240 THEISLAND ACADIANS 
     
    
   
   
    
     calling for the Church. However, since the Acadians lived in primarily 
     
     rural parishes, the change in religious practices was less radical, or at 
     
     least took place more slowly than in urban communities. It was not 
     
     only the Second Vatican Council that produced cultural transforma- 
     
     tions, but also many new social and moral values that were to become 
     
     synonymous with a modern society in a state of flux. 
     
    

    
     The recommendations of the Council brought about changes in 
     
     the orientation and administration of the Diocese of Charlottetown. 
     
     Several new commissions were set up including a Presbytery Council, 
     
     a Diocesan Mission Council, an Ecumenical Commission and an Office 
     
     for Religious Instruction. The Acadian community was represented 
     
     on these various commissions. 
     
    

    
     In order to ensure that francophone Catholics receive services 
     
     pertaining to religious and pastoral instruction in their own language 
     
     at the diocesan level, the Centre d’éducation chrétienne (Christian Edu- 
     
     cation Centre) was founded in 1972 on the request of the Acadian 
     
     clergy in Prince County. The Centre offered various services in French 
     
     such as catechism, classes for the preparation of marriage, family 
     
     orientation and several other Christian training and education pro- 
     
     grams. The Centre also helped promote movements like Marriage 
     
     Encounter and A.L.P.E.C., a program in liturgical animation through 
     
     various forms of expression and communication. Priests and nuns 
     
     were recruited to form the personnel of the Centre**. The board of 
     
     directors was composed principally of lay people representing the 
     
     Acadian communities. 
     
    

    
     The Christian Education Centre was set up in the Convent in 
     
     Miscouche but later moved to the Centre Goéland in Cape Egmont. 
     
     This centre was built in 1972 to fulfil several needs. In particular it 
     
     was to provide space for the Boy Scout and the Girl Guide Movements 
     
     which were started in the Evangeline region in 1972 under the leader- 
     
     ship of Father Eloi Arsenault. The Centre Goéland is also used by 
     
     other groups including Jeunesse Acadienne and the Tisou Cultural 
     
     Camps and for training sessions organized by the Christian Education 
     
     Centre. 
     
    

    
     Religion represents a very real and important element in the life 
     
     of the Acadians on Prince Edward Island, although its influence has 
     
     comparatively diminished. It is difficult to assess what place religion 
     
     will occupy in the lives of future generations brought up according