As I do each year, I’ve been watching the Tour de France. When I was young, I did a bit of riding myself. The coverage is technically amazing and the scenery along the way is beautiful. It’s like a brief daily vacation around different regions of France. They show the landscapes, chateaux and churches along the way and talk about their history.
Yesterday’s leg, Stage 7, resolved in Chartres. One of the aerial shots showed the cathedral at the moment when a figure was crossing the street and I am quite sure he was in a cassock. My screen has pretty good resolution. Hard to tell, but I’m pretty sure. I watched it several times.
On Sunday the riders hit the cobblestones. There’s even a WSJ story about it. It should be interesting.
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I used to race road bikes, and crashed so badly one time that I had to be taken to the emergency room to have the asphalt scraped out of my back–that was the painful part; I hardly felt the pain of sliding twenty feet. I’ve also spent a lot of time at Chartres; a 90 min. train ride from Paris. In the bowels of that Cathedral there are remnants of a church dating to the fourth century. Now my passion is racing really fast motorcycles, which my girlfriend has told me I have to give-up if I’m to marry her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Npdmysl84
Believe me us Irish can be a little crazy!
An FSSP priests hears confessions at Chartres, and I think is the pastor of a nearby parish. I’ve run into him every time I’ve been there, so there’s a good chance it’s him. The soutane is also slowly becoming normalized again in France. I know a « communauté nouvelle » (quasi-charismatic) priest who wears his on feast days. Most clergy here under 45 would probably be happy to wear it at least on occasion, though there is still the slowly disappearing risk of being labelled an extremist for doing so, so most avoid the trouble except in rare circumstances. But you seemingly see more and more of them every year…
Well, I heard Fellay was lookin’ for a new gig. Coulda been him.
Always nice to see priests looking priestly.