It is always a happy experience for the shepherd of a diocese to read a record of priestly effort for the conquest of souls, and to see proposed an apostolic way of life which is adapted to the needs of a world that presents a problem of ever-increasing urgency to the Catholic apostolate. I cannot adequately express my thanks to Father Michonneau, and to Father Chery, his editor, for their portrayal of the parish activity accomplished by a priestly unit at Sacre Coeur de Colombes for the past five years or more. Truly this is an account which should renew and guide the apostolic zeal of those whose mission it is to lead our people on the search for a life that is completely Christian and also compatible with the actual conditions around them. This book is indeed timely. For years zealous priests have been meditating on the grave words of Pope Pius XI, who said that the scandal of the nineteenth century had been the loss of the working class by the Church. For years now this meditation has been bearing fruit in a large number of activities to which the whole Christian community owes in great part the renewal of its vitality. And these activities, by their very success, call for a deeper enquiry into the problem of winning the common man for Christ. The religious effort itself of the last twenty years in France has raised the questions to which Father Michonneau's labours give a direct answer. It would be a mistake to think that this volume is concerned only with finding a new clerical technique. Father Michonneau's last wish is to be an instigator of rash changes; he wants, rather, to face squarely the problem of bringing the Gospel into the lives of our people. His constant concern is to find more effective ways of rechristianizing people, and especially the working class of our cities. Everywhere groups of active young working-class Christians have been formed, and these Christians, as they grow up, are going to found an ever-increasing number of Christian homes, which will often be admirable centres of faith and devotion. In the degree, however, that Catholic Action bears fruit, it becomes increasingly clear that a somewhat different task must be undertaken-not opposed to Catholic Action, but complementing it. We can no longer ignore the fact that these new Christians, born of Catholic Action, must face a world which is practically pagan, one in which there is almost nothing truly Christian. We cannot conceive of a spirituality abstracted from the contacts and influences of daily life, work, pleasures, housing, the common opinion of friends, the outpourings of the cinema, the press and the wireless. Sooner or later the problem of reconciling life and spirituality arises. And the crisis is especially marked when a young Christian marries and establishes a home. From that moment he should be able to settle himself in a community which is Christian, and is therefore capable of absorbing his whole life and of filling it with the light of grace and faith in Christ. Because this is so difficult we have in many cases to admit failure. We are drawn, inevitably, to the heart of the problem, which is the rechristianizing of the life of our people at its source. Even though Catholic Action is a privileged instrument of this task, we have to admit that only the parish, the local and the universal seat of the Redemption, can become the adequate means. It is this conviction which has been directing all the pastoral labours of Father Michonneau.