Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
A Word on the Fire at Notre Dame

A Word on the Fire at Notre Dame

Last updated on: April 15, 2019 at 8:38 pm by Mary Pezzulo

A Word on the Fire at Notre Dame 2019-04-15T20:38:10-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m supposed to say something about Notre Dame de Paris.

On any other day, you wouldn’t have been able to stop me talking about Notre Dame de Paris.

Notre Dame de Paris, or as it came to be known in English, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was my first grown-up book, when I was about eleven years old. It engendered in me an obsession with becoming fluent in French, so as to read Hugo in his native tongue; and with going to Paris someday– none of which I’ve accomplished. I wrote my first grown-up research paper later that year, on Gothic cathedrals, for homeschooling. I could tell you all about the rose window and the flying buttresses.

But that’s not what anyone wants to hear about today.

I’m supposed to say something about the fire.

The last news I’ve gotten is that the building is not a total loss as was originally thought. Tragically, unimaginably, the spire and the roof are gone, the interior is surely going to have to be rebuilt. But the outer structure still exists and the towers have been saved, for now, as far as I know. That much is hopeful.

People keep telling me that the windows and interior aren’t original anyway; they had to be replaced in the 19th century, after the French revolution. Somehow, that doesn’t console me as much as it should.

I’m hearing news that the Crown of Thorns and other relics were somehow saved, as was the artwork, and I hope it turns out to be true.

I hear that one fire fighter has been seriously injured, and I pray for her or his healing. I pray for the healing of France from this national trauma.

I don’t know the cause of the fire just yet. Certain persons have already decided it’s terrorism and are speculating about which terrorists are to blame, which makes me ill. We don’t know that it wasn’t an accident yet. It could turn out either way. If it turns out to be a white supremacist terrorist attack, white people like me won’t suffer because of that person’s bad deed, but if it turns out to be the work of an Islamist extremist, peaceable Muslims will suffer horribly– not to mention the refugees who are already subjected to so much discrimination. So I think we’d all be much better off not speculating about who set the fire.

I pray that it’s just an accident. The whole world is a powder keg; nations already have so much to do in so little time to prevent genocides from wars and environmental destruction. If this turns out to be a terrorist attack that sparks another pointless war, I fear what will happen to us all.

That’s all I know about anything right now.

But I would like to urge people to stop using this fire to prop up their pet issues. If you’re inclined to view this as a direct chastisement from a vengeful God, for example– well, I don’t know what religion you profess, but it had better not be Catholicism because Catholicism doesn’t profess a God so petty or so clumsy. A petty God would just smite the local bishop or the bishop’s house, or members of the congregation one by one, if that was who He wanted to punish. A clumsy and petty God might smite the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris by accident, when aiming for the congregation, and end up killing nobody but making such an obscene mess. Our God is neither. Our God is Mercy and Love.

If you want to mourn about this being a metaphor for the Church in Europe or in the world– I can empathize with your frustrations, but we’d better stop it. If you feel that the Church, the Body of Christ, is on fire, remember that you are a member of the Body of Christ and start putting out that fire and healing the damage through personal repentance. That’s all any of us can ever do. Repent of our own sins and return to doing the Father’s will, personally, without looking over our shoulder to see if anyone is imitating us. That’s not only the most expedient way to heal the Church, it’s the only way she has ever been healed.

If you want to make some asinine comments about a pure, alabaster “Western Civilization” which has never really existed and couldn’t be preserved even if it had, shut up. There’s no dignified answer to someone who would hijack a tragedy like this with that kind of nonsense.

If you want to gloat over people you viewed to be “worldly” or “modernist” or “bad Catholics” somehow getting what they deserved in this, you are beneath contempt.

Just let a tragedy be a tragedy.

Mourn the nightmare as it is, without adding to it.

It’s quite enough of a nightmare, after all.

I had to look up the following prayer, because I never did become fluent in French:

Je vous salue, Marie pleine de grâce ; le Seigneur est avec vous. Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni. Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu, priez pour nous pauvres pécheurs, maintenant et à l’heure de notre mort.
Amen.

May God have mercy on our whole world, at this holiest time of the year.

(Image via Pixabay)

mourn with those mourn

Previous Post

April 13, 2019

Help the Friendship Room Stock their Little Free Grocery

Next Post

April 15, 2019 Patrick Coffin and the Case of the Arsonist that Wasn't

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book contains a prophecy about locust swarms devastating the land?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joel Micah Hosea Obadiah