Crucifix Necessary In New Church?

[awyers]

A new church is being built in which Jesus is depicted as resurrected with no sign of a cross. I always assumed the crucifix had to be present in some fashion in the Church to drive home the sacrifical nature of the Mass. Is this not the case? Can one have any depiction of Jesus or is no depcition of Christ's sacrifice necessary. A photo of what I mean can be seen here: http://www.stpadrepiochurch.org/en/construction_week93_2010.html

[dUSt]

From The General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/chapter5.shtml#sect3

[quote][b]308.[/b] There is also to be a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon it, either on the altar or near it, where it is clearly visible to the assembled congregation. It is appropriate that such a cross, which calls to mind for the faithful the saving Passion of the Lord, remain near the altar even outside of liturgical celebrations.[/quote]

So yes, a crucifix must be present. It doesn't necessarily mean that the figure of Christ on the wall has to be a crucifix though. I've been in churches where the crucifix is freestanding, near the altar--which I would assume will be the case in this new church. If they completely replace the crucifix with the image of the risen Christ, then it would be in violation of church instruction.

[CatherineM]

I grew up in a parish with that kind of painting behind the altar. It was a work of art, done by a priest who was an award winning painter. We had a fire in 1971, so the church was rebuilt during that chaos right after Vatican II. The previous crucifix was the only thing that had survived the fire, and it had turned into this solid hard, black charcoal thing that some people considered to be a miracle. It wasn't appropriate for the altar area any more and was placed at the top of the choir loft. I'm trying to remember if we had another crucifix and can't remember one. There may have been a small one on the altar, but I don't remember. In a lot of ways, it didn't seem like a real church anymore, or at least not a Catholic one. Back then though, a lot of that was happening.

[Theoketos]

The trouble maker in me says buy an alter crucifix and put it on the altar facing the priest.

http://www.google.com/products?q=altar+crucifix&safe=on&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=eBF8TKPGNsGqlAf6rq3sCw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&ved=0CCAQ_AU