narbonne, southern France, the canons are engaged in a social apostolate: they visit hospitals, they are active with young people, they accompany migrants to reception centres. Duée will be a “postulant” within the community. Initially he will live among the canons as a layman, starting to familiarize himself with the rule of Saint Augustine. Afterwards he will be able to begin the novitiate for a year, wearing the habit of the community.
If the path continues, after five years of studies (including philosophy and theology) he will be able to take vows and become, to all intents and purposes, a canon.
