I should probably start off by saying that I am a Catholic. It was hard to watch the footage and look at pictures of the building burning. It was quite moving at first to see the amount of money and effort people poured into the repair efforts, but I quickly realized that it was almost unnecessary. The Catholic Church is one of the wealthiest religious organizations in the world, so do they really need all these donations?

I understand why people want to donate towards the rebuilding of the cathedral, but imagine what would happen if the world put in that much passion towards other incidents, such as the 3 black churches in Louisiana that were set on fire as a result of a hate crime, or to help out with problems that their own community is facing. As a Catholic, I believe that people should consider donating towards other causes before donating towards the efforts of rebuilding the Notre Dame.

For starters, the French government has already pledged to have the Notre Dame be rebuilt within the next 5 years. This means that there is a load of money that is going to be available for rebuilding. In addition to that, there have been large donations made by wealthy individuals towards the rebuilding as well. This shows that there is already a large sum of money that can cover repairs and potentially make it even grander than before. I can't think of any other religious group where whole governments and other groups with large influence would give copious amounts of money to, which in some ways saddens me.

To me, no religion should be more important or seen as better than other religions. Whenever I see people post about helping out a wealthy and powerful church, but seem to turn a blind eye when a mosque, temple, or even a church of another denomination is destroyed, I can't help but think if these "religious people" are truly upholding the values of whatever institution they belong to.

I know that as a Catholic, and I'm sure that this applies to other religions and sects of Christianity to, that love is to be spread to others, even if they are different than us. I also know that if you have plenty of something, whether that be food, money, or other resources, that you should give it to someone who is less fortunate.

The Catholic Church and Notre Dame its self are already receiving so much love and support after the fire, so I don't think that giving them more money will do much. So the next time you are considering donating that extra $5, please give it to those who are truly struggling.