Meet Fr. Dominique Mabboux, M.S.

Where were you born and raised?

Fr. Dominique Mabboux, M.S.I was born on October 7, 1941 in Sallanches, located within the Rhône-Alpes region of east-central France, the third of eight children of a working class family. In my family the older children helped to educate the younger ones.

How did you first connect with La Salette?

The vicar of the parish advised me to seek out the La Salette Missionaries. I was just 18 years of age and went for a two-day stay. Mom and Dad were worried.

It was by chance that I met La Salette. I found that I was not able to continue my studies in the Haute-Savoie College System in my area. However I had a secret desire to become a priest in the image of my uncle, who was a Missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society and served in China.

Where were you educated?

At the Holy Mountain of La Salette, I was first impressed by Our Weeping Mother and her message. Fifteen days later, I resumed my studies at Voiteur Apostolic School in eastern France, not far from Switzerland.

I entered the La Salette Novitiate in 1961 and made my first profession as a La Salette in 1962. Thereafter I completed my philosophy at Francheville, a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. For my military service, I was assigned to the home of Pierre Liaud which welcomed needy children and young people.

I took the opportunity to study Psychology in college and obtained several degrees. I took my theology studies in Rome at the La Salette International Scholasticate where I learned Italian and developed my confidence within our congregation and the Church. I was ordained a priest in 1969.

Balancing our Finances with our Vow of Poverty

The new Provincial Team for
the French Province, with
Fr. Mabboux on far rightIn 2002, I accepted to be local treasurer for our house in La Tronche, just outside the city of Grenoble. France. In 2009 I became the Provincial Treasurer and therefore had the task of watchful guardian of Province real estate and the building up of our Province patrimony.

I was overseer of the renovation and modernization of our residences, giving priority to environment consequences and doing our part to the necessary steps to fight against global warming by utilizing proper insulation and solar panels where possible.

In 2009 my office cooperated in providing financial support for the rehabilitation of two hotel areas on the Holy Mountain of La Salette in order to better welcome our pilgrims. Of course, our vow of poverty reminds us that money is a good to be used prudently but generously, a fruit of a collective effort, and a help in our mission, designed to guarantee a secure future for our religious family and the society we serve.

In official terms, I am entrusted with the financial patrimony of our Province and also am an active member of the La Salette Economic Council.

How has the La Salette Message touched your life and ministry?

Mary’s words, "If they convert ..." has touched me deeply. This is simply a call to life, to hope, to a transformation of humanity. It is this sense of mission that I felt and experienced while I was a student in Rome. the papal decree of 7 December 1965 recognizing "appropriate pastoral ministry of labor and sharing the condition of workers hired by the priests".

Fr. Mabboux atop a peak of Mont Blanc,
the highest mountain in the Alps
– 4,808.73 meters or 15,777 ft above sea level.I became a worker-priest. As the son of a union-committed metalworker, I felt comfortable in this vocation and lifestyle. In 1973 the Missionaries of the community of Sète with Fr. Louis Buzaré, my Superior, and Fr. Louis Boffet, Bishop of Montpellier in south-central France, trusted me personally with this ministry as a “worker priest” until 2001.

This commitment was encouraged and desired by the Christians of the Island of Thau neighborhood (Sète), part of the diocese entrusted to the La Salette Missionaries since its construction. I had the honor to live twenty years with Fr. Pierre Le Roux, M.S. who recently died. I was intimately involved in the daily pastoral care of the city and engaged in the community life of the area. Our missionary presence in this area is now entrusted to a Polish community.

My ministry to people and businesses

I am faithful to my daily work with companies and then to the hospital, visiting families, my commitment to the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) – these are my choices made in the name of the Incarnation of Jesus in Nazareth. It is also a choice on behalf of the dignity of humanity, called as we La Salette are to minister to her "people", fostering and strengthening the priesthood of the People of God and supporting the prayer of the Christian community. “Mary’s people” are “my people”.

We have seen men and women in tears following sudden job losses. We had to regroup and stay together until each person found a new job through training, networking, and family solidarity. We had to look under the "stones and rocks" for new solutions for a man named Claude, who was illiterate. We helped him return to a professional school which trains adults for jobs (AFPA) and get them to lift a restriction that now allows him to get a job in his home town of Poussan.

In a sense, we are called to to ensure that "the potatoes will be planted." We are to ensure that the seed is good and well preserved in various granaries – that needy families are provided for, private or public companies maintain good working conditions, that trade unions act justly, support the work of apprentice training centers (CFA Society) and make sure that high schools for vocational education (LEP: local employment partnership) continue to listen to the aspirations of our young people— all for Mary’s fragile and needy people!


(Reprinted with permission from the French La Salette Publication, Les Annales, March/April, pg. 16-17)