The sentiments of a culture

If you have a fetish for old churches like I do, France is an absolute haven. I don't practice a religion personally, but I still have to say the French know how to build a house of God. \nChristianity, as an institution took root in Europe partially for political reasons. The poor uneducated French peasants sought solace in the thought they might reach a better existence when they died. And the Catholic Church promised just that. It erected massive cathedrals as a realization of that promise. \nWe don't have much of anything in the States that can compare to Notre Dame in Paris. The gothic style cathedral took -- I want to say close to 100 -- years to build. It was being cleaned when I first saw it at the age of 14, and when I saw it a week and a half ago for the second time in my life, workers had not yet finished the job. Notre Dame is just that intricate of a work of art. They were cleaning away the gray color I had always thought was the color of its stone, and they were leaving the white purity the French peasants of the past had seen.\nIndeed, just to enter a church like Chartres Cathedral, the best preserved medieval cathedral in France and perhaps all of Europe, is to enter the very breadth of history. If you just enter and listen to the silence that envelopes you, it is easy to understand the awe the French peasant must have felt.\nChartres Cathedral, located in the town of Chartres, France, contains approximately 80 percent of its original stained glass, an extremely high number considering it was built in the ninth century and renovated in the 13th century because of a fire. It also contains the oldest crypt in France as well as Europe. \nI sat in awe inside this great cathedral while our English guide picked out the subtleties of each stained glass window. Indeed, each church is unique like a piece of stained glass done by hand. It reflects the sentiments of an era and a people.\nOne can argue whether there is a presence of God or history lurking in the magnificent cathedrals of Europe, but there is a presence that is preserved for us today. \nThe French government realizes the importance of that history. It owns and pays for the upkeep of all churches in France. The clergy are permitted the use of the buildings for leading worship, but not very many people go to mass. The French people are among some of the least religious people. Though 85 percent identify themselves as Catholic, only 4 percent of those people are practicing, said my program coordinator Loren Ringer. \nFor the French people, permitting an aging cathedral to stand among newer buildings is more a testimony to history and to art, rather than the appraisal of a certain set of beliefs.\nAs an American, I find it to be one of the most amazing aspects of Europe. I'll return to Notre Dame and Chartres again and again, just to feel the special presence that doesn't exist in my homeland.