When translated from French to English, “Notre Dame” becomes “Our Lady”, which is what inspired a column by Michael Sean Winters in Monday’s edition of the National Catholic Reporter.
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/why-pope-francis-should-attend-reopening-notre-dame
Rather
than summarizing it, I’m simply going to post the entire article below:
Many of us can recall that horrible April day in 2019 when fire engulfed the venerable
cathedral. I remember getting a call from a friend to turn on the TV. All the
cable networks had suspended their regular programming to watch as the fire
grew and spread.
"As the flames leapt higher and higher, it seemed like
a darkness was descending upon the spirit of all who have worshiped within the
walls of the cathedral at the heart of Paris," I wrote at the time. "After the ancient roof had
come crashing down to the floor, like a clap of evil thunder, silence and
sorrow seemed the only thing anyone could manage."
It was like Tenebrae, the medieval liturgical monument that
is celebrated on the evening before the Triduum.
Why did that tragic event so capture the imagination of the
world?
Our powerful emotions of pain and loss
when Notre Dame burned were the mirror image of the emotions of love and
devotion for the Mother of God. Notre Dame was her cathedral.
Partly because we humans identify our sense of our humanity
with specific places. We observe this in the liturgical calendar when we
celebrate the feast of the Dedication of St. John
Lateran on
Nov. 9. We witness it in the tenacity with which people resist the closing of a
much-loved parish, because we associate that space with the great events of our
families' lives: baptism, first Communion, marriage and funerals. We hear it in
the music of Anton Bruckner's astonishing motet "Locus iste," sung
here by
the Cathedral Choral Scholars of Salford Cathedral.
Partly because we felt that something not only beautiful
but spiritually powerful was being destroyed. Through the centuries, the
prayers of pilgrims had softened the stone arches and columns, imparting the
sense of the sacred to the fabric of the structure that was palpable the moment
you walked into the nave.
Partly, too, because this monument to the faith had lasted
for so long, and our modern buildings, like so many of our modern ideas, are
not built to last. We unconsciously worried that it might be impossible to
recapture what the builders in the 12th and 13th centuries had captured, and
that with the destruction of the building in which God had been worshiped for
so long, the worship itself might be diminished.
If Notre Dame proved to be fragile, might not our faith be
broken, too, amid the many destructive fires of our times?
Mostly, however, our powerful emotions of pain and loss
when Notre Dame burned were the mirror image of the emotions of love and
devotion for the Mother of God. Notre Dame was her cathedral. It was the
cathedral of Paris and the Parisians only to the extent that it was first her
cathedral, and on account of their centuries of turning to her in their need.
Mary, hope of Christians. Mary, refuge of sinners. Mary, untier of knots. Mary,
seat of wisdom. Mary, comfort of the afflicted.
When I visited Paris last February, I walked by the site
and as I approached, I thought: This is the first time I have been in Paris and
not gone to say a prayer in front of the statue of the Blessed Mother that stood
to the right of the main altar. As I walked around the construction fencing to
the square in front of the church, my heart leapt when I saw that they had
placed that statue, which was not destroyed by the fire, on a column in the
square.
I, we, everyone could still look upon her enigmatic
expression and murmur the words, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is
with thee."
If you
are a student of history, you ay remember that all of the churches in France
built prior to 1905 actually belong to the country of France, rather than the
respective religious organizations, such as the archdiocese of Paris.
In American,
our Founding Fathers felt that church and state should always be separate – and
they put that idea into our constitution.
Ironically,
France is a decidedly secular country, but it’s impossible to separate church
from state because the state OWNS a lot of church.
The
history of this ancient cathedral makes for interesting reading, which you can
read at the link below:
https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2019/04/we-are-all-french_19.html
Repairing
the church is a massive project, but is appears at this point that it will be finished
at some point prior to the 2024 Olympics, which will be held in Paris.
Total
cost of the renovation will be bumping up against the $1 billion mark, with the
exact amount estimated to be $865 million.
If you
are wondering where the money is coming from, here’s the answer:
Since April 15, 2019, more
than €846 million has been received from over 340,000 patrons and donors from 150 countries, The total includes €200
million from Bernard Arnault, LVMH chairman and CEO, and €100 million from
François Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering and owner of Christie’s.
With an estimated net worth
of $211 billion, Arnault is the richest man in the world.
Around the
world, there are numerous churches that are shutting down because it no longer makes
economic sense to maintain them. St. Brendan’s parish in Boston is just one
example.
https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2022/04/easter-at-st-brendans.html
Does it
make sense to spend close to $1 billion on a religious building that is over
900 years old?
In view
of the fact that Notre Dame is a symbol of France, the most visited country in
the world, the answer is definitely “yes”
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