Notre Dame - 3 months after the fire

And according to a newspaper article this morning, much of the promised millions from the rich and famous has yet to be paid over. Why am I not surprised?

Because history shows over and over again that the Church of Rome is steeped in secrecy, and always knows how to cover its tracks over acts of omission or commission, and will go to any lengths to stop the truth from emerging.

I think it is the consequence of centuries of patriarchy; repressed male sexuality emerging as fantasies of torture;, and an obsession with hierarchy, privilege, mystery, secrecy, and ritual initiation.

As Trump says about Mexicans, "And I assume some of them are good peopleā€¦":thinking:

I am yet to be persuaded that the fire was an accident. It seems clear that the cathedral was a wholly or negligently unsupervised worksite at the time of the fire, and no questions about that seem to have been addressed, or even raised.

Call me old fashioned,but to me itā€™s just a building ; an attractive one & important to some.
But the weeping & waling; the public displays of hand-wringing ; it was almost as if Catholicism itself, was in danger of imminent collapse.
If Rome canā€™t find the money to repair one of its churches, then they should maybe shut-up shop, & try something elseā€¦Iā€™m sure they have their papal / purple fingers in many a pie.

1 Like

And in a lot of other places too

Iā€™m fairly sure that Notre Dame building, like all old French churches, belongs to the Republic of France and NOT to the Roman Catholic Church. :thinking: just sayingā€¦:wink:

2 Likes

Apologies then for any misunderstanding Stellaā€¦I assumed maybe wrongly, that France is still predominantly RCā€¦where I live, Protestantism is regarded as a cult.

The old church buildings are owned by the French State (ie Landlord) The Catholics are tenants. :upside_down_face::relaxed:

Here in Normandy itā€™s my understanding that parish churches that have congregations of communicants practise the Roman Catholic rite exclusively.

That doesnā€™t define France as a Roman Catholic country because it is defined by statute as a secular one. But the state guarantees the freedom of religious expression and association to all citizens, of whom a majority are Roman Catholic.

When there is a funeral in this town up to and over 300 parishioners attend, and the service is always a Roman Catholic one. My wife and I attended one Mass in our local church which dominates the town, and the congregation was no more than ten people, including ourselves, but not counting the priest and the organist!

They were all very welcoming.

Well assuming then that Rome still has some link, however tenuous, with Catholicism, why not use its own means to repairs its ā€œplace of workā€ā€¦that way, the French state could better use its own means to help its own peopleā€¦perhaps by using donations received to alleviate poverty, & thanking those generous donors for their useful contribution to making society a better place.
But then,perhaps knee-jerk / enforced acts of piousness are better viewed here.

The upkeep of all the churches here in France, falls on the local councils or other State offices.

Iā€™m fairly sure we have thrashed this out on a previous thread.

Doubtless.

Culte just means ā€˜religious practiceā€™, lieu de culte is a place where you have a religious service (but not generally moonies, mormons, etc) Catholic churches are Ć©glises, Protestant ones are Temples (which sounds v exciting, bring on Dagon and the golden calf but alas no) and Hindu Temples are Temples as well as are Gurdwaras etc. Synagogues and Mosques are the same in both languages. But people probably prefer to say lieu de culte.

Yes, Iā€™m sorry,I left off the ā€œeā€ ; & I realize that the definitions are different in English & French.
Our local Temple is very dull from the exteriorā€¦nothing like those in ā€œTomb Raiderā€

1 Like

Th french state has said it wonā€™t use taxpayers money to rebuildā€¦(except of course that donations will attract tax benefits, but thatā€™s another story).

1 Like

Talk is cheap, action costs. Along with the promises of millions from the wealthy Macron pledged to have it restored within five years, how is going to achieve that if heā€™s no longer president?

1 Like