Le Sillon
("The Furrow", or "The Path") was a French political and religious movement founded by Marc Sangnier (1873–1950) which existed from 1894 to 1910. It aimed to bring Catholicism into a greater conformity with French Republican and socialist ideals, in order to provide an alternative to Marxism and other anticlerical labour movements. History In 1891, Pope Leo XIII called for the Church to adopt a more open involvement in social issues in his encyclical Rerum novarum. The opportunity created by this policy led liberals within the church in France to hope for an improved relationship between the Church and the Republic. As a result, Le Sillon was founded in 1894, and began publication of their journal of the same name, edited by Sangnier. Le Sillon called for a large-scale project to reconcile the labour movement with Christianity. Sangnier wrote "Le Sillon is designed to make France a democratic republic. This is not a Catholic movement, in that its purpose is not to make work available to the bishops and priests to help them in their own ministry. is a secular movement, which does not affect the fact that it is also a deeply religious movement." In 1905 Sangnier set up a