Do Bishops Knowingly Allow Churches To Be Ugly?

[Lil Red]

so i have been reading the encyclical letter, '[url="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/special_features/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_20030417_ecclesia_eucharistia_en.ml"]Ecclesia de Eucharistia[/url]' with a study group. it's been very educational to me to read this wonderful document. as i was reading the letter, i got to thinking about how churches now are built very ugly. from chapter five, [u]The Dignity of the Eucharistic Celebration[/u], numbers 47 through 52 (i've taken only the parts that got me thinking):

[quote]47. The account continues, in the Synoptic Gospels, with Jesus' charge to the disciples to prepare carefully the “large upper room” needed for the Passover meal (cf. Mk 14:15; Lk 22:12) and with the narration of the institution of the Eucharist.

48. Like the woman who anointed Jesus in Bethany, [b]the Church has feared no “extravagance”, devoting the best of her resources to expressing her wonder and adoration before the unsurpassable gift of the Eucharist.[/b] No less than the first disciples charged with preparing the “large upper room”, she has felt the need, down the centuries and in her encounters with different cultures, [b]to celebrate the Eucharist in a setting worthy of so great a mystery.[/b] In the wake of Jesus' own words and actions, and building upon the ritual heritage of Judaism, the Christian liturgy was born. Could there ever be an adequate means of expressing the acceptance of that self-gift which the divine Bridegroom continually makes to his Bride, the Church, by bringing the Sacrifice offered once and for all on the Cross to successive generations of believers and thus becoming nourishment for all the faithful? [b]Though the idea of a “banquet” naturally suggests familiarity, the Church has never yielded to the temptation to trivialize this “intimacy” with her Spouse by forgetting that he is also her Lord[/b] and that the “banquet” always remains a sacrificial banquet marked by the blood shed on Golgotha. The Eucharistic Banquet is truly a “sacred” banquet, in which the simplicity of the signs conceals the unfathomable holiness of God: O sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur! The bread which is broken on our altars, offered to us as wayfarers along the paths of the world, is panis angelorum, the bread of angels, which cannot be approached except with the humility of the centurion in the Gospel: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof ” (Mt 8:8; Lk 7:6).

49. [b]With this heightened sense of mystery, we understand how the faith of the Church in the mystery of the Eucharist has found historical expression not only in the demand for an interior disposition of devotion, but also in outward forms meant to evoke and emphasize the grandeur of the event being celebrated.[/b] This led progressively to the development of a particular form of regulating the Eucharistic liturgy, with due respect for the various legitimately constituted ecclesial traditions. On this foundation a rich artistic heritage also developed. Architecture, sculpture, painting and music, moved by the Christian mystery, have found in the Eucharist, both directly and indirectly, a source of great inspiration.

Such was the case, for example, with architecture, which witnessed the transition, once the historical situation made it possible, from the first places of Eucharistic celebration in the domus or “homes” of Christian families to the solemn basilicas of the early centuries, to the imposing cathedrals of the Middle Ages, and to the churches, large and small, which gradually sprang up throughout the lands touched by Christianity. [b]The designs of altars and tabernacles within Church interiors were often not simply motivated by artistic inspiration but also by a clear understanding of the mystery.[/b] The same could be said for sacred music, if we but think of the inspired Gregorian melodies and the many, often great, composers who sought to do justice to the liturgical texts of the Mass. Similarly, can we overlook the enormous quantity of artistic production, ranging from fine craftsmanship to authentic works of art, in the area of Church furnishings and vestments used for the celebration of the Eucharist?[/quote]

with the bolded parts above, can we not say that each Church is to be built in accordance to the grandeur that is the Eucharist that we are celebrating? do the Bishops know of this document, and if so, how can they approve plans of churches to be built that fall so short of such grandeur? that are (for lack of a better term) Protestant looking (bland, no sign of the event that is celebrated there daily). and how can they not tell churches that fall short to make the church more beautiful? it can be done.

[gamesfanatic04]

The problem is gly is such a subjective term. I think my own church is quite beautiful but when a close frined who attends Mass at the Cathedral visted me his exact words were "Wow, Father Time really took a bat to this place"

[Lil Red]

i think when Catholic churches are so bland that they do nothing to edify you, nothing that uplifts your soul to God - that is ugly.

["Kyrie eleison"]

[quote name='gamesfanatic04' post='1310974' date='Jul 3 2007, 12:28 PM']The problem is gly is such a subjective term. I think my own church is quite beautiful but when a close frined who attends Mass at the Cathedral visted me his exact words were "Wow, Father Time really took a bat to this place"[/quote]

Beauty can be found in the least likely places. In the parish that I was married in I noticed that they use erasers rubberbanded to the kneelers so that it want leave an imprint on the wooden flooring. I would call it very cost effective. It is a smaller parish with many older and devout parishoners.

[Apotheoun]

Church's should be beautiful! Here's a picture of my favorite local Russian Orthodox Church:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/apotheoun/holy_virgin.jpg[/img]

[prose]

Whose taste decide what is beautiful? I love old traditional churches, but what about someone who feels modern architecture is more beautiful??

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='prose' post='1311144' date='Jul 3 2007, 12:02 PM']Whose taste decide what is beautiful? I love old traditional churches, but what about someone who feels modern architecture is more beautiful??[/quote]
This is the role of Tradition. It is important that people recognize the fact that the Church does not "recreate" herself with each new generation.

[gamesfanatic04]

I always thought it terribly ironic that what I consider the most beautiful and traditional church in my area is Episcopalian. I would have a very close runner up but they don't have a Crucifix. I know what you are saying though, like Notre Dame or Chartres in France, these buildings almost demand that you fall on your knees before God, which I think is teh awesomexors, but it's mighty hard to find in the states.

Edited July 3, 2007 by gamesfanatic04

[misereremi]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1311136' date='Jul 3 2007, 07:58 PM']Church's should be beautiful! Here's a picture of my favorite local Russian Orthodox Church:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/apotheoun/holy_virgin.jpg[/img][/quote]
Wow. That's breathtakingly beautiful!!! Lil' Red thanks for the link, this is interesting. My parish church is structurally simple (probably was a barnyard) and has a basic interior but we have a large beautiful Hodegitria Mother of God icon and stained glass windows featuring some of the English martyrs. I think it's an example of how a "plain" more recently built building can be made beautiful.

[Apotheoun]

I should point out that in the Eastern tradition the use of icons is not really about creating some type of aesthetic beauty within a Church building, but is about the imparting of grace (i.e., divine energy) through the liturgical worship of the mystery of God made man.

Now, because an icon contains divine energy, it follows that it is a theophany that makes present the saint (or sacred event) depicted in it. In other words, the primary purpose of an icon is to perpetually manifest the incarnation of the eternal Logos in the life and worship of the Church.

P.S. - From a Byzantine Christian perspective the more icons there are within a Church the better.

[misereremi]

^^ interesting Apotheoun. yes, sorry, I agree- I think it makes our Church beautiful, too - but recognise that the icon has a much greater purpose and significance, "to make the invisible visible". To quote my parish priest, "The Spirit, the Word and the Icon work together to restore our lives as true icons of God." (fr. Baggley, "Icons- reading sacred images", CTS).

[MichaelF]

Give me neoGothic or give me death!

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1311187' date='Jul 3 2007, 12:37 PM']This is the role of Tradition. It is important that people recognize the fact that the Church does not "recreate" herself with each new generation.[/quote]agreed

[quote name='misereremi' post='1311239' date='Jul 3 2007, 01:12 PM']Wow. That's breathtakingly beautiful!!! Lil' Red thanks for the link, this is interesting. My parish church is structurally simple (probably was a barnyard) and has a basic interior but we have a large beautiful Hodegitria Mother of God icon and stained glass windows featuring some of the English martyrs. I think it's an example of how a "plain" more recently built building can be made beautiful.[/quote]exactly - it can be done!

[Era Might]

[quote name='misereremi' post='1311239' date='Jul 3 2007, 03:12 PM']My parish church is structurally simple (probably was a barnyard) and has a basic interior but we have a large beautiful Hodegitria Mother of God icon and stained glass windows featuring some of the English martyrs. I think it's an example of how a "plain" more recently built building can be made beautiful.[/quote]
Sounds like my Church, although it's a shrine and not a regular parish. There are three large Mosaics behind the altar.

[img]http://www.unich.it/corouda/galleria/g_dhall/images/2_jpg.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.unich.it/corouda/galleria/g_dhall/images/10_jpg.jpg[/img]

There are four small rooms (kind of like side altars but there are no altars) on each side of the Church with their own mosaics or statue. Here is the tabernacle:

[img]http://www.catholicshrines.net/states/ma3_3.jpg[/img]

It's not a regular Church, it's on the second floor of a larger shrine, so the room is kind of like an auditorium. Simple but it works because they make it beautiful with the mosaics and statues.

[aalpha1989]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1311136' date='Jul 3 2007, 01:58 PM']Church's should be beautiful! Here's a picture of my favorite local Russian Orthodox Church:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/apotheoun/holy_virgin.jpg[/img][/quote]

that IS beautiful....i know nothing about russion orthodox but

where's the altar?