Photos: Chicago Cathedral Fire & Cleanup

This story began my reporting today. It seemed appropriate to bookend with these:

[Photos 1-3: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast. Photo 4: AP Photo/Chicago Sun-Times, Brian Jackson]

The cause? Still unknown:

About a dozen fire trucks responded to the church at State and Superior streets, near Northwestern University. Firefighters did an "excellent" job keeping the fire from spreading, Langford said, adding that the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Archdiocese officials said the five cardinals' hats, or galeros, suspended from the ceiling were drenched but remain intact. Each hat had been raised after a cardinal's death.

The fire started in an attic area where major repairs were being made. The cathedral had been closed for six months to undergo major structural repairs and had reopened at the end of August, church officials noted. The current work was being done on support beams. (CNN)

Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic, but after covering the Marciel and SSPX stories so intensly over the last couple days, this Catherdral fire struck me as a metaphor for the trials the Church is currently undergoing. Cardinal George, when asked about his reaction to the fire, said today:

"Chicago has always bounced back from fires, and I think we'll bounce back from this one," he said.

Well, the Church has always bounced back from fires, too, and I know she'll bounce back from this one.