Notre Dame University To Donate $100k To Cathedral Restoration
SOUTH BEND — The University of Notre Dame and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris may share nothing more than French roots and a name, but the northern Indiana university is showing its support by donating $100,000 to aid in the rebuilding of the historic house of worship.
“We are deeply saddened to see the damage to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, a church whose exquisite Gothic architecture has for centuries raised hearts and minds to God,” University of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins said in a statement. “We join in prayer with the faithful of the cathedral and all of France as they begin the work of rebuilding.”
Jenkins said he was reminded of the words of the university’s founder, Holy Cross Father Edward Sorin, a French immigrant, after a fire destroyed the university’s campus in 1879:
“Tomorrow we will begin again and build it bigger, and when it is built, we will put a gold dome on top with a golden statue of the Mother of God so that everyone who comes this way will know to whom we owe whatever great future this place has,” Jenkins quoted Sorin.
According to a news release, the $100,000 donation is being made at the direction Father Jenkins. In addition, the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Notre Dame campus will toll 50 times at 6 p.m. Tuesday to mark the start of the rebuilding process for the cathedral.
Source: IndyStar