Commemorating 9/11 at Notre Dame de Paris

Yesterday I attended mass at Notre Dame de Paris. It was held in commemoration of "the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011 and all other victims of terrorism in the last ten years".

Shortly after I arrived at 6 PM the last seat filled up for the 6:30 PM mass. There seemed to be some American tourists and students, but, based on the proportion of people participating in the liturgy, the mass was attended mainly by French Catholics. Some other religious leaders were in attendance, as well as Charles Rivkin, the American ambassador, and Frédéric Mitterrand, prominent sex tourist, possible pedophile, and French Minister of Culture.

In my program I found a short note from Ambassador Rivkin expressing a deep respect for French friendship and support. He concluded the paragraph by stating that the US-French friendship would endure so long as it shared the same values, giving a few examples. I found it interesting that he referenced two of the three values of the French Revolution, liberté and fraternité, but not égalité. Although both are products of Enlightenment culture, our two countries have taken different paths: Americans don't have a problem with inequality as long as there's a theoretical way for the poor to improve their plight.

The first Scripture passage was read in English by a priest in training. The disjuncture between his serious intonation and his awful French accent was so hilarious I couldn't help letting out a chuckle. I looked around, expecting reprimanding stares. I was not the only one laughing.

The gospel reading came from Matthew 18. A master forgave his servant his debts, but the servant did not forgive the debts of a fellow servant. The moral is God has forgiven us so we must forgive others (including members of al-Qaeda). The archbishop of Paris André XXIII picked up on this theme in his homily. It paralleled Pope Benedict XVI's much misunderstood 2006 Regensburg Address, in which the Pope argued that religious dialogue must be guided by reason, particularly a belief in God's rationality. Otherwise it can descend into violence, a blasphemous act against the God who created us all.

The entire mass was unabashedly Catholic. The mass included a recitation of the Nicene Creed, including the Filioque, despite the presence of an Orthodox priest. And there were plenty of references to the divinity of Christ despite the presence of Muslim and Jewish leaders.

As someone coming from a Protestant (and specifically evangelical) tradition, I still struggle to wrap my mind around the spectacle and pomp of a Catholic mass as well as Catholicism's rigid hierarchy. But I am more than happy to take part in any commemoration that proudly asserts its beliefs and tradition while encouraging people to forgive, use reason and avoid violence.