Welcome

FROM FR. OAKLAND

The second most visited site in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower, is not Notre Dame, but Sacre Coeur Basilica. Located in Montmartre, on the edge of Paris, it overlooks the whole city and its suburbs. The idea for the church came after a decisive loss by France that precipitated the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Bishop Fournier noted the decay of French society dating back to the French Revolution and Enlightenment, when they lost their foundation as a nation, and began a succession of wars. During the French Revolution, Notre Dame was renamed a Temple of Reason. We tried to replace God with ourselves, and in so doing, lost our true heart.

Construction began in 1875, and would be completed on the eve of World War I. But consecration of the church would wait until its conclusion in 1919, and the death of millions more. Bishop Fournier’s vision and mission began many years earlier, however. Reparation and a new future couldn’t wait. Since 1885, there has been 141 years of perpetual adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament at Sacre Coeur, as people prayed in front of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ, in reparation for sin and the ways in which we have chosen evil over good, and so wounded the tender heart of Christ. His heart is different than those we usually imagine, broken in love for us. His goodness is great, and our sins many. We have rejected the Lord. At Sacre Coeur they have prayed for families, communities, nations and our whole world, that our sins, our weaknesses and failures would not be the end of the story.