Praying in the Streets

Living in Italy (and by extension, the European Union) puts a lot of perspective on things. For instance, we were told in our orientation for school that in Italy, if you are accused of a crime, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. To that particular law, I really have no comment. I have never been in a position even in the United States to be accused of anything and thus am unable to appreciate the importance of presumption of innocence, although it must be a great thing since we do it in America…

Another thing about Rome at least is the copious amount of churchage. In fact, wherever I go, I have ceased being surprised to see a baroque facade squeezed between two palazzi or apartment buildings. The Church is a huge deal here in Rome. (I mean, understatement).

Also, there are large piazze where walkers walk, drivers drive, and finally protesters protest. I don’t see too much of that in America. Maybe it’s because I live in the Midwest, but I don’t see a lot of city squares and definitely not a lot of protesters.

So when I read in the Daily Telegraph that Paris had just passed a law banning prayer in the streets, I thought “In Europe? Really?” Then on second thought “Oh, right. Europe.” The thing is, I both associate Europe with good urbanism, great food, and the roots of my faith but also bad politics, immorality, and secularism. There’s no Constitutional amendment granting freedom of religious expression. Europe is like a group of teenage rebels who are trying to distance themselves from their Mother, the Church. France has been referred to as the “eldest daughter of the Church” or something like that and it seems like she’s fulfilling that right here and now.

Yes, I know the law is specifically aimed at Muslim Friday worship (that of course has some Implications for Freedom of Religion) but according to the government, it is its duty to keep all public spaces secular. “Praying in the street is not dignified for religious practice and violates the principles of secularism.” (Claude Guéant) Not dignified? Has this man ever seen traditional Catholic ritual? It was designed to be dignified. What’s not dignified is couples making out against a church wall (it happens, I’ve seen it). This is secularism in the public spaces and yes, in Italy it is not frowned upon, I guess. But if prayer doesn’t belong in the public spaces of our cities, then sexual intimacy certainly should be banned.

Apparently, it was already against the law to publicly worship, block streets etc., so why make it a new law to completely ban prayer? I mean, prayer can be almost anything and it is often pretty small, although it can be a big deal.

Now I have been known to make the sign of the cross in public. I have been in Eucharistic Processions in public. I have, in short, prayed in public. And if I lived in France, I would be pretty furious. In fact, I kind of am now. Living in America, you always hear doomsayers talking about things like this, but prayer still happens in public. In Italy, the Faith is a very public thing (although, to be honest, I haven’t seen anyone actually praying in public). In France, though, they seem to be a little messed up. Yes, the law is about huge gatherings of Muslims blocking the street every Friday, and maybe they have to do something about that. But to actually outlaw public prayer not because it is merely a nuisance to traffic, but because the streets must be secular??? It boggles my mind. What will the faithful do for Eucharistic Processions? Will the police crack down on people making the sign of the Cross? Will saying “God bless you” be a jailable offense? Il Mio Dio, non sia cosí!

I may have to go to Paris and pray the Angelus at the Arc de Triomphe. Let’s see what happens.

Photo: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/16/7795148-french-ban-on-praying-in-the-streets-goes-into-effect-today

Nathaniel Gotcher

Nathaniel Gotcher

is a 20 year old architecture student at the University of Notre Dame. His architectural preference is the Gothic and also listens to anonymous 12th Century polyphony. However his listening habits are not merely medieval. He also enjoys Baroque music, 60s Rock and Christian Punk Pop. He is also an avid reader and a part-time philosopher. He is an idealist and also occasionally gives into his monarchist tendencies. He reflects on life at holyintheworld.blogspot.com and blathers on about important irrelevancies at theamericancommoner.blogspot.com

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10 thoughts on “Praying in the Streets”

  1. Pretty soon it’ll be “undignified” for churches to display a crucifix or Biblical scene on the exterior of the building, ancient and beautiful artistic value aside. Wouldn’t want to remind secularists that there’s such a thing as religion, after all. That might infringe on their religious freedom.

  2. Your post humours me, as we regard the USA, with their ban on organized prayer in schools and the more recent censorship on prayers during military funerals etc, to be pro religious freedom in name, but anti religious freedom in reality.
    Now of course, I realise this is only partly true, as it’s a one sided view. However, the same can be said about your post above. Europe is a group of very diverse countries. France is the most secularised country in Europe, over 30 % of the inhabitants don’t believe in a god, spirit, life force … In other countries, such as Ireland, Romania, Poland or Greece, that number is down to not even 5 %. And what about Hungary, where they are going to ban abortion?

  3. Ciska, I would agree about the US, although there are nuances to the idea of “Religious Expression” that have not yet been ironed out. I think my point about Europe was that in Rome at least the Church is a live and well and there doesn’t seem to be any problems and then a problem arises in France and the reaction is to shut down public prayer all together. I don’t think (at least I hope) that that would never be allowed in America. Even Ireland though is becoming more and more anti-religion, which is sad. Also, wasn’t it Liechtenstein or Luxembourg where the Prince is possibly using Executive power to ban abortion?

    Anna, already it is considered offensive by some for Catholic institutions to internally display crucifixes (I’m thinking Georgetown, thankfully ND hasn’t stopped to this.)

  4. I guess the reason for the extreme reaction is the fear to be labeled as discriminating. To say “no more Friday prayer in the streets” would be discriminating, to say “no more prayer by anyone on any moment in the streets” isn’t. Lame, I know.
    The religious climate is changing in Europe. We’re going from a cultural religion to a religion-by-choice. I don’t really think that’s a negative movement, but it does change a lot in the way religion is expressed. It’s positive that young people are very open about religion, but the older generations (35 – 75) is very negative about organized religion. Even those who come to mass each week.
    Actually, the Grand Duke of Luxemburg refused to sign the law to legalize euthanasia in 2008, as a result he was stripped of his political powers. Just like our former King Boudewijn, bless his soul, refused to sign a law to legalize abortion in the nineties. Boudewijn actually resigned because of this and was reinstated the next day. The prince of Liechtenstein recently also made it known that he will not sign a similar law.
    The European nobility is actually very often exactly that: nobel!

  5. We are of course encountering the phenomenon of a “creative minority” that BXVI talked about. The whole religion-by-choice movement will result in less religious people, but it may yet be an extremely fertile ground for Saints. I’m currently writing a novel in which this exact thing happens in 50 years. The Church is outlawed from practicing publicly (including owning churches). Who knows? This may happen, but I sincerely hope it will not.

    Huzzah for the European Nobility! Just the phrase “King Boudewijn” makes a smile come to my face.

  6. Sadly, the “ban” on abortion which Hungary has implemented is simply hype. In reality, what they did was introduce a constitutional amendment which defines life as starting at conception BUT there are NO plans to actually crack down on abortion 🙁

    On the upside, however, not only are there churches on every street corner in Budapest but people are actually in them. The church I frequently attend for daily Mass has 6 Masses on weekdays and more than that on Sundays and they are all at least decently (ok… the 6am often has only around 30 people but, still) attended.

    Source — I live here.

  7. I’m sorry to hear this … I really thought there was going to be a big change. Hungary is very close to my heart, as I lived there for almost a year.
    How great that there are so many people coming to church in Budapest. I’ve never been to mass in Hungary (wasn’t Catholic at the time), so I didn’t know there are this many people attending. I think 30 people for a 6am mass is lots of people. We hardly get 30 for a Sunday morning mass.
    Good to hear from a Catholic in Hungary, I’m going to read your blog!

  8. That’s great to hear about Hungary (the Mass thing, not the abortion thing). Same here in Italia, although the Masses aren’t that well attended (I went into a church yesterday at 5:45 and stumbled upon a Low Mass going on at a side altar, dropped to my knees etc. There were a couple of people there.) I wish it was like this in America! At the most there are two daily masses and often there aren’t even any.

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