The Wi-Fi on my flight from Rome to Newark wasn't working, so phones were buzzing about Notre Dame in France as soon as we hit the runway. After the initial shock and sadness, gratitude was expressed. There are upsides to being disconnected: At least we didn't have to watch, on live television, something we couldn't control. That seemed to be an instant lesson, before we knew much of anything, including the cause or the damage.
I've never been to Paris, so I've never been to the cathedral there. But on Monday I did the closest I could after I cleared customs: I went to the cathedral in Newark, N.J. The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is, as it happens, an under-appreciated treasure. It's safe to say that most people do not travel to New York City only to hop on the train to Newark to pray. More should. As it happens, the Mass schedule was changed up for Holy Week, so my visit was short that day. But had I stayed on, I might have run into the man who would be arrested later that week in my home cathedral of Saint Patrick's on Fifth Avenue. On Monday, he had been removed by police at Sacred Heart Cathedral, for refusing to leave. On Wednesday, he was caught trying to set fire to "America's Parish Church" over the Hudson.
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