Chaplain of Little Rock Catholic High School considers and rejoices in Notre Dame’s reopening

Little Rock, Arkansas – After being destroyed by fire for only five years, the doors of one of the oldest cathedrals in the world have finally been opened again.

Over the course of this past weekend, the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral was witnessed by over 1,500 individuals, additional others viewing the event online.

During the celebration of Notre Dame’s reopening, Father Patrick Friend reflected on his visit to the university when he was a junior in high school.

“It was a really eye-opening experience,” Friend put it. “Just to see something that was built for centuries and not just a generation was a really eye-opening experience.”

As he entered the cathedral for the first time, he remarked that he felt insignificant in comparison to the splendor and grandeur of the building.

“Being Catholic in Arkansas, we are a minority here, there really aren’t a huge number of Catholics, so to go from a small-town Catholic church in Arkansas to see this magnificent church in Paris, France and the culture surrounding it was amazing,” Friend said. “It was an incredible experience.”

The sight of the altar, which was identical to the one at his school chapel and church, was what a friend said helped him feel more grounded.

“The heart of the church is the same, and so seeing that beauty as well as the familiarity were to things that really came to me together in an incredible way,” Friend said. “It was a wonderful experience.”

He claims that he returned home feeling awestruck and that he felt a greater calling to his faith in order to gain a deeper understanding of its history.

After a number of years had passed, Friend returned to the school that had provided him with such a life-changing experience, but this time he was employed there as a teacher and chaplain.
At that location, he was informed of the news.

“As I was teaching English in my classroom, I heard a knock on my door,” Friend said. “I was actually teaching English.”

It dawned on him when the announcer mentioned that Notre Dame was on fire, and he turned on the television. As he entered the door and saw the weeping, he knew that this was not a hopeful situation.

The 850-year-old cathedral was on fire on April 15, 2019, and Friend was sitting in a state of disbelief as he and thousands upon thousands of other people watched it burn.

Friend expressed his disappointment by stating, “To think that that would be gone was truly disheartening, it was something that could not be replaced.” “Imagine a family air loom that you have, or a picture that cannot be replaced, and losing that to a flood or a fire. As Catholics, it is a part of our family, it is a part of our heritage or our patrimony,” the speaker said.

Despite the fact that many people believed that their hope had been extinguished, the alter continued to stand strong in spite of the devastation.

It was promised that the cathedral would be repaired, and after spending $840 million on renovations, that promise was finally fulfilled five years after it was declared that it would be restored.

“I believe that we can see in that a beautiful sign of hope for all of us,” said Friend. “The Lord Jesus is coming at Christmas, so what an appropriate time to have that hope,” Friend said.