And On A Sour Note....

My last posting was about the new peal of 10 bells for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  It is an opportunity to talk about  both a current event that is making history—the installation of the new peal of bells that is far more melodious  than the previous set of bells that were cast in the nineteenth century to replace the medieval bells that had—with one exception—been destroyed in the French Revolution.  It also gave us the opportunity to look at the past—the medieval bells and the ruinous state of the Cathedral at the time it was restored to Catholic Worship by Napoleon at the time of the 1801 concordat with the Holy See.  But the reason I posted the story was actually to lay the ground for this sequel about just how nasty some people are.  Below are some of the internet comments responding to the story of the new peal. 

It's a better use of a couple million euros than wasting it on the millions of homeless, hungry, ill, downtrodden, etc., Catholics in poor nations around the planet. Enjoy, your holiness.

When you hear the bells ringing, that means that the pedophiles are entering the Catholic church!

The arrogance and the opulence make me want to throw up

The Catholic Church is responsible for the murder of millions of Jews, Protestants, free-thinkers, women and gays. 

Dumb superstition is nothing to be proud of

Catholicism is a religion of hatred—the world would be better without it. 

How can people possibly believe the things that Christianity teaches in our scientific world?  We have sent spaceships above the clouds and know there is no heaven.  We have explored into the depths of the earth and know there is no hell.  Yet religion keeps its hold over the minds of simple people.   

This should  be something of good news for people regardless of their religious opinions—these bells are things of beauty and will lift the hearts of all who hear them. My question is why do some people have to be so sour about other peoples’ good news?  Why does religion trigger such negativity?  Christians in general and Catholics in particular are increasingly seen as exercising a negative influence on society.  How has this come about and what must we do to change the perception?     

Make A Joyful Noise

  I saw some great stories in the news recently about the dedication of a new set of bells for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.   In the Middle Ages the bells of the Parish Cathedral were noted for the peal of their beautiful round tones, but those bells—like so many treasures of the Church—were destroyed in the turmoil of the French Revolution.  The Cathedral itself was profaned when on November 10^th  1793 the “goddess of Reason”  was enthroned on high altar of the Cathedral.    Popular legend says that a Parisian prostitute was selected to be the deity-for-a-day, but in fact it was Sophie Momoro, the wife of the Hébertist leader, the printer and bookseller,  Antonine-François Momoro who was to lose his head—literally—in the political struggles with Robespierre less than five months later.  This was not a good time to be in French Politics—one day your wife is a goddess, the next your head is rolling down the avenue.  In any event, when the Cathedral was returned to Catholic worship in the negotiations between Napoleon and the Holy See in 1801, the Cathedral Chapter was so poor it lacked the money to buy a broom for the cleaning of the building.   The Church had been despoiled of its properties during the Revolution and one of the conditions of the concordat was that the Church would not seek the restoration of its endowments that it had lost.  Throughout the nineteenth century the Cathedral Chapter struggled to repair and restore the fabric of the Cathedral while rebuilding its financial base and the bells it purchased to replace those seized in the Revolution were of a very poor quality with  horrible clanging tones as anyone who has visited Paris and heard the peal knows.  Nine new bells have been cast to join the one remaining pre-revolutionary bells.  The bells are currently on display in the Cathedral nave where the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris—Cardinal André Vignt-Trois—blessed the bells in the company of his auxiliary bishops, the Cathedral Chapter, the clergy and the faithful of Paris.  So, on your next trip back to Paris, just as you cross the Pont d’Arcole there is a lovely little bistro to your left as you approach the Cathedral. I believe it is called Aux Tours de Notre Dame.  Sit there—have a kir and perhaps a pastry, and listen to the bells.