Three months after reopening, Notre lady witnesses are record masses, confessions

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Paris (OSV News) – Just three months after the reopening of Notre Dame -Cathedral, some Catholics in France fear that the massive influx of tourists overshadowed its religious essence.

But the auxiliary bishop of Paris said OSV News that it was the opposite – with a large flow of people, more strangers are exposed to the Catholic faith, whereby their hearts are touched by God's presence in renovated interior.

With 29,000 visitors a day, compared to 23,500 per day before the fire in 2019, the guest rates of Notre Dame are comparable to those of the Louvre Museum, although the surface of the museum is considerably larger.

A chance to meet the Lord

Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Tois from Paris, whose office is only about 60 feet from the cathedral, said OSV News that the number of tourists who flood the cathedral does not disturb him. It is an opportunity to meet the Lord, he said.

Bishop Tois said that the rector and the chaplains of Notre Dame often circulate among visitors in the corridors of the cathedral. “And they are regularly addressed by people who ask for explanations and who sometimes explicitly ask how they can be baptized.”

Bishop Tois often celebrates trade fairs at Notre Dame himself and regularly goes there on Saturday morning to hear confessions.

“People come to me to make confessions, even if they hadn't thought of it when they came in,” he said. “Some tell me the first time in 40 years that they are on the confession! Others are not baptized and know nothing about faith. But they come and sit next to me and ask me a lot of questions, ”he said of the conversion of the place.

“A historical place”

“They visited a historical place that had to be seen in the face of its awareness. But in the course of the visit, they are surprised by metaphysical questions, which sometimes expressly touch faith, ”said Bishop Tois.

When asked about the criticism of Alain-Marc Plasman in the French Catholic paper La Croix that the cathedral is “enclosed in its status as a monument … its main function loses its main function,” said Bischof Tois that “Notre offers visitors who have been talking about God for 900 years and that she fascinates.”

He explained that “visits to masses and liturgical services do not stop. Visitors are interested in what is going on. They are respectful. They lower their voices and observe. You see that this inheritance has been handed over and is still alive today. Many are impressed. “

“The cathedral is always full, again and again, and it is true that they can be surprised when entering noise and tourists there,” Bishop Tois told OSV News. “It is also true that many visitors are moved by the aesthetic beauty of the cathedral, just as you may be when you visit a good museum.”

For Mathieu Lours, too, the “historical density” by Notre Dame, who attracts the crowd, does not contradict his religious life.

“How does your presence disturb the spiritual life of the building?” The architectural historian asked in La Croix.

“Openness for everyone”

“His openness for everyone is more of a guarantee of his vitality,” wrote Lours. “How could a cathedral in today's world be a place of conversion if it only attracts the convinced? Human quantities are the license plate of great sanctuaries. And the church must accept the challenge, despite everything that is thanks to them. “

He also pointed out that the cathedral is a witness to the living faith with the blessed sacrament that “found its place in a abbey hut on the high altar. Every visitor, every believer, understands – or at least the intuition – that the center of the cathedral is this inaccessible space. It is the definition of the saint he experiences here. “

Bishop Tois agreed. “From the beginning, the Archdiocese of Paris has tried, both pilgrims – who know that they are pilgrims – and other visitors,” he told OSV News.

Entry with 'different approaches'

“Therefore we do not calculate in the cathedral. We cannot separate pilgrims from other visitors. People enter Notre lady with many different approaches. There are those who have a very lively belief and those who are not aware of having no belief, ”he said.

“But between the two there is a whole lead of people who are neither on the first page nor on the other side and also do not want to be integrated on one side or the other. But they are receptive if they enter the cathedral and can open up an unexpected encounter. “

He concluded: “Many are likely to be touched by a visit from Notre Dame, even if they entered him as a tourist for the first time. I am a witness to it. “

Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris.