The Catechism on Parish Worship Space

October 21, 2008

Below are parts of the Catechism that describe how a church’s design expresses a church’s belief. In other words, your architecture will say something about what you believe. Your space says a lot. It can’t say nothing. I am convinced that some Catholic parishes were designed the way they were pretty much to express rebellion at tradition around them…and that is conveyed by their worship space. I was in a parish a few weeks ago that clearly tried the “trendy” thing in the early 1970s, and it hasn’t aged well.

There is a reason the Church believes that a parish’s space should properly reflect Catholic belief, and not be “out there.” Read the excerpts below and you will see why a Catholic parish (at least a well-designed one) “feels like church” while a modern white-walled box leaves us cold.

The worship “in Spirit and in truth”of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place. The whole earth is sacred and entrusted to the children of men. What matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the “living stones,” gathered to be “built into a spiritual house.” For the Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, “we are the temple of the living God.”

When the exercise of religious liberty is not thwarted, Christians construct buildings for divine worship. These visible churches are not simply gathering places but signify and make visible the Church living in this place, the dwelling of God with men reconciled and united in Christ.

A church, “a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble, and where is worshipped the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful – this house ought to be in good taste and a worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial.” In this “house of God” the truth and the harmony of the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place.

The altar of the New Covenant is the Lord’s Cross, from which the sacraments of the Paschal mystery flow. On the altar, which is the center of the church, the sacrifice of the Cross is made present under sacramental signs. The altar is also the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are invited. In certain Eastern liturgies, the altar is also the symbol of the tomb (Christ truly died and is truly risen).

The tabernacle is to be situated “in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor.” The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.

The sacred chrism (myron), used in anointings as the sacramental sign of the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, is traditionally reserved and venerated in a secure place in the sanctuary. The oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick may also be placed there.

The chair of the bishop (cathedra) or that of the priest “should express his office of presiding over the assembly and of directing prayer.”

The lectern (ambo): “The dignity of the Word of God requires the church to have a suitable place for announcing his message so that the attention of the people may be easily directed to that place during the liturgy of the Word.”

The gathering of the People of God begins with Baptism; a church must have a place for the celebration of Baptism (baptistry) and for fostering remembrance of the baptismal promises (holy water font).

The renewal of the baptismal life requires penance. A church, then, must lend itself to the expression of repentance and the reception of forgiveness, which requires an appropriate place to receive penitents.

A church must also be a space that invites us to the recollection and silent prayer that extend and internalize the great prayer of the Eucharist.

Finally, the church has an eschatological significance. To enter into the house of God, we must cross a threshold, which symbolizes passing from the world wounded by sin to the world of the new Life to which all men are called. The visible church is a symbol of the Father’s house toward which the People of God is journeying and where the Father “will wipe every tear from their eyes.”Also for this reason, the Church is the house of all God’s children, open and welcoming (1179-1186).

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Posted by David Bennett

“Epitaph” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

August 27, 2008

Stop, Christian passer-by : Stop, child of God,
And read, with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seem’d he–
O, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.–
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in life, may here find life in death :
Mercy for praise–to be forgiven for fame–
He ask’d, and hoped through Christ. Do thou the same (”Epitaph” by S.T. Coleridge).

I have always had a soft spot for Romantic poetry (not poems about romance), particularly Coleridge and Wordsworth. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a romantic poet, and former Unitarian who eventually came to believe in the Trinity, Original Sin, and other tenets of classical Anglican Christianity. Like most romantics, he was reacting against an overemphasis on mechanical thinking that permeated society and religion following the enlightenment. Showing his disdain for the mechanistic thinking of Unitarianism, Coleridge once remarked, “Unitarianism is the worst of Atheism joined to the worst of Calvinism, like two asses tied tail to tail.” Let’s face it, a purely mechanistic understanding of reality doesn’t allow much room for the Trinity or a Christ that is 100% human and 100% divine.

Coleridge’s thoughts on “Imagination” are quite fascinating, and helped me become Catholic, providing me with a tool to discover the sacramental character of reality (I’ll probably post more on this later — my copy of Symbolic Imagination by Robert Barth, S.J., is at my parents; I haven’t read it since becoming Catholic, so it will be interesting to see what I think of it now). Hmm, this turned from a post about a poem to a small post on Romanticism and Coleridge!

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Posted by David Bennett

Cathedrals Versus Conference Centers

April 25, 2008

A new poll shows that the unchurched (those who haven’t attended church for 6 months, except for religious holidays and special events) prefer traditional church architecture to contemporary looking churches, by nearly 2 to 1. And the interesting part of the survey? Young people ages 25-34 showed the greatest preference for traditional church architecture! I am almost 30, and even though I attended a church that architecturally resembled a conference center for about six months, even as an evangelical, I was strongly drawn to more traditional looking church buildings.

The authors of the survey admit that gothic and other traditional looking churches are still in decline. This is because factors other than exterior appearance influence the decision to attend a church, but nonetheless, it shows that despite claims for years that churches had to “look modern” to attract modern people, people still prefer traditional architecture. Hopefully surveys like this will encourage Catholic parishes and dioceses to look to the past when looking for church architectural design ideas, instead of assuming modern people want plain churches!

I am a little suspicious of this survey, and its implications, for a variety of reasons. First, like the authors of the study admit, the exterior look of a church probably doesn’t have a whole lot to do with church growth. Even if people prefer the look of a gothic cathedral, the evangelical mega-church next door to the gothic cathedral may very well be thriving while the cathedral is declining, because the evangelical church actually makes an effort to reach out to people! Second, people are unchurched for a variety of reasons, and basing our choices of architecture, worship, etc, on the unchurched raises serious problems. While we need to certainly reach out to those who are not churched, Christian practice and belief are not negotiable based on their appeal to the masses. Regardless, I think this survey shows that what some church leaders assume people want (the new, the innovative) is often different than what people actually want. As someone who prefers more traditional looking churches (although I am not interested in trashing all modern looking churches, or boycotting them, etc), I am glad to see others agree, even if they are unchurched!

Image from: friend.ly.net/~kellybr/ireland_2001/index.htm

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Posted by David Bennett

Cathedrals of the World

March 30, 2008

One of my great interests/hobbies is to visit Catholic churches. One of the reasons why I like visiting churches is because I like church architecture and sacred art. Admittedly, I don’t like all architectural styles. In general, I prefer traditional church architecture over modern architecture.

Another thing I like to do is to travel. Unfortunately, I’m not able to travel much so I have to be content with looking at pictures of churches from around the world.

Anyway, for those interested, I have compiled this list of five metropolitan cathedrals which correspond to the top five nations in terms of the number of Catholics in that country. When I say “metropolitan cathedral”, I’m referring to the chief church of a nation. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Jorge Flores