Church Architecture

[Resurrexi]

I thought this picture of a Rococo church was worth posting:

[img]http://i41.tinypic.com/2igoh7t.jpg[/img]

[eagle_eye222001]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1864704' date='May 11 2009, 11:43 PM'].......


I went to a talk by this one architect in Toronto who designed this "eco friendly" church or something like that. My Ukranian Catholic friend and I sat there agreeing with his commentary on early churches and so on, but when he started talking about his design, we were like "whaa?" Basically, it's a church that is made of concrete, has one wall with just windows, and this roof thing that pertrudes into the air at a certain angle so it blocks the sun in the summer, but lets it though in the winter. The walls inside are concrete. There is no care for separation of the altar and the people... it's really just another box building. the big thing they have is their garden out front (not really) and the underground parking. My point? It's not about people funding stuff anymore, it's people's paradigms.[/quote]

I hope and pray no one ever gives him funding.

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[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='mcts' post='1863412' date='May 10 2009, 02:49 AM']actually, i sometimes attend a parish that is a converted office building

[url="http://image57.webshots.com/57/1/84/21/461518421aSIgUT_ph.jpg"]here's[/url] the link to the picture since i can't get it to show up on here.

i can't find a picture of the inside, but it's actually beautiful. The sanctuary area has a ton of statues and stuff and except for the low ceiling, it feels more "churchy" than other churches that i've been to that were built for the purpose of being a church. It's also one of the most orthodox parishes i've ever known of. If i lived closer (it's an hour and a half away) it would definitely be my regular parish. I love it!

edit: picture didn't show up.[/quote]

Well clearly a great exception to the rule. Cool. It's the [u]unnecessary [/u]bareness inside and outside that many churches have that I find troubling.

There a parish which I attended once that similar to the one you speak of, ugly as all get up on the outside, but once you walk into it.... Wow....

[Nihil Obstat]

I think Gothic will always be my favourite. It suits my personality.

[Resurrexi]

Gothic is beautiful. Sometimes gothic church architecture can be a little plain, however. Rococo always avoids plainness.

[TotusTuusMaria]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1866543' date='May 13 2009, 09:21 PM']I thought this picture of a Rococo church was worth posting:

[img]http://i41.tinypic.com/2igoh7t.jpg[/img][/quote]

beautiful.

i'm not caring for the confessional. it reminds me of... ice-cream, candy-land, and gingerbread.

[url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_71ZPiLxOVfU/Sgn1MGV5zSI/AAAAAAAAC_U/BzZZPsptafE/s1600-h/P1010435.JPG"]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_71ZPiLxOVfU/Sgn1...-h/P1010435.JPG[/url]

more pics: [url="http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2009/05/catholic-bamberg-vierzehnheiligen.html"]http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2009/...hnheiligen.html[/url]

Edited May 14, 2009 by TotusTuusMaria

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='TotusTuusMaria' post='1866938' date='May 14 2009, 03:56 AM']beautiful.

i'm not caring for the confessional. it reminds me of... ice-cream, candy-land, and gingerbread.[/quote]

Where is the confessional? I can't seem to locate it...

It is very bright... and the light seems to come in from different angles. I imagine it was a controversial design at its time.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='AdAltareDei' post='1863854' date='May 10 2009, 11:58 PM']What would your plan be to re-invigorate the dying Church be, Jason? [/quote]

Thought you'd never ask...

Of course, the only way any Church is every reinvigorated is by God's grace, but God does use people like St. Francis to awaken hearts and call his people to repentance. We just need to keep in mind that it's not our work that will get the job done unless we are actively listening to and seeking God in order to recognize his voice. After all, there are countless ways one might go about rebuilding the Church, but God calls us in one direction.

That said, I wouldn't have a lot of novel ideas of my own... my theme would involve taking a lot of pages out of Evangelical playbooks. Since you can't focus on everything, and knowing how most Catholics are poorly catechized, the emphasis would be education and catechesis...

- Place a strong emphasis on studying the Scriptures with commentary and studies taking a prominent position in the diocese newspaper and parish newsletters or bulletins
- Small home-based groups organized for every parish and make it an expectation that parishioners be involved in one if they expect to consider themselves active members of the local Church
- Raise the standards of religious education everywhere from schools to RCIA
- Invest resources in RCIA and getting those who completed RCIA in the past few years involved in ministries and small groups
- Preaching! Priests and deacons not only need to be trained in it, but -- most importantly -- must be an urgency about preaching the Word and preachers must honestly believe that the Gospel is relevant to every person and that the whole community needs Christ (lazy preaching, I think, is at the root of most of our problems... the sheep are scattered with so many hired hands and so few shepherds)
- Technology: I'd revamp web sites to be artistic, attractive, and useful (like [url="http://www.marshill.org/"]Mars Hill[/url] and [url="http://www.willowcreek.org/"]Willow Creek[/url] do quite well) and make the diocese web site a central point for finding out what various parish-based organizations are doing, events being held, etc. along with being a true resource for Catholic teaching in a way that relates to the local community (how you reach to ex-Catholics is different from reaching to anti-Catholics or agnostics)
- Now that we have a Christian community that exists primarily online at lifechurch.tv, I'd want to a local Catholic diocese use similar techniques to spread the Truth to the world... I might even peitition the bishop to establish an online parish, St. Isidore, whose diocese would be the Internet
- Encourage creativity and beauty by sponsoring art exhibits, musical artists, song writing, book discussions, etc. This involves Church architecture too, and I'd want to establish some standards that all parishes could meet without too much trouble or money spent, such as where tabernacles are placed, beauty of the sanctuary, positioning those seated in the sanctuary towards Christ instead of the congregation, etc.

So that's a start... some ideas are a bit out there, but we need to be entrepreneurs and risk-takers for the Kingdom. Do we want to be fully alive and make the most of every day God gives us on this earth? Or are we just trying to survive and get to heaven? I think too many of us (Catholics in general, not phatmassers) are in the latter camp, including priests and bishops, and sooner or later we need to get into the other camp if we hope to save the world.

[Lord Philip]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1860310' date='May 6 2009, 09:47 PM']I always preferred Baroque and Gothic.

Am I missing some fundemental point of this thread? Why would Rococo be particularly preferable?[/quote]

Yes Rococo! Yes Baroque! Yes Gothic!

Anything but this ugly modern horse manure.

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='eagle_eye222001' post='1866548' date='May 13 2009, 09:25 PM']I hope and pray no one ever gives him funding.

----------------
Now playing: [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+all-american+rejects/track/dance+inside"]The All-American Rejects - Dance Inside[/url]
via [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/"]FoxyTunes[/url][/quote]
The church has been built...