Nihil Obstat Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 That Church has a nicely polished floor. Indeed. I am always impressed when a church has good stone floors, rather than ugly carpeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidei Defensor Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Oh, that is unfortunate. :( A much better arrangement would be to have the main altar in the apse, ideally with a good baldachin, then proper quire seating and a proper Lady's Chapel on the east end, which would then have the tabernacle on it. Yeah. If Cardinal Burke was still the Bishop, it would have probably been changed. Here is a good example of a well designed Church which was constructed with the direction of Burke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 That Church reminds me of St. Cecilia's in San Francisco: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Yeah. If Cardinal Burke was still the Bishop, it would have probably been changed. Here is a good example of a well designed Church which was constructed with the direction of Burke: Absolutely. That is a very well done church. Makes me sad because my local cathedral could easily be arranged quite like this, but instead it is very bland and empty. Poor use of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissScripture Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Eastern Christian tabernacles will often be made to look like a Church (sometimes they are even made to look like the Church they are placed in): That's how it was at the Oratory in Ave Maria when I was there. I like that idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissScripture Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 My home parish Main chapel The grey below the crucifix is a marble baptismal and holy water font. The floor actually sinks where the alter is so all the pews sit a little higher than the alter until you get to the front row. Look at the change in floor height from the holy water font to the altar and you'll see what I mean. This means any pens or round toys that fall roll towards the altar. Day chapel for daily mass. This is also where the extraordinary form is said when a visiting priest from another location in our diocese who knows it offers mass for us. This is the room where the tabernacle is. Yes the big brown box is the tabernacle. The glass behind it is the main chapel. The entrance to the day chapel is right across from the entrance to this room. This room is also where confessions are held (no confessional or screen). I thought it was required that tabernacles be made of metal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mortify Posted March 22, 2013 Author Share Posted March 22, 2013 Is anything really required anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Is anything really required anymore? It is not so much that nothing is required anymore. It is simply that many people ignore what is required, and that action is rarely if ever taken to enforce what is required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyAnn Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I am particularly fond of our cathedral. The tabernacle is in a chapel to the right of the main sanctuary: The main altar: I am lucky our diocese seems to have generally excellent architecture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I am particularly fond of our cathedral. The tabernacle is in a chapel to the right of the main sanctuary: The main altar: I am lucky our diocese seems to have generally excellent architecture. It would be preferable if the tabernacle were not off to the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidei Defensor Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Absolutely. That is a very well done church. Makes me sad because my local cathedral could easily be arranged quite like this, but instead it is very bland and empty. Poor use of space. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe was and still is Cardinal Burke's baby. Its a beautiful place, winding meditation trails, chapel of prayer candles, and of course the Shrine Church. There is also a monastery connected to the Church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappo Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Oh dear. That must be one of the worst I have ever seen. It's less than 10 years old and we spent TONS of money on it. I'm not super pleased and it really makes it hard for me to want to tithe any great amount to my parish. I could see how it could be fixed to an extent... up where the main icon is, place a high altar in that niche, fill in the center of the floor to even it out so everything is the same height, make the tabernacle room a cry room with speakers hooked up to the sound system or put an actual confessional in there... The main chapel would still be a somewhat awkward space just due to the dimensions and the height and style of the ceiling. That Church is too modern looking for me. It is interesting that they have included Byzantine style icons, but they seem to be unaware of the placement of icons within a temple. The icons appear to have been reduced to a form of decoration. Yes it's quite odd. I wish there would be some catechesis on proper reverence of an icon. It's also curious to me that our Roman parish is filled with Eastern styled icons rather than the more traditional roman statues. I believe this is because one of the deacons of our diocese is an iconographer and wrote all the icons himself. He also wrote the icons for the Ruthenian Catholic parish in Anchorage, AK which are very beautifully used in my inexperienced opinion. You can find a slideshow here: http://www.ak-byz-cath.org/detailtour.html (link doesn't seem to work, just google St. Nicholas of Myra Anchorage, AK, go to the mini tour and click the link to icon and interior details. I couldn't find a good picture of the entire iconostasis on their website, but I've visited the parish a couple times and loved it. I would probably join the parish and change Churches if I lived in Anchorage. As far as the tabernacle is concerned, it has been placed on a pedestal, which is most inappropriate, because the altar and the tabernacle are inseparable. That and it's a box... we've really pushed to have the tabernacle at least moved to the sanctuary... I thought it was required that tabernacles be made of metal? I believe you are correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice_nine Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 hrm I don't think I've ever seen the tabernacle on the altar, it's always been behind it in my spearience, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 (edited) hrm I don't think I've ever seen the tabernacle on the altar, it's always been behind it in my spearience, This was an unfortunate result of the more or less wholesale abandonment of the high altar. (With regards to the west specifically.) Here is a picture of the altar at the Mass I attend every week: You can see the tabernacle right in the center, with one of the altar cards in front of it. Edited March 23, 2013 by Nihil Obstat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicansoul Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 (edited) Yeah. If Cardinal Burke was still the Bishop, it would have probably been changed. Here is a good example of a well designed Church which was constructed with the direction of Burke: The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe was and still is Cardinal Burke's baby. Its a beautiful place, winding meditation trails, chapel of prayer candles, and of course the Shrine Church. There is also a monastery connected to the Church. I went there on a road trip once. It is now one of my favorite places in the whole world. When I went, it was in late February, and the place was practically abandoned. There were only 3 people including myself at the Mass!!!!! They were advertising confession after Mass, so I walked up to the confessional and stood there waiting. I was the only one in line. I had that Franciscan priest all to myself! :) He allowed me to have more of a confession/spiritual direction time in their beautiful traditional confessional. Afterwards, I asked him why the place was not filled to the brim with pilgrims, and he said to pray for their mission there. The place gets pilgrims in warmer weather. I just thought it was kinda sad to have such a beautiful "heaven on earth" and it not have crowds there everyday... Edited March 23, 2013 by dominicansoul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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