Yes, and according to at least one thing I read all three of the rose windows are still there. A huge relief. It seems a significant timely reminder and warning, though.

Yes, wonderful about the windows. There are some very good, detailed graphics and photos of the damage up on the BBC website.

I agree. But then as I understand it the French govt actually owns it, which makes our relationship to it a little odd.

Thanks for the link, Marianne, that's very informative.

"An outward sign of loss of inward grace"--yes. Not total loss of course as you say, but loss.

Repairs were in progress, as I guess you know. That seems to be part of the reason why fears that it was arson haven't gotten much purchase. There's lead involved with the roof (ceiling?) somehow, along with hundreds-of-years-old wood, and I wonder if the repairs being done required working with molten lead. Pretty obvious risk of fire there. I guess maybe in the coming days there'll be some details about all that.

One aspect of the significance of the event is that fire is also purifying. I was thinking of that when I did this post.

One of the things that worries me about the massive lump sums French moguls are contributing is that it might buy them undue influence over what is done with the money. Already some people are saying that, well, the reconstruction doesn't have to look exactly as it did, it should reflect our own times, etc, blah blah.

This is the city, after all, that, for all its beauties, has permitted some jarring architectural projects -- the Pompidou Centre, the Eiffel Tower, and that cold-as-ice pyramid in the middle of the Louvre, for example. One out of three is not a reassuring track record.

Let's hope...I hadn't consider the possibility of, um, improving it.

Anyone who can say what Patricio del Real said should not be allowed anywhere near the church.

Wishing you a very good and blessed Triduum.

Tourism to the rescue? From a piece up at Crisis Magazine:

The damage to Notre Dame is a wake-up call not only for Christians who have let their faith lapse, but also for dyed-in-the-wool secularists. Though run by the Church, Notre Dame, like other historic churches in France, is owned by the French state. Notre Dame is important to France not only because of its history, art, and architecture, but also because it is one of the main reasons that people visit France. Notre Dame draws more visitors than the Eiffel Tower. Many who visit the Cathedral come not just as tourists, but also as pilgrims. For them, “Our Lady’s” Cathedral means far more than one more historic site to check off the list. Ironically, secular France’s greatest attraction is a spiritual treasure.

French President Emmanuel Macron promises to raise enough funds to rebuild Notre Dame within five years. But to what purpose? For the greater glory of God? To worship and praise him? Not quite. The damage to Notre Dame could be a fatal blow to France’s tourist economy which is already reeling from rising crime rates and the constant threat of terrorism brought on by mass Muslim migration. Macron’s haste to rebuild suggests that the state is far more dependent on the Christian faith than it had thought.

I hope y'all read of the hero priest who rescued the Blessed Sacrament and the crown of thorns.

"https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/french-priest-who-saved-relics-and-the-blessed-sacrament-never-panicked-when-fire-broke-out-at-notre-dame"

Described by Steve Skojec as "a hero priest with great facial hair"