I was waiting for the inevitable "hur dur why are we spending money on this"
If it makes you feel any better the funds are probably going to come largely/entirely from private charity and the people behind know rebuilding notre dame makes fine business sense even if you have no sympathy for the church.
Not really, maintainer is a more vague term implying any level of access and authority. Plus its more letters to type out forever over and over because someone theoretically was crying over this.