The fire of Notre-Dame de Paris has given rise to a global emotion that goes far beyond believers. But for the Parisian Catholics, also very affected, are now asking very concrete questions: how to ensure worship while waiting for the Parisian cathedral to be rebuilt?
Our Lady of Paris can accommodate more than 2,000 people and it is not uncommon for it to be full of worshipers, especially during major ceremonies. However, the "Holy Week" in which we are, with the end of Easter Mass scheduled for Sunday, is the most important period of the Catholic calendar. And every year, the liturgies that mark this week fill up in the most emblematic French cathedral.
The churches Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Eustache put to contribution
After the fire, the Catholics of Paris must reorganize urgently. This Wednesday, the Chrism Mass takes place at 18:30 in the Saint-Sulpice Church, the largest church in Paris after Our Lady, which can contain at least 2,000 people too. A giant screen will be erected on the forecourt, for those who can not enter the building located near the island of the city where the cathedral burned. Thursday evening, the Mass of the Last Supper will also take place in Saint-Sulpice, as will the Office of the Cross Friday evening, as well as the Easter vigil Saturday evening.
Mgr Aupetit, instead of participating in the Way of the Cross of Montmartre, will take part this year in the one of Notre-Dame. "The precise course of the latter is not yet known but should be held Friday noon around the cathedral," said Bishop Alexis Leproux, vicar general of the diocese. The Easter Mass, which usually takes place at Notre-Dame, will be held Sunday at the Saint-Eustache church (1st arrondissement, not far from the island of the city also), with Bishop Aupetit. 2,000 people are also expected for this celebration.
For the rest, "it's very very uncertain"
But what will happen next? Notre-Dame is a cathedral and, as such, is considered the most important church of the Parisian diocese. It is there that the Archbishop of Paris (or his auxiliaries) sits and gives his offices. It is also here that the ordinations of priests, the "decisive appeals" (in which the baptized future confirm their vow), or the most important processions are supposed to be celebrated. Some offices of Notre Dame were also broadcast worldwide, including via the KTO channel.
And for the long term, nothing has been decided as to how to "replace" Notre Dame, pending the end of the work that could take years. "It is very very uncertain, everything is decided hour by hour, nobody knows but it would not be surprising if Saint Sulpice becomes an important place," says an observer of the diocesan news of the capital.
The task of Archbishop Michel Aupetit is not the least. "We are extremely wounded to have lost our cathedral. [...] We are obliged to reorganize ourselves completely," he told Sud Radio on Wednesday. Regretting, in passing, that Emmanuel Macron did not have a single word for the Catholic community during his speech on Tuesday night: "It would have been nice if there was a word of sympathy for the community, because are still Catholics who live the Cathedral Notre-Dame, which is not a museum. [...] It is a place of life, animated by Catholics ".