Reddit mentions of la laïcité face à l'islam (Pluriel) (French Edition)

Are there areas of France that have significantly higher rates of religiosity? I ask this because I lived in France for a year, and when I went to Mass the churches were almost always full... I had expected them to be completely empty, so that kind of threw me off a bit. Was my experience outside of the norm?

Secondly, what is your opinion of laïcité? It seems to be far more than simply the neutrality of the public space—rather, it would appear that laïcité is negatively defined as the exclusion of religion in the public space (and as Olivier Roy says, it is therefore an obsession with religion). Could any other models ever viably be adopted in France?

Thirdly (and sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm curious!) how exactly are young Catholics catechized in France, if at all? It is standard elsewhere in the West for Catholic parents to send their children to Catholic schools, but given that the educational system is almost completely run by the state, how do young Catholics learn their faith? Or do they not?