Environmental groups warned soon after the disaster that 300 tonnes of lead in the roof of the Paris landmark had gone up in flames, posing a danger to residents in the area, particularly to children.

A report from the Mediapart investigative website on Thursday reported that high levels of the heavy metal — as much as 10 times higher than the safe limit — had been detected in schools and creches surrounding the cathedral. Read more

The archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, led the service which was held in an undamaged side-chapel behind the choir.

Saturday - the day the mass was celebrated - is the anniversary of the church altar's consecration.

The annual Dedication Mass commemorates the cathedral's consecration as a place of worship.

"This cathedral is a place of worship, it is its very own and unique purpose," Aupetit says.

Father Pierre Vivares, who was at the mass, said it was "a true happiness, full of hope.

"We will rebuild this cathedral. It will take time of course — a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of work — but we will succeed," he said.

"Today it's a small, but a true victory against the disaster we have had."

French Culture Minister Franck Riester says the cathedral remains in a "fragile" state, especially its vaulted ceiling, which is still at risk of collapsing.

For security reasons, only about 30 people — mainly priests, canons and church employees — were at the service. Some of the workers rebuilding the church were also invited.

Other worshippers could watch the Mass live on a Catholic TV station.

The video showed some burnt wood still in the church but a famous statue of the Virgin and Child appeared intact behind wooden construction planks.

It is still not known when the cathedral will reopen to the public.

Right now though, less than 10 per cent of the nearly €1 billion (£892m) pledged for reconstruction has been paid.

There are also several issues being discussed and debated.

Arguments have arisen over whether the cathedral should be rebuilt exactly as it was or with contemporary touches.

President Emmanuel Macron's decision to hold an international contest to select designs from the world's leading architects is controversial in France, with some contending that it should be left to French architects.

André Finot, the cathedral spokesman, says donors "want to know exactly what their money will be used for and if they agree to it before they hand it over".

In the meantime, the French parliament is debating amendments to a new law that would create a public body to expedite the restoration of the cathedral and circumvent some of France's complex labor laws.

Source

• Huffington Post
• NewsMax
• Telegraph
• Image: Euronews

The cathedral was badly damaged in a fire on 15 April.

The bill will allow the government to pass emergency orders regarding Notre Dame so that the country's strict and lengthy processes surrounding the renovation of historic monuments can be bypassed.

Besides cutting red tape, the bill offers a legal framework to provide financial transparency for the project so it is clear where the huge amounts of money donated for the restoration will be spent.

If the bill becomes law, French President Emmanuel Macron's goal of rebuilding the cathedral in just five years could become a reality.

He believes the work can be completed in this time, although many restoration experts dispute that.

Some architects and heritage experts have expressed concerns about the quality of the work to be done on the cathedral.

The work includes replacing the 19th-century spire, which collapsed during the fire and which will have to be redesigned. The French Government said it would accept proposals from architects around the world.

The 90-metre spire was one of Paris's most recognisable landmarks.

France is split on whether the cathedral's new ceiling and spire should be rebuilt as an exact replica, or with a bold new design for the modern age.

There is also widespread debate across France, with differing views over whether the restoration work should involve new technologies and designs.

Government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye said the government will focus on "respecting heritage".

Source

• Crux Now
• ABC
• Image: Travel and Leisure
• ABC

The church had been in disrepair for decades. Calls for its restoration went mostly ignored until too late. Now that it is in ashes, people weep for its loss.

In recent decades, Notre Dame was more a tourist destination than a place of pilgrimage or a seat of Catholic potency. More people could tell you the story of its fictitious bell-ringing hunchback than of any one of its bishops.

Inside, more selfies took place than prayers, and there were more art connoisseurs among its enthusiasts than worshipers.

This spiritual emptiness didn't come overnight.

The church in Europe has been the target of secularists and anticlericals for centuries — since long before the secularizing revolution that happened on its doorstep.

Much of the criticism was richly deserved.

The church's hierarchy sided with the nobility against the forces of modernization in the 18th and 19th centuries. It opposed free press, free speech, and religious liberty.

By opposing political freedoms and unions in the 19th century, the church lost European men.

In its opposition to feminism, it lost women at the end of the 20th century.

Only in the Eastern bloc countries, like Poland, where the church stood with the people against Communist oppression, did it flourish, but once freedom came, the Polish church, too, lost the people because of its clerical arrogance in trying to dictate public policy.

Those who engineered and cheered the destruction of clerical power and the influence of the church had little to put in its place.

Libertarian capitalism exploited workers and consumers and destroyed the environment.

The power of the media was used to create celebrities, sensationalize news and sell commodities. Democracy has given way to narrow-minded nationalism.

Pope Francis is a lone voice in Europe for the common good, respect for the stranger and values more important than the almighty dollar, but there is no institutional strength supporting his message.

The church is a shell of what it once was.

Yes, let us weep for Notre Dame, but we have lost more than a building.

• Thomas Reese SJ is is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America.

The University of Notre Dame from the US will oversee the initiative at University Church, Dublin.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin announced the establishment of the "Notre-Dame Newman Centre for Faith and Reason".

Earlier this month, Archbishop Martin lamented the dearth of Catholic intellectuals able to engage with public issues in Ireland.

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A lawsuit has been filed against Fr Virgilio Elizondo, a theology professor at Notre Dame, as well as against a former priest and San Antonio archdiocese.

The lawsuit alleges a boy was abused again after he reported previous abuse to Fr Elizondo.

Unspecified damages are sought in the lawsuit.

A Notre Dame spokesman said the university was "reserving comment until further inquiries are completed".

Fr Elizondo is currently a professor of pastoral and Hispanic theology at Notre Dame.

He has pursued scholarly work in theology, evangelisation, faith and spirituality, culture and public ritual.

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Though the announcement follows years of petitions for an official "gay-straight alliance" club on campus, the university has chosen a more radical idea: It envisages creating a permanent student organisation grounded fully in Catholic social and moral teaching.

This solution from Notre Dame's Office of Student Affairs "has both surprised and excited the campus and elicited praise from the local Catholic bishop", reports the National Catholic Register.

"I believe there is a need at Catholic universities to provide pastoral care and support to persons with same-sex attraction," said Bishop Kevin Rhoades of South Bend, Indiana. "This is what Notre Dame's 'Pastoral Plan' is attempting to do.

"This pastoral care should help the students not to feel unwelcome or alienated in the community, but also help them to lead chaste and holy lives."

"I think that people, especially youth, who feel isolated or alienated can be more susceptible to destructive unchaste behavior," the bishop said. "Isolation, alienation, insecurity, etc. can lead to pleasure-seeking in sinful behaviour that ultimately brings unhappiness."

However, Bishop Rhoades cautioned that pastoral plans and support groups for homosexual students and their friends cannot take a "morally neutral" position on homosexuality.

The Notre Dame plan declares that its "goals and objectives, as well as its programs and initiatives, are consonant with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church".

It dedicates eight paragraphs to making this point, repeatedly citing passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church dealing with marriage, sexuality, friendship and the life of chastity.

The plan repeatedly notes that the new student organisation will uphold "the challenging, even though beautiful and life-giving, call to chaste relationships" and that "Student Affairs neither condones nor supports sexual activity outside the marital relationship or any sexual activities that ‘close the sexual act to the gift of life' (CCC, 2357)."

Sources:

National Catholic Register

Text of Notre Dame pastoral plan

Image: The Blaze

The call comes in response to Jenky's homily in which he denounced President Obama's "radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda," comparing his approach to that of Hitler and Stalin.

"Jenky's comments demonstrate ignorance of history, insensitivity to victims of genocide and absence of judgment," the faculty said in a letter to the university's president and the chairman of the university's board of trustees.

"We accept that Jenky's comments are protected by the First Amendment, but we find it profoundly offensive that a member of our beloved University's highest authority, the Board of Fellows, should compare the president's actions with those whose genocidal policies murdered tens of millions of people, including the specific targeting of Catholics, Jews and other minorities for their faith."

"We request that you issue a statement on behalf of the University that will definitively distance Notre Dame from Jenky's incendiary statement," they added. "Further, we feel that it would be in the best interest of Notre Dame if Jenky resigned from the University's Board of Fellows if he is unwilling to renounce loudly and publicly this destructive analogy."

Bishop Jenky is a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, which founded Notre Dame, he is a Notre Dame alumnus, a former director of campus ministry and is the sole bishop on both Notre Dame's board of trustees and board of fellows.

Sources

• The Observer
• LifeSite News
• Image: The Inquisitr