The American Cathedral

For some reason, most of the significant places in my ecclesiastical life have been named for the Holy Trinity (the parish in my home-town of Excelsior, where I first received Commuion; the parish in which I was ordained, and now again serve; and the Russian Orthodox monastery in upstate New York, where I first encountered Apostolic Christianity as an adult. So is the American Cathedral in Paris.

The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is a handsome neo-gothic building a bit smaller than our own Cathedral of St. Mark in MPLS. It serves as the center of the Episcopal Church (as distinct from the British, Anglican Church) in Europe. The Bishop is the Presiding Bishop in New York (now a woman) and the one who actully lives here is called the "Bishop-in-charge." The parishes of the diocese are in cities all over Europe, mostly in Germany and Italy, in addition to France. Though founded originally to serve ex-pats and military, there is an increasing ministry to indigenous Europeans. Many of them are married to Americans, others are people who wish to worship in the Catholic tradition, but can't stand (or due to divorce and remarriage aren't welcome in) the Roman Catholic Church. Holy Trinity Cathedral has liturgies and other programs in French as well as English, and at least one lesson at the main service is always read in French.

The Cathedral is at a very good address, Avenue de Georges V, just a couple of blocks toward the Seine from the Champs Elysees, next door to the Most Expensive Hotel in the World (Paris Four Seasons). I saw two Morgans and a Bentley convertible parked outside, and distinguished-looking men in striped pants on the street. And not-so-distinguished-looking men in denim and high boots and rough jackets and stubble beards, standing in clumps near the entrance to the church. Out of place? No, security. Protection from terrorists provided to the Americans by the nice French police!

A contralto, Denise Graves - who must be the re-incarnation of Marian Anderson, sang a spiritual called "Give Me Jesus", to the accompaninment of the rebuilt baroque piano (all florentine inlay woodwork). As they say, there wasn't a dry seat in the house. I have never heard such a powerful lower register. Apparently, she's a regular at the cathedral. Another is the old lady Sharif once heard read the lesson. He was quite impressed with her elocution, and went up to her at coffee hour with congratulations. "Oh, thank you!" She said. "I was quite nervous about whether I could get it right."

Then she introduced herself as Olivia de Haviland! (For you younger readers, she was one of the stars of Gone With the Wind, in 1939.) She's ninety years old.

Right across the street is a nice little Lebanese restaurant called Diwan, which has a very adequate buffet (at the more-than-adequate price of 26 euros or about $30, but you just have to grin and bear it, these days, and after all, this is the toniest part of town). And right down the street, is Crazy Horse, the famous up-scale strip-club.

Only in Paris.