The French sculptor Rodin once said that, just as all Greece is brought together in the Parthenon, all France is brought together in her cathedrals — rocks, forests, gardens, sun and people. What a profound way to say that every French cathedral is more than just a building. It is a monument to the nation’s faith and generosity. So also our cathedral is more than an historic, century-old building. It is an inspiring expression of our faith and who we are.

When Constantine legalized the Christian faith with the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D., the Church emerged from Rome’s subterranean cemeteries and moved into the city’s basilicas. In these buildings, courts of justice were held as well as other public functions. In the basilicas of imperial Rome, the apse, located at the farthest point opposite the main entrance, was the seat of authority. Here the magistrates would sit in judgment. Here the emperor would be enthroned. Because of the importance of this space, the early Christians transformed the apse into the sacred space for the liturgy. Here the bishop, surrounded by his priests, would sit on a slightly elevated chair.

“Yoo-hoo! Is anybody …?” So Molly Goldberg would begin her popular radio show, hollering out from her tenement window to her neighbors. Her words became a buzz word on the lips of Jews and Italians and Irish for over 20 years. First broadcast on American radio from 1929 to 1946, The Goldbergs moved to TV. By 1950, half of all TV sets in the New York area on Monday nights were tuned on to The Goldbergs.

In the early 1890s, patriotism in America was very low. The fires of the Civil War had been extinguished and there was a general cooling of any national sentiment. A Baptist minister named Francis Bellamy was thoroughly convinced that the nation needed a new awakening of national ardor And so he composed the “Pledge of Allegiance” to that end.

According to a report issued by the Center for Studies on New Religions, there were 90,000 Christians killed for their faith in 2016. As Robert Nicholson of the Philos Project has said, “There are many places on earth where being a Christian is the most dangerous thing you can be.” Open Doors, a non-denominational organization which supports persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries, has reported that there are 215 million Christians today who face intimidation, physical harm, loss of property and even death simply because they were Christians.