The Paris Commune Rises Again! or--Paris is Well Worth a Mass!

This story isn't receiving that much notice, but vandals spray painted various anti-Catholic and anti-establishment phrases at the entrance of that shrine of Eucharistic Adoration in Paris in Montmartre: the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. I've linked to the page that gives more detail about what the slogans said here but won't post them because they are so vulgar. One that caught my eye was translated "1871, long live the commune!"

The cleaner version of the story is here:

France's interior minister says unknown vandals have spray-painted graffiti on Sacre Coeur basilica in Paris.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls condemned the anti-church and anti-state vandalism on the entrance door, walls and floor. Clean-up crews were deployed to erase the words.

The Sacre Coeur, or Sacred Heart, basilica offers eye-popping views of Paris atop the trendy Montmartre neighbourhood. Millions of visitors trek there each year.

Consecrated in 1919, Sacre Coeur was approved as a project by the government decades earlier in an effort to restore moral values following the ill-fated Paris Commune revolt of 1871 in which thousands died.

Mr Valls says authorities are working to identify and arrest the vandals.

When we visited Sacre Coeur in 2012, the Basilica had celebrated a Jubilee of 125 years of Perpetual Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, including through two World Wars--some silly vandals certainly aren't going to make any impact! The vandals did know something about history since they correctly identified the Paris Commune as in opposition to the prayers of reparation and for healing that have been lifted up on the hill of Montmartre since August 1885.

One more less related note--at least two Catholic churches were targeted for an attack by a radicalized Algerian national. The Prime Minister of France noted:

To attack a church is to attack “a symbol of France," the premier said. "The terrorists probably still wanted to hit the heart to divide and destroy. The answer is the gathering, is unity. That's democracy, it's the living together and that is the ability to respond as the French have done on January 11.

"The faithful of the Catholic religion,” he continued, “must be able to worship, go to Mass in perfect serenity. Moreover, it is the most beautiful and strongest of the answers we need to terrorism, which targets France to divide... . France has a great Christian heritage. Cathedrals, churches, chapels, attract tourists, pilgrims, thousands of the faithful around the world. This heritage must be protected, but must remain open, accessible.”

And this in the land of laïcité! 

Bon dimanche! Paris is well worth a Mass!