acred · sacred architecture is published bi-annually for $9.95. ©2002 the institute for sacred...

Sacred Architecture Spring 2002 3

B O O K S

Spring 2002

SACRED ARCHITECTUREIssue 6

C O N T E N T S

E D I T O R I A L

2 � Rerum Supernarum Signa et Symbola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Duncan Stroik

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4 � Building the Church for 2010 � Cathedral of St. Paul Being Restored � Greek Orthodox Church toHost Olympic Visitors � Pope John Paul II Visits Damascus Mosque � New Shrine to the ImmaculateHeart of Mary Planned in Buffalo � Restoration of St. Clare’s Basilica Unveiled in Assisi, Italy �

F E A T U R E

9 � The Future of Restoration and Renewal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael S. Rose

A R T I C L E S

14 � Gem of the Boston Archdiocese: St. Catherine of Genoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Milda Richardson16 � Identity and Longevity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Enright17 � Relativism by Any Other Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Moyra Doorly20 � The Synod Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John A. Abruzzese21 � Let the Children Come to Me: On the Cry Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Dobrowski

22 � Letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship Concerning the Milwaukee Cathedral

23 � Ugly as Sin by Michael S. Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by Dino Marcantonio24 � Ancient Churches Revealed by Yoram Tsafrir, editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by David S. Heit25 �Geometry of Love by Margaret Visser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by Renee Ryan

C O M M E N T A R Y

26 � Lex Orandi Lex Aedificandi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John A. Perricone

J o u r n a l o f t h e I n s t i t u t e f o r S a c r e d A r c h i t e c t u r eThe Institute for Sacred Architecture is a non-profit organization made up of architects, clergy, educators and others interested in the discussion of significantissues related to contemporary Catholic architecture. SACRED ARCHITECTURE is published bi-annually for $9.95. ©2002 The Institute for Sacred Architecture.Address manuscripts and letters to the Editor.EDITOR: ADVISORY BOARD: PRODUCTION:Duncan Stroik John Burgee, FAIA John S. BergsmaP.O. Box 556 Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap. Thomas DietzNotre Dame IN 46556 Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B. David S. Heitvoice: (219) 271-0522 fax: (219) 271-0522 Ralph McInerny Stefan J. Molinaemail: [email protected] Thomas Gordon Smith, AIA Peter Jones

D O C U M E N T A T I O N

4 Spring 2002 Sacred Architecture

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SACRED ARCHITECTURE NEWS

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sA Greek Orthodox churchdestroyed by the collapse ofthe World Trade Center willreceive $500,000 for recon-struction from the mayor ofBari, Italy, the AssociatedPress reported. Italian For-eign Minister RenatoRuggiero announced the aidfor St. Nicholas’ Church fif-teen days after the Sept. 11tragedy. St. Nicholas is thepatron saint of Bari. “I havebrought just a small gesture ofsolidarity, but I believe it a sig-nificant one,” Ruggiero said.The church has about 80members. The building wasconstructed in 1832 and laterhoused a tavern. Greek immi-grants made it a church in 1916.

�Young monks and consecrated mem-

bers of new ecclesial movements andcommunities are taking over historicmonasteries in France. The most strikingcase is that of Mont-Saint-Michel. TheBenedictines ended a 1035-year residencyin Summer 2001 when three elderly monksmoved out and allowed a dozen membersof the Monastic Communities of Jerusalem,founded in Paris in 1975 by Pierre-MarieDelfieux, to take over. This latter group al-ready had 150 monks and nuns living inmonasteries in France and Italy. The aver-age age of the members is 32. Another caseis that of the Abbey of Dombes, a symbol ofthe world ecumenical movement. Thispast October, the last elderly Trappistmonks left this architectural complex in theDiocese of Belley-Ars, where they had re-sided for more than 140 years. The new oc-cupants will be Chemin Neuf, a Catholicmovement founded in Lyon in 1973 by Fa-ther Laurent Fabre. The Chemin Neufcommunity of Dombes will soon number30 people.

�A new study shows that people who at-

tend religious services regularly are morelikely to pick up and maintain healthyhabits than less-dedicated church-goers,Scripps-Howard News Service reported.“Individuals who regularly attended reli-gious services were more likely to becomemore physically active, quit smoking, be-come less depressed, increase social rela-tionships and initiate and maintain stablemarriages,” claimed William Strawbridge,a researcher at the Human PopulationLaboratory in Berkeley, California.

�

Building the Church for 2010, a confer-ence on Catholic liturgical architecture,was held at the Liturgical Institute at theUniversity of Saint Mary of the Lake,Mundelein Seminary, Illinois, October 25through 27, 2001. The theme of the confer-ence was continuity and renewal in Catho-lic liturgical architecture. This included alook at the rich history and tradition ofCatholic church art and architecture, aswell as how one might reclaim some of theground which has arguably been lost in thepast fifty years.

The conference featured a number ofspeakers including Rev. Robert Barron,Page Cowley, FAIA, Rev. Brian Hughes,Duncan Stroik, AIA, Denis McNamara,Rev. Jamie Lara, Virginia Raguin, and JohnYiannias.

The culmination of the conference was adesign presentation for the “Church for2010” by James McCrery of Franck,Lohsen, McCrery Architects. The designsolution was in response to a hypotheticalprogram given to the architects by the Li-turgical Institute. The presentation utilizedvideo to display a three-dimensional walk-through of the project, which was an artfuluse of the classical language of architec-ture. - Carter Hord

�For the first time, the International

Seminar of European Christian Artists—afive-day festival of art and prayer—washeld in the Italian Shrine of Oropa duringthe first week of September, 2001. Some150 people, including professors, profes-sionals and artists in fields such as music,dance, painting, sculpture, and mimejoined in the ecumenical meeting. “Spiritu-ality and art are simultaneously presenthere,” said gospel singer Aurelio Pitino, ex-plaining the reason for the choice of venue.

This sacred place in north-ern Italy is dedicated to OurLady of Oropa, representedby a Black Virgin, a woodensculpture brought here, ac-cording to tradition, by St.Eusebius. Legend attributesthe sculpture itself to St.Luke.

�

New church develop-ment among Catholicpopulations in the UnitedStates is being outpaced byother faiths, including Islamand Bahai, according to anew survey conducted byresearchers at HartfordSeminary and published

March 14, 2001, in the Washington Post.Newly organized Catholic parishes atmidcentury represented about ten percentof all new churches. That portion hasdropped to five percent, while the com-bined percentage of new Bahai, Muslim,Jewish, and Mormon congregations has in-creased from about three percent to morethan twenty percent. Evangelical Protes-tant congregations make up the largest por-tion, fifty-eight percent, of new congrega-tions. However, most new congregationsare quite small. Over half have less thanone hundred adult participants. AlthoughCatholic congregations have built few newchurches, the survey found they tend tohave the largest congregations of any faith.

�

The Archdiocese of Armagh haslaunched its Web site which contains a360-degree virtual tour of St. Patrick’s Ca-thedral. The site has 450 pages of informa-tion on the life of the archdiocese, includ-ing a section on shrines and places of pil-grimage. The site may be accessed at http://www.armagharchdiocese.org

�In August, 2001 the Archdiocese of

Caracas temporarily closed sevenchurches in the capital because of explo-sive devices found in the vicinity of someof them. In a published statement, Cardi-nal Ignacio Velasco said the cathedral andsix other churches in the city center wouldclose as a sign of “reparation and rejection”of what he called a “destructive protest.”Earlier, two explosive devices were found,and one detonated injuring a youngwoman, in churches within the capital.

�

Interior of the “Church for 2010”


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More than 400 rare items from thestunning art collection of 18th-centuryCardinal Stefano Borgia went on showthis spring and summer in a suburb ofRome. The exhibition in Velletri brings to-gether works of art from all over the worldfor the first time since Borgia’s estate wasbroken up in 1804. The cardinal was an in-satiable and eclectic collector. Many of theobjects were sent to him by Catholic mis-sions. Works include curiosities and trea-sures from ancient Greece, from pre-Ro-man times, from Egypt, Asia, the Pacific is-lands and the Americas, and even Lapland.

�

Robert D. Putnam, professor of publicpolicy at Harvard University, has beenmaking something of a stir in publicpolicy circles on both sides of the Atlanticthrough his speaking tours promoting hisnew book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse andRevival of American Community. This bookargues that people in America have be-come disconnected from their friends,neighbors and social structures, resultingin a dramatic decline of “social capital.”Putnam chooses as his icon for this declinethe local bowling leagues, which have seentheir membership decrease by two-thirdsin the last twenty-five years. Americansworship together, eat together, play to-gether, and even watch TV together far lessthan they did even a few decades ago, saysPutnam. He also sees signs of the same so-cial collapse taking place in Europe.

�

On June 8, 2001, the first chapel totwentieth-century martyrs was dedicatedin the Shrine of the Family of Fatima at thetiny town of Alexandria, South Dakota. Acommemorative tablet will list the namesof the witnesses of the faith, includingMaximilian Kolbe, who died at theAuschwitz death camp; St. Edith Stein,Carmelite nun of Jewish origin, who alsodied in Auschwitz; Italian Blessed GiannaBeretta Molla, who sacrificed her life forher unborn child; and Blessed Miguel Pro,killed in 1927 during the religious persecu-tion in Mexico.

�

The Baltimore Sun reports parishio-ners are attempting to restore the neo-Gothic sanctuary of the St. Mary, Star ofthe Sea Catholic Church to its formerglory. The ornate church once boasted alavish interior with an abundance of goldleaf. But in 1968 the carvings were takendown, the high altar torn out, statues re-moved and the church accoutrements—chalices, vestments, candlesticks, altarcloths—unceremoniously dumped outfront. Now church old-timers, as well asyoung professionals recently attracted to

Baltimore’s fashionable downtown, are ex-cited about restoring the church and re-es-tablishing links to their past. According tothe Sun, the church is part of a nationwidemovement, principally among Catholicchurches, to correct the sins of the 1960sand 1970s, when church interiors wereradically simplified and modernized togive an appearance that, only decades lat-ter, already looks dated. At the EmmanuelCollege Chapel in Boston, the grandiosehigh altar had been abandoned and asmaller altar table was set up in the middleof the church, surrounded by fan seatingthat critics said distorted the chapel’s in-tended layout. In a restoration completedlast year, the altar was restored to the frontof the church, constructed out of pieces ofthe old altar railing. At St. AlphonsusCatholic Church in Lemont, Ill., a renova-tion in the 1960s removed all ornamenta-tion and covered delicate stenciling withbeige paint. The stenciling was reapplied ina restoration completed last month. TheCollege of Notre Dame in North Baltimoreis in the midst of a $1.5 million restorationof its Theresa Hall Chapel, where a vaultedceiling was hidden by metal ducts and adrop ceiling. Pine floors had been coveredwith carpeting and plaster walls withwood paneling.

�Cathedrals for a New Century. Over

200 clergy and laity gathered October 21-23, 2001, at the University of Notre Dameto attend a symposium organized by theSchool of Architecture and the TheologyDepartment. Breakout sessions were struc-tured for presentation of New Cathedrals,Recently Refurbished Cathedrals, and Ca-thedrals to be Refurbished. Both the Schoolof Architecture and the Department of The-ology provided a critical response to thepresentations, highlighting what has been

successful or unsuccessful in these projects,and adding what implications can bedrawn from these for future projects.Projects presented ranged from restorationof the Basilica of the Assumption in Balti-more, America’s first cathedral by Ben-jamin Henry Latrobe, begun in 1806, tonew construction of the Cathedral of LosAngeles designed by Rafael Moneo. Aquestion raised at the end of the sympo-sium: Does the liturgy serve the building ordoes the building serve the liturgy? begsanother question: How can the liturgy,which is experienced sequentially in timethrough words and actions, be in harmoni-ous partnership with the architecture,which houses it through images and spaceregardless of time? – Margaret Ketcham.

�

After 85 years of Minnesota weather,the Cathedral of St. Paul is being restored.The cathedral’s 60,000 square-foot copperdomes and roofs are distressed, failing andmust be replaced. Black rubber patches dotthe roof’s exterior where breaks in the cop-per have occurred. On the dome interior,damage to the plaster is evident. All of theexterior surface stone needs to be cleanedto prevent further deterioration and returnit to its original, lighter color. The masterplan for the restoration requires $35 millionin funding and 30 months to complete.Work began on the cathedral in 1906 underthe famous Archbishop John Ireland andhis architect E.L. Masqueray. The exteriorwas completed in 1915, the interior in 1952.In addition to serving as the mother churchfor a diocese with over 750,000 Catholics,the cathedral functions prominently in thelocal community, hosting concerts, funer-als, and other civic ceremonies. It drawsmore than 200,000 tourists a year.

�

The St. Paul, Minnesota, Cathedral is being restored.


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Cardinal Roger M. Mahony announcedthat the $75-million Our Lady of AngelsCathedral is on schedule and will be dedi-cated on Sept. 2, 2002. Consecration of themassive mother church of the nation’s larg-est Roman Catholic archdiocese will comeduring two weeks of celebratory events ex-pected to draw thousands from throughoutSouthern California and the nation. Al-ready, the 11-story cathedral, designed bySpanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo, hasreached its maximum height. It will cover57,000 square feet of interior space, and, at333 feet in length, will be a foot longer thanSt. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Sev-eral 60-foot-high clerestory windows oftranslucent alabaster stone will cover27,000 square feet of surface area, more ala-baster than at any church in the world. InSpring 2002 the church will open a land-scaped plaza, which will include water-falls, fountains, carillon bells, a shrine toOur Lady of Guadalupe, a conference cen-ter, gift shop and cafe. The garage, plazaand conference center will cost $88 million.

�

On August 5, 2001, John Paul IImarked the dedication of the Basilica ofSt. Mary Major in Rome, the first Westernchurch building named in honor of theBlessed Virgin. The building of the churchis connected to a dream of Pope Liberiuson the night of Aug. 5, 356. In the dream,the Blessed Virgin asked him to build achurch in the place where he would findsnow the following day. The present build-ing, atop the foundations of Pope Liberius’church, was built by Pope Sixtus III.

�

More visitors are flocking to monaster-ies and convents, in search of silence andcontact with God, a French newspaper re-ported in July. La Croix contacted 322 mon-asteries and convents throughout France

during its research. Itfound that the numberof visits lasting severaldays and the numberof group retreats areincreasing. The dataalso reveal that manywho visit conventsand monasteries arefrom other religions,and that many re-turned to Catholicismafter having had anegative experiencewith sects.

�

Plans for the Dio-cese of Galveston-Houston’s new down-town Cathedral were

announced by Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenzaat a press conference on May 22, 2001.Bishop Fiorenza unveiled an artist’s ren-dering and scale model of the proposed2,100 seat Cathedral. The new structure ex-hibits a classic Romanesque Cathedral de-sign. “I have asked for an architectural ex-pression that reflects the historic and cul-tural values that are fundamental to theDiocese of Galveston-Houston and theCatholic Church,” Bishop Fiorenza said.Architectural highlights of the 79,400-square-foot Cathedral include: a 180-foot-tall gold-leaf-clad metal dome roof; a 210-foot campanile (bell tower) standing sepa-rately from the church; a sunken gardencourt; walls clad in imported limestone andmarbles; natural wood accent panels; andmosaic wall features. The interior nave ofthe church will peak at 116 feet

�

A fire caused by old, faulty electricalwiring swept through the ornate SacredHeart Parish Church in Indianapolis inthe early morning hours of April 27, 2001,doing more than $1 million in damages.Murals, stained-glass windows and irre-placeable handcrafted items in the land-mark building were destroyed, officialssaid. The German-founded parish startedin 1875. The church now serves 410 house-holds. Destroyed or damaged in the firewas the high altar, which was made byBernhard Ferring (1868-1944) of Chicago;statues on the high altar; and severalstained-glass windows that were designedand installed in the mid-1920s.

�

Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila decriedthe desecration done by Estrada support-ers at the Edsa national Shrine to OurLady of Peace, and called for law and or-der as massive protests in support of jailed

former President Joseph Estrada subsidedin early May. For two weeks in late Apriland early May 2001, two million Estradasupporters gathered at the shrine, at timesusing foul language and singing obscenesongs. The Vatican flag was removed, andpictures of the ousted president werepasted on the image of the Blessed Mother,which stands atop the shrine. “They areprofaning a house of prayer, a temple ofGod, a monument to peace,” Cardinal Sinsaid. Stressing that “a time of crisis is alsoa time of heroism,” Cardinal Sin added:“We must preserve the blessings of ourEdsa II,” referring to the January “rosaryrevolution,” which led to Estrada’s politi-cal downfall, and the subsequent procla-mation at the shrine of Gloria MacapagalArroyo as president.

�

On May 20, 2001, children were thefirst to welcome the Bishop of Romewhen he crossed the threshold of theparish’s “church,” a 200-square-meter tentdedicated to St. Edith Stein, the Jewish phi-losopher-turned-Carmelite who died atAuschwitz. This neighborhood, known asTorre Angela, is on the outskirts of Romeand lacks many services. The Holy Fathercontinued the meeting in the field whereconstruction was set to begin on a churchin December, 2001. In his homily duringthe Mass, the Bishop of Rome encouragedthe faithful to get to know the figure of St.Edith Stein, whom he canonized in 1998. “Iwould like to recall on this occasion thephrase that Edith Stein wrote in 1933, whenshe went to see the mother superior of theCarmelite convent in Cologne: ‘Human ac-tivity cannot help us, but only the Passionof Christ. I wish to share in it.’“

�

In August, 2001, Italian authorities un-veiled the restored fourteenth-centuryfrescoes of St. Clare’s Basilica in Assisi,four years after they were severely dam-aged by an earthquake. Brilliant lightbathed the basilica during a Mass on Aug.11 to celebrate the restoration of the GiottoSchool frescoes which adorn the pink andwhite marble building. St. Clare’s Basilicawas reopened to the public in 1998, monthsafter the thirteenth-century building’s fa-cade had been damaged by two earth-quakes on Sept. 26, 1997. Most of Assisi’schurches suffered serious damage. Four ofthe ten people who died in one of the earth-quakes were in St. Francis’ Basilica whenthe vaulted ceiling caved in. St. Clare’s Ba-silica was built between 1257 and 1265.The saint, a disciple of St. Francis, was bornin Assisi in 1194 and died in 1253.

�

Construction of the new Los Angeles Cathedral is on schedulefor the September, 2002, dedication.


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The Greek Orthodox Church hopes tobuild three luxury hotels in Athens for the2004 Olympic Games. The Church, whichowns extensive land in Athens, already hasthe approval of the Greek Tourism Organi-zation to build a 750-room luxury hotel inthe heart of Athens. Sources of the GreekOrthodox Church explain that “it will notbecome an hotelier, but will simply makeuse of its property.”

�

On May 6, 2001, John Paul II becamethe first Pope to enter a mosque, calling forbrotherhood between Christians and Mus-lims. The Pontiff went into the OmayyadMosque accompanied by Grand MuftiAhmad Kuftaro, the highest Muslim reli-gious authority of Damascus. While enter-ing the mosque, the Pontiff admired thebeauty of the temple of the Omayyads inwhich, according to tradition, the head ofJohn the Baptist is preserved.

�More than 400 of North Dakota’s 2,000

prairie churches are vacant and poorlymaintained, and at risk of falling apart, ac-cording to the National Trust for HistoricPreservation. The churches, mainlyfounded by first-generation settlers fromGermany, Poland, Iceland, Russia andScandinavia in the late 19th century, wereusually the first building erected when atown was settled, trust officials said. NorthDakota’s population peaked by 1930, thenbegan to decline, forcing many communi-ties to close or demolish their churches.Many of the remaining structures containirreplaceable artwork, stained glass win-dows, carvings and statues. Architecturalstyles vary from simple folk to Gothic,Greek Revival, Tudor and Romanesque.

�American Catholics in many communi-

ties are no longer acquiescing quietly tothe large-scale renovations of theirchurches, says Zenit news agency. Protestsagainst renovations in Petoskey, Michigan;Rochester, New York; and Grand Rapids,Michigan, may be indicative of a wider na-tional trend to question experts who insistthat radical alterations of traditional churchinteriors are mandated by Church law.Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, Wis-consin, agrees that there is a larger move-ment at work. Parishioners once thoughtthere was nothing they could do about im-poverished renovations, said Bishop Burke.“Now,” he said, “people won’t accept that.”Most of the projects that have drawn oppo-sition include such elements as moving thealtar closer to the congregation, removingthe altar railing or statues, moving the tab-ernacle and replacing pews with chairs.

�

Three countries are helping to rebuild400 Salvadoran churches. The CatholicChurch in the United States, Germany andSpain will assist in the reconstruction of400 churches in El Salvador, damaged ordestroyed by earthquakes this year, Arch-bishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle of San Sal-vador disclosed. The archbishop said theassistance was obtained after the archdio-cese organized separate meetings with theepiscopates of the three countries.

�Siberian Catholics mark a decade of

religious liberty. The Catholic Church inSiberia is marking the tenth anniversary ofthe return of religious liberty to theselands. On April 13, 1991, the CatholicChurch was able to re-establish ecclesiasti-cal structures after more than seventyyears of state-imposed atheism. After theOctober Revolution in 1917, the Sovietgovernment confiscated all the CatholicChurch’s property. This was followed in1923, under Stalin, by the systematic andtotal elimination of ecclesial life. Churcheswere closed or turned into factories orwarehouses; parishes were suppressed,and priests and faithful were deported orkilled. But beginning in 1990, religiouspersecution abated. Today in these regionsthere are an estimated 500,000 Catholics.Problems remain, however. According toBishop Joseph Werth, apostolic adminis-trator for Western Siberia, there are criticalshortages of priests, religious, and fundsfor building churches and schools. More-over, a 1997 law restored some restrictionson the activity of the Catholic Church.Bishop Werth’s office can be reached at:Telephone (3832) 21-61-09. Fax: (3832) 21-88-06.

�On January 16, 2001, The Association

for The Arch of Triumph of the Immacu-late Heart of Mary and InternationalShrine of the Holy Innocents, a not-for-profit New York corporation, was formedin Buffalo, New York. The Association’spurpose is to build a truly world-class, glo-bally significant shrine, probably to be lo-cated on the western shore of Lake Erie ad-jacent to downtown Buffalo. The shrinewill feature primarily a monumental, as-cendable, golden triumphal arch, the Archof Triumph of the Immaculate Heart ofMary, to be the world’s tallest monumentmeasuring 700 feet to the tip of the goldenCross that will surmount its peak. Themonument will commemorate the tri-umph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary aspredicted by the communications given atFatima. Below the arch will be a shrine tothe innocent children lost to abortion.More information is available on theinternet at www.archoftriumph.org.

�

Bulgaria will erect a statue to PopeBlessed John XXIII by May 2002 in front ofthe Cathedral of St. Joseph. The monumentis in remembrance of his presence in Bul-garia where, as Cardinal Angelo GiuseppeRoncalli, he was apostolic nuncio for 10years. Last October, Istanbul dedicated astreet to John XXIII, who once worked inthe Vatican diplomatic service in Turkey.He was beatified last September.

�The damaged 17th-century Cathedral

of Arequipa has become a rallying pointfor Peruvians rebuilding after a June earth-quake that killed 102 people. “It’s a toppriority for us to restore it,” said MayorJuan Manuel Guillen. Nestled amid theAndes mountains 465 miles southeast ofLima, Arequipa is nicknamed Peru’s colo-nial “White City” because of its brightlycolored buildings that sparkle in the sun.But the city is located in an area prone tomajor earthquakes, which struck in 1687,1858, 1868, and 1960. The church, built in1656, had weathered them all. When thequake struck, Arequipa resident AugustinMedina watched in horror as thecathedral’s steeple tumbled backward andcrashed through the ceiling of one of theside chapels. “It sounded like a bomb hadexploded,” she said. The mayor estimatedthe cathedral’s restoration will cost around$3 million and take anywhere from six toeight months.

�Bishop is principal liturgist of diocese,

says Cardinal Egan. Cardinal EdwardEgan of New York, general relator of theSynod of Bishops, touched on issues of lit-urgy, art, and architecture in his openingaddress to the Synod on October 1, 2001, in

An artist’s conception of the new Arch ofTriumph Of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

proposed for Buffalo, New York.


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Rome: “Another essential duty in our min-istry as sanctifiers of the faithful... [is] see-ing to it that the liturgies in our churchesand chapels are in harmony with the normsand practice of the Church and carried outin a spirit of true devotion. We are the prin-cipal liturgists in our dioceses.... Ours, weall know, has been an era of numerouschanges and developments in the worshipof the Church. As a result, we will not al-ways be able to avoid controversies aboutrubrics, liturgical appointments, church ar-chitecture and the like. In dealing withthem, the bishop has to be willing to listenand no less willing to lead. He must insistupon the limits of good taste; he must ex-hibit appropriate regard for established tra-ditions; and he must respect and encouragethose popular pieties that genuinely nour-ish the faith and fervour of his people. Thetask can be quite demanding.”

�

“My ambition is to giveOakland’s cathedral a universalcharacter independent of theCatholic Church,” says SantiagoCalatrava, explaining his unor-thodox design for the new dioc-esan mother church, which com-bines elements of Chinese, Bud-dhist, Hindu, and nature-reli-gion traditions. “Pluralism isuniversality,” he explains.Calatrava’s design would sporta signature rib-like armature ofpainted steel, glass and concrete.Inside, in the spirit of oriental re-ligions, the congregation will sitencircling the altar and cathedrain the middle of the 34,000square-foot space. At night, the

cathedral will be a central beacon, while anauditorium nearby will be for myriad cel-ebrations. Its gardens will symbolize earth,air, fire and water—all gods within manypantheons. This all-encompassing celestialview is no coincidence. The “word culturecomes from ‘occult,’” says Calatrava, andin multicultural Oakland, there are many“cults” to consider.

�Architects give an old seminary new

life as a five-star conference center. St.John’s in Plymouth, Michigan served as aRoman Catholic seminary from 1946-1988when it was closed due to declining enroll-ment. Detroit’s new Archbishop, AdamCardinal Maida, retained Brown-Teefey &Associates to design a youth center andconvert the 30,000 square foot seminary on200 acres into a world-class facility forweddings, conferences and other events.Brown-Teefey worked carefully to preservethe old architectural beauty of the semi-nary while adding new infrastructure.Work on the seminary commenced in 1998with an $11,000,000 budget and a 2-yearschedule for completion. Theall-new St. John’s opened on Ju-bilee Day, September 2000 asplanned.

�The controversy surround-

ing the renovation ofMilwaukee’s St. John the Evan-gelist cathedral was the mosthighly publicized church archi-tecture news in 2001. Planningfor the renovation began a fewyears ago when ArchbishopRembert G. Weakland was ap-proached about needed repairson the cathedral and decided athorough re-working of thechurch and surrounding prop-erty was needed. Changes tothe interior of the Cathedral in-clude moving the altar to thecenter of the nave, displacing

the tabernacle from the high altar in theapse to a separate side chapel, replacingpews with chairs, and building a pipe or-gan into the apse. Some Milwaukee Catho-lics objected to the plans, however, and re-tained a canon lawyer to present their caseto the Vatican.

Renovation began after masses onMay 20, 2001. On May 26, the Congrega-tion for Divine Worship and Discipline ofthe Sacraments moved to halt the renova-tion until the Congregation could reviewthe plans more fully. In June, ArchbishopWeakland flew to Rome to discuss the mat-ter with Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez,the prefect of the Congregation. On June30, the Cardinal faxed a letter to the Arch-bishop outlining four difficulties the Con-gregation found with the plans, and askingfor a revision of them. (The text of theCongregation’s letter can be found on page22 of this issue.) The Archbishop re-sponded to the Cardinal immediately in aletter that was not made public. A fewdays later, he also sent a personal letter toall diocesan clergy explaining his under-standing of the controversy and analyzingthose individuals and groups who opposedhim.

These letters as well as the issues sur-rounding the renovation were covered inarticles in the New York Times, Washing-ton Post, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, andnumerous newspapers around the country.

Despite the controversy, renovationwork continued and was completed. Therenovated Cathedral of St. John the Evan-gelist was dedicated at a Mass on Saturday,February 9, 2002. Archbishop Rembert G.Weakland celebrated the Dedication Massand was joined by bishops from through-out the state, archdiocesan priests, and rep-resentatives from each parish in the 10-county Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

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The new church of St. Mary’s in Rockledge, Florida,by Michael Graves

From the Editor

Dear Friends of Sacred Architecture:

We are pleased to be publishing our sixthissue of this unique journal which focuseson Catholic art and architecture. It has re-ceived strong support from laity, priests,and architects. As you are aware, SacredArchitecture is published twice each year inthe Spring and Fall. However, due to un-foreseen circumstances, the journal did notcome out in Fall 2001 as planned, and in-stead we are bringing you the Spring issue.We apologize to all of you for the inconve-nience, but want you to know that you willreceive all of the issues for which you havesubscribed. If you have not recently re-newed your subscription, we invite you torenew and support the news stories, fea-tures, editorials, and articles of this uniquejournal. Thank you for all of your support.

–The EditorThe dedication mass for the renovated Cathedral of

St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee


F E A T U R E

With hindsight, many are waking up tothe fact that the experimental church

architecture designed and built in the latterhalf of the twentieth century has miserablyfailed the Catholic people. The “innova-tive” forms used by church architects in thesixties and seventies—think how cleverthey thought themselves then—look notonly outdated at the dawn of the new cen-tury, they look ugly. The non-churches ofthe eighties and nineties that can pass forlibraries, post offices, or nursing homes areso uninspiring and banal that they fail toattract, to evangelize, or to raise the heartsand minds of men to God. They fail to ac-knowledge that Christ was made flesh anddwelt among us. They fail to serve theCatholic community, and they fail to makeChrist’s presence known in any particularplace. Similarly, the insensitive renovationof traditional churches that stripped thesesacred edifices of their Catholic trappings,not only denuded a physical place, it ef-fected the worship and beliefs of thepeople.

Happily, however, the realization of thisfailure—on the part of laity, priests, bish-ops, and architects alike—is the first step

that will lead to the renewal of our sacredplaces. Designer Francis X. Gibbons, for in-stance, now speaks of his 1968 renovationof St. Mary, Star of the Sea Church in Balti-more as a “raping” of that church.1 HelenMarikle Passano, the primary patron forthe restoration of the 1869 chapel at NotreDame College in Baltimore, remembersloving the “modernization” of the chapelwhen she was a student there. “Wethought we were moving forward with acontemporary space. But guess what?We’re moving back,” she told the BaltimoreSun in early 2001. “It’s time to bring [thechapel] back to its original glory.” To thisend, she donated $1.5 million to peel awaythe 1960s alterations “including a flat ceil-ing and metal ducts that obscured thevaulted spaces above, wood paneling thatcovered plaster walls, and carpeting thatsmothered the handsome pine floor.”2

Even the Vatican finally addressed therenovation problem earlier this year whenCardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, prefect forthe Congregation for Divine Worship in-formed Milwaukee’s Archbishop RembertWeakland that his proposed cathedralrenovation did not conform to Church

norms or liturgical law and is doing a dis-service to Milwaukee Catholics.

This “realization period” should lead tofour distinct ways to improve the architec-ture of Catholic churches, returning theseedifices from meeting spaces to sacredplaces. The first is the restoration—or “re-renovation”—of traditional Catholicchurches. That is, architects and pastorsmust work together to return the older, tra-ditionally-oriented buildings that wererenovated over the past three or four de-cades to their former glory. The second isto salvage and renovate the modernistchurches built in the latter-half of the twen-tieth century by re-orienting them. Manyof the buildings erected during the 1960sand 1970s, although irregular in form, canbe transformed into beautiful transcendentplaces within. The third method is totransform ugly, modernist churches intoparish halls or school buildings, and build“replacement churches” that will serve asgenuine sacred places, designed in conti-nuity with the Church’s tradition. Thefourth method is perhaps the easiest: tobuild beautiful churches anew when par-ishes are established.

Re-orienting the RenovatedChurch

The first step must always be to restorethe hierarchical form. The sanctuary mustbe made distinct again from the nave,where the congregation sits. In many casesthis will mean that altars that have beenmoved into the midst of the congregationbe returned to a proper sanctuary. The al-tar platform—usually consisting of one ortwo steps—that sits out in the nave withchairs gathered around is not a sufficientlydefined sanctuary by any means. Most, ifnot all, of the traditional churches are de-signed in the basilican cruciform plan.That means that there already exists aproper location for the sanctuary. Theproper location is at the elevated “head” ofthe building. The nave serves as the body.

In other renovated churches the sanctu-ary has been moved to one of the nave’sside walls and the entire building re-ori-ented so that when one enters the churchbuilding, there is no natural progressiondown an aisle toward the altar of sacrifice.This type of renovation is really just a dis-orientation. Again, the sanctuary needs tobe restored to its proper position at the

THE FUTURE OF

RESTORATION AND RENEWAL

Michael S. Rose

Brasilia Cathedral, an “innovative” church form of the 1960s

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F E A T U R E

head of the building and the nave reori-ented to lead once again toward the re-stored altar.

The sanctuary should also be “re-de-fined,” that is, if the raised platform of thesanctuary has been removed, it must be re-stored. If the communion railing has beeneliminated, the restoration of such a devicewould provide a distinct boundary for thesanctuary, and it would also be functionalif Communion were to be distributed tokneeling penitents at the restored railing.The design of a restored railing shouldmatch the architecture of the church andthe altar especially. However, in manycases, the altar in renovated churches is it-self inadequate.

The poorly designed table altars that re-placed high altars of past centuries can bedeficient in several respects. First, they areoften crafted of wood alone. In order to fo-cus again on the sacrificial nature of the al-tar, the altar ought really to include an altarstone, the plain horizontal slab upon whichthe priest places the Holy Sacrifice of theMass. The restored altar should also be apermanent fixture, built of durable materi-als. A simple table that could be used for athanksgiving dinner in our homes is insuf-ficient.

In some renovated churches the high al-tar fortunately still remains, although it hasoften served only to hold flowers orcandlesticks since a freestanding altar wasintroduced after Vatican II. The most obvi-ous solution in these fortunate churches isto eliminate the inadequate freestanding al-tar and revert to using the high altar, whichis often already the natural focal point ofthe church, accented by either a reredos orbaldacchino. In fact there is a growingmovement, given impetus by Cardinal Jo-seph Ratzinger, among younger priests es-pecially to return to the ad orientem (or adapsidem) Mass, that is, reciting the Eucha-ristic prayer while facing in the same direc-tion as the congregation at the elevated al-tar.

Although many priests and not a fewmembers of the laity believe this practicehas been outlawed, banned, or otherwisemade illegitimate, it is not so. Nor is thiscenturies-old practice awkward in anyway. In fact, it is quite natural for a priestto lead his congregation by turning withthem toward the Lord. This solution is soobvious that it can only be politics that arepreventing such a restoration.

In many other churches, however, thehigh altar and reredos or baldacchino havebeen summarily removed. Although this isa most unfortunate situation, for those par-ishes that are committed to restoration itcan be an opportunity to design and buildsomething even more worthy and beautifulthan the original. Such is the case with St.Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester, where abeautiful new wood reredos and cathedrawere constructed in 1996 to replace a semi-

circular concrete block wall that was putup in place of the old reredos.

It is also the case with several traditionalchurches that were restored in the Victoria,Texas diocese. The Diocese of Victoria isnoted for its preservation of the famous“painted churches” in the Schulenburgarea. Some of these churches had lostmany of their sanctuary furnishings shortlyafter the Second Vatican Council. A gen-eration later, however, nine parishes in theVictoria diocese tried to recapture whatthey had lost. The ornate high altar andreredos at St. Joseph’s Church in Moulton,Texas, for instance, was completely recon-structed from scratch by local carpenters in1994.

There really is no reason that dignifiedaltars cannot be made anew, comple-mented either by a beautiful reredos orbaldacchino, depending on the style anddesign of the church. These elements willnot only bring the focus back to the altar,they will ennoble it.

Restoring the Tabernacle ToProminence

Another important aspect—perhaps themost important—of a sanctuary restorationis moving the tabernacle back to its originalposition in the center of the sanctuary, be-hind the altar. In 1997 Father RichardSimon of St. Thomas of Canterbury Churchin Chicago blazed a trail in this regard. Heannounced to his parish that he planned tomake such a liturgical move because he feltthat the experiment of removing the taber-nacle from the sanctuary had failed. In hisJune 24, 1997 letter to his parishioners hewrote:

I believe that much of the liturgical ex-perimentation that began thirty years

ago has failed. We are not holier, normore Christ-centered now than we werethen. In fact, we are facing a generationof young people who are largely lost tothe Church because we have not giventhem the precious gift that is at the heartof Catholicism, that is, the Real Presenceof Jesus. Mass has become simply adrama, a vehicle for whatever agenda iscurrently popular. The church buildingis no longer a place of encounter withthe Lord but a sort of a social center, nota place of prayer, rather a place of chat-ter.In many churches, including our own,the tabernacle was moved from the cen-ter of the church to add emphasis toMass and the presence of the Lord in thereception of Holy Communion. Thatexperiment, however, has failed. Wehave lost the sense of the sacred that for-merly was the hallmark of Catholic wor-ship. The behavior of many in thechurch is outrageous. When Mass isover it is impossible to spend time inprayer. The noise level reaches the pitchthat one would expect at a sportingevent. The kiss of peace seems like NewYear’s Eve. Christ is forgotten on the al-tar. You may counter that He is presentin the gathering of the Church, andthough this is true, it should not detractfrom the Lord present on the altar. If theLord is truly recognized in the congre-gation, it should serve to enhance thesacredness of the moment. This is sim-ply not happening…Therefore, I have decided to restore theTabernacle to its former place in themiddle of the sanctuary and to begin acampaign of re-education as to the sa-credness of worship and the meaning ofthe Real Presence. This means that I

St. Charles Church, Kettering, Ohio, an example of a “non-church”of the 1980s and 1990s

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will nag and nag until asense of the sacred isrestored. I will be re-minding you that a re-spectful quiet will haveto be maintained inchurch. Food and toysand socializing are wel-come elsewhere, butthe church is the placeof an encounter withthe Living God. It willnot be a popular policy,but this is unimportant.I can hear one objectionalready. Where will thepriest sit? I will sitwhere the priest hastraditionally sat, overon the side of the sanc-tuary. Here as in manychurches the“presider’s” chair wasplaced where the taber-nacle had been. I amsick of sitting on thethrone that should be-long to my Lord. Thedethronement of theBlessed Sacrament hasresulted in the en-thronement of theclergy, and I for one amsick of it. The Mass hasbecome priest-cen-tered. The celebrant iseverything. I am a sin-ner saved by grace asyou are and not thecenter of the Eucharist.Let me resume myrightful place before the Lord ratherthan instead of the Lord. I am ordainedto the priesthood of Christ in the orderof presbyter, and as such I do have aspecial and humbling role. I am elderbrother in the Lord and with you I seekto follow Him and to worship. Please,please let me return Christ to the centerof our life together where He belongs.Once Fr. Simon returned the tabernacle

to its former location at the center of thesanctuary behind the altar he was sur-prised, he said, at the response. It wasoverwhelmingly positive and effective.Some sense of reverence was indeed re-stored at Mass in his church. On Septem-ber 16, 1997 he reported the results of themove in a “form letter”:

You cannot imagine the response I gotto the letter I addressed to my parishio-ners on June 24th. I have received somany calls and letters that I am reducedto saying thank you in a form letter.Still, I simply have to write to say thankyou for your support and prayers. Somany people thought I was brave to dowhat I did. Brave? I simply read theCatechism and moved a few pieces of

furniture. The response has been over-whelmingly positive. In the parish,some people even wept for joy whenthey saw the change. I am still kickingmyself and asking why I didn’t do thisyears ago. The response has been sosupportive. Many wrote and expressedtheir sense of loneliness in the battle forCatholic orthodoxy. Well, you are notalone, neither among the laity nor theclergy.Perhaps you have heard the definitionof a neo-conservative. He is a liberalwho has been mugged by reality. Thatcertainly describes me. I was in collegein the late Sixties and went the wholeroute: beard, sandals, protest, leafletingfor feminism, and all the rest… [I]f aparish like this and a person like me canbe turned from foolish liturgical experi-mentation, it can happen anywhere toanyone. Don’t give up! For instance, ifthey have taken the kneelers out of yourchurch, go to the front and kneel on thehard floor. You’ll be amazed how manywill join you. That’s what’s happenedhere.Inspired by this well-publicized move

by Father Simon manyother pastors have re-stored the tabernacle toprominence in theirchurches. This, as he at-tests, was simply “mov-ing furniture,” but it re-stored the kind ofprayerful reverence inhis church that he andmany others desired.With the tabernacle lo-cated directly behind thealtar on the building’smain axis, the two ele-ments work together asone: the tabernacle wasreturned to an extensionof the altar, which is thefocal point of the church,just as the Blessed Sacra-ment is an extension ofthe Holy Sacrifice of theMass. Since the reservedSacrament is an exten-sion of the Mass, it logi-cally follows that, archi-tecturally speaking, thetabernacle ought to besituated in direct rela-tionship to the altar,whether on the altar orbehind it. This arrange-ment has ramificationsfar beyond interior de-sign. Ultimately, it is amatter of devotion andworship. In the words ofPope John Paul II, properdevotion to the BlessedSacrament will inevita-

bly lead to a fuller participation in the Eu-charistic celebration: In his letter on the750th anniversary of the Feast of CorpusChristi he wrote, “Outside the Eucharisticcelebration, the Church is careful to vener-ate the Blessed Sacrament, which must bereserved… as the spiritual center of the re-ligious and parish community. Contem-plation prolongs communion and enablesone to meet Christ, true God and true man,in a lasting way… Prayer of adoration inthe presence of the Blessed Sacramentunites the faithful with the paschal mys-tery; it enables them to share in Christ’ssacrifice, of which the Eucharist is the per-manent sacrament.”3

Tying in to this theology of the Eucharistis the crucifix, the figural representation ofChrist’s sacrifice on Calvary, that which isre-presented in an unbloody manner by thehands of the ordained priest at the altar.The crucifix—the corpus of Christ on thecross—was removed from many churchesduring renovations, and replaced by eithersymbolic processional crosses or other fig-ures such as the risen Christ or paintings ofwheat, sun, and birds. As beneficial asthese new symbols may be to some, the res-

St. Paul’s Church, Mechanicsville, New York, after renovation

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toration of the crucifix is integral to aproper restoration of the sanctuary. It is thecrucifix which directly symbolizes thewhole meaning of the Mass.

Restoration of Sacred ArtAnother element especially significant

to the restoration of the sanctuary is therestoration of sacred art. Many unfortu-nate churches were whitewashed thirtyyears ago in an iconoclastic attempt to re-move so-called “distractions” from thehouse of God en route to reducing thechurch to a non-church. Others parisheshad their statues summarily removed forthe same reason. Fortunately, these mis-guided purges have begun to wane, yetplenty of churches have been left barrenand stripped because some pastor, liturgist,or designer was a slave to fashion and badtaste. This is what church designer FrancisX. Gibbons called “rape.”

But not all is lost.With the newest methods of art preser-

vation and restoration,murals and frescoes canbe recovered, white-washed statues can bereturned to their origi-nal colors, and deterio-rated works of sacredart can be restored.Such advances in the artof preservation ought togive hope to many apastor who desires tobring the sacred backinto his church build-ing.

Furthermore, thereare, contrary to publicunderstanding, talentedartists who can be com-missioned to executebeautiful new murals ormosaics in churchesthat are unable to re-cover their artistic patri-mony.

With regard to stat-ues, icons, and otherpieces of “moveable”art, there exists a trea-sury of old sacred artavailable at architec-tural antique shopsaround the U. S. and be-yond. A few calls canput a pastor orrestorationist in touchwith groups that havesalvaged these often-times priceless works ofart from Catholicchurches that have beenclosed and theirchurches razed. Thesame goes for architec-tural furnishings such

as old wooden confessionals, sacred ves-sels, crucifixes, Stations of the Cross, pews,and communion rails. Some of the morewell-known internet auction web sites, forinstance, offer a steady supply of thesebeautiful works of art. Unfortunately,these items more often wind up being usedfor secular purposes rather than in new orrestored churches. We’ve all heard of con-fessionals being used as telephone boothsin restaurants or ornate hand-carved pewsbeing used for seats in a pub.

Reordering the NaveThe same steps apply to the restoring

the nave. Side shrines and Stations of theCross that have disappeared over the de-cades can be refashioned anew or pur-chased from antique dealers and architec-tural salvage companies. Yet sometimesthe destruction of church interiors goes farbeyond what was removed. In many cases,it is also what has been added. Wood pan-eling, drop ceilings with acoustical tiles,

and wall-to-wall carpeting are the biggestoffenders. Fortunately such materials datethe project to the late-sixties and seventieswhen homeowners were renovating theirhouses in much the same manner. The useof these cheap materials has dropped outof fashion, Deo gratias. The removal of such“homey” items will offend few.

Because these materials are so flimsyand impermanent they are easily removed.With any luck they will have preservedwhat they were once hiding. The removalof ceiling tiles may reveal vaulting, clere-stories, or ceiling murals intact and in goodcondition. Carpet removal can reveal ter-razzo flooring or beautiful hardwood floor-boards, and the removal of wood panelingcan give way to beautiful plaster walls,sometimes decorated with beautiful sten-ciling or even mosaics.

More difficult to deal with, however, arethe modern furnishings that often replacedthe traditional ones. These newer furnish-ings are often at odds with the original de-

sign and style of thebuilding.

The seating is an-other major restorationitem. First, in thosechurches that had thekneelers removed fromthe pews: install newkneelers! For thosechurches that haveskewed or turned theirside aisle pews suppos-edly to better focus onthe altar: turn themback facing forward.And for those churchesthat discarded the oldpews in favor of cheap(or expensive) portablechairs, it would be idealif new wooden pewswith kneelers were toeventually be restoredto the church. The fadof homey cushionedchairs will soon pass.

All in all, when re-storing an historicchurch, the parishneeds to hire competentrestorationists with aproven track record ofa c c o m p l i s h m e n t s .They must be sensitiveto the original architec-ture of the church, butneed not necessarilyrecreate exactly whatexisted some time in thepast. However, anynew furnishings or art-work introduced intothe church should be inkeeping with the archi-tectural scheme rather

F E A T U R E

Apse and High Altar of St. Cecilia’s Cathedral, Omaha, Nebraska, after therecently completed renovation


F E A T U R E

than looking like foreign invaders.The restorationist should be concerned

with 1) reordering the church into a prop-erly defined narthex, nave, and sanctuaryin keeping with the original design, 2) re-establishing an iconographic program ofsacred art and furnishings, 3) recoveringany verticality that has been lost, and 4)establishing a unified whole so that thechurch will be restored to a sacred placewith transcendent qualities.

Salvaging RenovationsSome may ask: We’re stuck with this

ugly building that looks like a __________(fill in the blank); what can we do to im-prove upon the modern design? Fortu-nately, in some cases there is an easy an-swer. In E.A. Sövik’s theory of the non-church, he expressed his desire for abuilding that has a “throw-away interior,”that is, an interior that can be easily al-tered to suit the needs of the people at anytime. Accordingly, the interiors of manyof the non-churches built in the latter halfof the twentieth century are easily altered.Their “throw-away interiors” can simplybe thrown away and new furnishings andworks of sacred art can be commissioned.

Of course, the new architect or designerhas no obligation to subscribe to the mod-ernist theory of the throw-away interior.On the contrary, he has the obligation oftransforming the building into a beautifulchurch. It can be done, but not by design-ing another interior that can just be thrownaway. The architect has the opportunity toreconnect with tradition in order to create asacred place that will transcend genera-tions and possibly cultures too.

Just as with the restoration project of atraditional church building, the first task isto properly reorient the interior spaces intoa hierarchy of sanctuary and nave. This ismore difficult to do with the modernist edi-fice than with the traditional church build-ing because the floor plan may be some-what irregular. Churches-in-the-round,fan-shaped theater-style churches, andasymmetrical layouts are three popular ar-rangements that ought to be corrected.

In this regard, the altar needs to be es-tablished at the “head” of the building, in adistinct sanctuary that is elevated abovethe nave and set off from the congrega-tional seating. Most likely the altar in themodernist church to be renovated is un-worthy to be used even for your kitchentable. The opportunity now exists to de-sign a new altar that will establish itself notonly as the focal point of the church butwill set the tone for the new interior. Everyother element of the renovation shouldlead to the altar in some way.

A new baldacchino or reredos can givethe altar the nobility and prominence it de-serves, and the close relationship of thetabernacle with the altar is just as impor-tant in the renovation of a modernist edi-

fice as it is in the re-renovation of an historicchurch. The same goes for other elements andfurnishings—pews, sacred art, pulpit, andcommunion rail. There is no reason that thetraditional trappings of a Catholic church can-not be introduced into the modernist buildingto create a sense of the transcendent and eter-nal.

Replacement ChurchesOf course, if it is at all possible, it is better to

begin anew designing a church that can serveas a “city on a hill,” one that through its tradi-tional form and exterior elements has the ca-pacity to carry meaning, inspire, educate, andattract both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.Since many or even most of the modernistchurch edifices do not appear as permanentstructures, their buildings can be adapted toanother use, one that would serve the parish inanother way, for instance, as a school building,food pantry, theater, gymnasium, or parishmeeting hall.

Many of the modernist churches, because oftheir layout and arrangement, lend themselveseasily to such a transformation. Not a fewpeople have entered one of these new churchesor non-churches and exclaimed, “my, this looksmore like a gymnasium (or a theater, etc.)” If itlooks like a gym or a theater, chances are it caneasily be converted into a gym or theater whilea new church, designed in continuity with theCatholic tradition of church architecture, risesnearby. These are properly called “replacementchurches.”

In fact, a pastor or bishop can easily saveface by telling a parish that the current modernfacility they are using as a church was only in-tended as a temporary solution until a timecame when parishioners could help build apermanent house of God that would speak

equally to generations of Catholics tocome. Well, the time has come.

Finally, perhaps the greatest oppor-tunity comes when a new parish is es-tablished. The pastor, architect, andparish can start at ground zero, so tospeak. The parish has the great advan-tage of hindsight. It can look back overfifty years of ugly, uninspiring churchdesigns in order to avoid building a fadthat will pass away even before thecurrent generation has died out. Thereis that opportunity to connect with thetradition of creating transcendent ves-sels of meaning that will not only looklike a churches but will be churches intheir essence.

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Michael S. Rose holds degrees in archi-tecture (B.Arch) and Fine Arts (M.F.A.)from the University of Cincinnati andBrown University. He is the author of TheRenovation Manipulation. His newbook, Ugly As Sin: Why They ChangedOur Churches from Sacred Places toMeeting Spaces—and How We CanChange Them Back, is published bySophia Institute Press.

Notes:1 “I’ve often said after I did that job,” said FrancisX. Gibbons, the man who designed the renova-tion, “that I raped St. Mary, Star of the Sea.” (JohnRivers, “Churches try to retrieve grand trappingsof past,” Baltimore Sun, May 21, 2001.2 Gunts, Edward. “Happy undoing of a modernistmakeover,” Baltimore Sun, March 4, 2001.3 John Paul II, ‘Letter on the 750th Anniversary ofthe Feast of Corpus Christi,’ no. 3.

St. Joseph’s Church, Dalton, Georgia, by Thomas Gordon Smith, completed 2001

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GEM OF THE BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE:ST. CATHERINE OF GENOA

Milda Richardson

A R T I C L E S

St. Catherine of Genoa on Spring Hill inSomerville, Massachusetts—designed

by the Boston firm of Maginnis, Walshand Sullivan over the period 1907-1920—is a seminal building in the developmentof early twentieth-century Roman Catho-lic church architec-ture in America.With its sand-greybrick and glazedwhite terra cotta ex-terior, St. Catherinebecame a paradigmfor the promulga-tion of the ItalianLombardian style,which was advo-cated by Charles D.Maginnis (1867-1955) because of itsassociation withEarly Christian ar-chitecture, the flex-ibility of the style,and the design pos-sibilities of usingbrick rather thanmore costly stonecarving typical inClassical or Gothicbuildings.

Often referred toas the “gem of theBoston archdio-cese,” St. Catherineof Genoa owes itsgenerously-fundedcommission tomembers of theO’Brien family, es-pecially to HughO’Brien, the firstCatholic mayor ofBoston (1884) anduncle of the pastor,Rev. James O’Brien.As secretary to theBishop of Hartford,Rev. O’Brien hadtraveled extensivelyin Europe studyingchurches and col-laborated very closely with Maginnis onthis project, making changes to the plansalmost daily. The success of the endeavorwas due in part to the fact that bothMaginnis and O’Brien shared a similar ar-chitectural philosophy: the belief that thisbuilding should connect American immi-grant Catholics to the European Catholic

aesthetic and spiritual experience.Although the original conception in-

cluded a campanile to the right of the fa-cade, its elimination from the plan allowsone to focus more on the symmetry of thefacade, which is loosely derived from the

eighth-century church of San Pietro inToscanella, Italy. The tripartite arrangementof the church with a tall nave and lower sideaisles is reflected by the projecting pavilionon the facade. A double granolithic staircaseleads to the elevated main entrance with itslanding masked behind a brick parapet con-taining a central entrance to the lower

church. As was common in America, theplan included a lower and upper church toaccommodate double masses for the grow-ing numbers of Catholic immigrants—al-though the entrances to the lower churcheswere usually subsidiary. Maginnis decided

not only to make thelower entrance promi-nent, but also incorpo-rated it into the verticalaxis of the facade, com-posed of the two centralarched entryways androse window, each ele-ment on a discreet plane.The horizontal axis con-sists of an open arcade,decorative cornice, andinlaid panels. A life-sizeterra cotta figure ofChrist, modeled byHugh Cairns, stands atthe crossing of the axes,under a projecting arch-way. The resulting crossfunctions as the organi-zational principle for thesculptural plasticity ofthe facade as a whole.Delicate accents of thewhite glazed terra cottatrim enliven the overallsurface.

Paying homage to theintricate brickwork seenthroughout the Bostonarea since the era ofCharles Bulfinch, the ex-terior of this steel-framed building is art-fully laid in commonbond, 1:5, with simplegeometric motifs (re-peated on the interior) ofrubbed brick throughoutthe wall spaces to relievepotential monotony. Theupper section of thegable is emphasized withprojecting courses,which allow for a play oflight and shadow. In his

desire to convince leaders of the CatholicChurch that the Church had established it-self firmly on American soil and, therefore,it was no longer necessary to build big tomake an impression, Maginnis arguedstrongly for small parish churches built ofbrick: “Such is the alchemy of art that anunpretentious brick church with the mark

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Facade of St. Catherine of Genoa by Maginnis and Walsh.


A R T I C L E S

of gifted hands upon it, may have more ar-tistic value than the cathedral.”

The supreme artistry of the lavish inte-rior, recently restored by J.W. Graham Inc.,reflects the architect’s leadership role asfounding member of the Catholic Federa-tion of Arts, the Liturgical Arts Society, andthe Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. Theeclectic interior, based on Byzantine prece-dents, is a premier example of liturgicalarts in the Boston area. In the spirit of theArts and Crafts movement, Maginnisfirmly believed—and worked to convincehis patrons—that the architect should beresponsible for all aspects of a church de-sign, including the coordination of the li-turgical furnishings, to achieve a total unityof the arts. To this end Maginnis insistedon working with master craftsmen of inter-national repute; for example, AngeloLualdi, who carved the Stations of theCross in white alabaster, with the provisionthat the models for the stations were neverto be used again.

Johannes Kirchmayer, trained inOberammergau and also associated withthe architects Ralph Adams Cram andHenry Vaughn, carved the pulpit, five pic-torial panels, and smaller liturgical objects.The marriage and death of St. Catherineare depicted on the large panels carved inlow relief on the rear wall of the church.

The panel above the altar in the Holy Fam-ily Chapel shows Mary with the ChristChild and St. Joseph standing behind themholding a carpenter’s tool. The facade ofSt. Catherine church itself appears as a de-tail in the background. The pulpit waserected to the memory of parishioners whoserved in World War I. Kirchmayer carvedthe patron saints of the Allies around thepulpit, with St. Catherine representing theUnited States. Throughout his carvings,Kirchmayer used gold, touches of color,and different shades and textures of woodto highlight details.

Both Rev. O’Brien and Maginnis wereenthusiastic about exploring modern mate-rials, particularly the creative possibilitiesof stucco to effectively emulate stone ashad been done in Europe at significantlyless expense. The interior—essentially abasilica plan with barrel-vaulted ceiling—is sheathed with Rose Tavanelle marble upto the height of the gilded Romanesquecushion capitals, adorned with eagles, li-ons, birds, shields and engravings of versesfrom the Psalms. The entire wall surfaceabove is decorated with elaborate designsin stucco modeled by Hugh Cairns, whoalso prepared the models for the stonecarving and woodwork, which was ex-ecuted by Irving and Casson. The ceilingcoffers in dull green and gold contain the

main color scheme, which isrepeated in the muted gold ofthe aisle domes and through-out the detailed carvings ofplant motives, interlace, andarabesque patterns. Togetherwith the ornamental bandsand cornices, the complexgrisaille and multi-toned de-tails result in a deeply layeredsurface texture which enve-lopes the interior. Touches ofblue and red hint at Ro-manesque vibrancy.

For Maginnis, worship atthe altar was a fundamentalarchitectural demand. In hiswords, “The lines of the inte-rior must contrive to secure abefitting aspect of solem-nity—an atmosphere whichshall stimulate religious emo-tion and comprehension ofthe mystery that the altar istheologically the Church, be-cause it represents DivinePresence.” Maginnis de-signed every detail to focuson the semi-circular apse con-taining the alabaster andonyx altar, modeled by HughCairns, with flowing vinesand birds copied from the sar-cophagus of ArchbishopTheodore at Ravenna. The al-tar contrasts effectively withthe deep hues of the purple

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and gray Fleur de Peche marble used in thefreestanding curved colonnade behind thealtar and the bookmatched marble slabs ofthe sanctuary walls. The columns of thecolonnade are made from the cores of thestrongly veined marble nave columnswhich had been cored and split to fitaround the steel posts. Maginnis tippedthe sanctuary arch to create an uninter-rupted flow from the nave to the sanctuaryspace and downward over the apse paint-ing of God the Father with his arms out-stretched in blessing, Enthroned Christ in animbus, and the Dove of the Holy Ghost.The figures of Mary, the Archangel andsaints are arranged around the edge of thesemicircular dome, which was painted oncanvas by Alexander Locke, a pupil of JohnLaFarge. The gold-plated bronze capitalsof the columns rising from the center of thereredos were made by Tiffany Studios. Theupward thrust of the small goldbaldacchino dome over the tabernacle,with mosaics by the Waldo Brothers, cre-ates the perfect balance of this masterful in-terior.

St. Catherine represents a collaborationbetween two men who shared spiritualityand piety, one bringing resources to theproject, the other providing design talent ofuncommon quality.

�

Milda B. Richardson is an art historian wholives in Boston. She is presently working on amonograph on the work of Maginnis andWalsh.

The pulpit, erected in memory ofWorld War I veterans


A R T I C L E S

IDENTITY AND LONGEVITYMichael Enright

As a member of the Archdiocese ofChicago’s Commission for Sacred Art,

I have noticed a couple of areas of churchdesign that are frequently overlooked inthe planning.

In presenting these concerns, I have pur-posely avoided the thorny issues of taber-nacle placement, baptismal fonts, altar andassembly, etc. Liturgists and designers willprobably be arguing about these questionshalf an hour after Christ comes again! Inthe meantime, the two issues below need tobe addressed before any consideration ofthe interior designs for churches. Theyshould be addressed because they are not“changeable” elements in design. Once thebuilding is up, you can change the interiorall you want, but you cannot go back andmake structural changes.

The first area of weakness in church de-signs has often been whether the building“looks” like a Catholic church. During thepast couple of years, architects have cometo our commission with designs that do notread as churches. Too frequently the modi-fications suggested at the commission havebeen something like, “Why don’t you add atower here?” or, “Can you include somekind of a sign that identifies this as aCatholic church?”

There is an inherent weakness in abuilding that needs a sign to be identifiedas a Catholic church. There is some debateamong designers about exactly what de-fines a church, and still more debate aboutwhat defines a Catholic church. Still, it isnot impossible to design a building thatclearly identifies itself that way. The archi-tect only needs a tiny dose of humility andcommon sense. What I have seen too fre-quently is a building that the architectshave managed to “sell” to the pastor andbuilding committee, but that doesn’t looklike a church and cannot be identified as aCatholic church without signage. A churchis not a place for architects to feed theiregos.

The second area of weakness in thesedesigns has often been that they are notpermanent buildings. One of the questionspastors, dioceses, and building committeesought to ask architects is, “How long willthis last?” A church building ought to bebuilt to last longer than the architect whodesigned it. It seems that no one asks thelongevity question at the outset, and thenthe parish is stuck with a building thatneeds excessive maintenance from the dayit’s built. Many of the flaws in current de-sign lead to new buildings that — almostimmediately after the dedication—neednew roofs, flashing repairs, or replacementof mechanical systems. Some require aero-

batics to do something as simple as changea light bulb. These buildings are put to-gether with the assumption that someonewill always be there to caulk expansionjoints in the brick, the maintenance peoplewill always remember to oil the little steampump in the basement, the ushers will al-ways be sure to keep the snow off of thecarpet in the vestibule, etc.

Why not eliminate as many mainte-nance problems as you possibly can in theoriginal design? Many of the designs I’veseen make assumptions about continuousmaintenance and the desire of pastors/staffs to keep up with this maintenancethat are unwarranted. Some of the designsmake assumptions about the longevity ofmechanical systems that are simply asi-nine. A pastor of a parish I know told meabout an air handler in his church that hadto be changed, but couldn’t be. The me-chanical room was under the sacristy andthere was no way to take out the old airhandler without demolishing the back ofthe church.

There are horror stories like that re-peated all over the Archdiocese of Chicago,and, I’m sure, around the country. Storiesabout churches that were dysfunctionalfrom the day they were dedicated, aboutroofs that leaked after the first rainstormand have been leaking ever since, aboutlight bulbs that are never changed becauseyou’d have to tape wings on the mainte-nance man to get to them, about boilersthat can’t be fixed or pumps that can’t beaccessed.

Architects and designers should re-

member that someday someone will bestuck with their designs. I remember beingnewly ordained and going to a parish onthe north side of Chicago. The church wasbuilt in the mid-sixties, an “in the round”church with low windows on three sides.The windows were some special kind ofglass and black cement. There were acouple of problems, though. The buildingwas oriented incorrectly on the site and thewindows were dark blue. The place wasalways dark, even on the sunniest day.People couldn’t see well enough to read thesongs in church. The pastor solved theproblem by installing high pressure so-dium lights in the ceiling. Now everyonecould see, but they were bathed in the blue-white light of a gymnasium. So much forliturgical colors!

Furthermore, these “special” windowscouldn’t be opened. The designers had fig-ured that the parish would always be ableto run the air conditioner. I figured it hadto be broken—that was the only reason Icould imagine that the pastor would sub-ject himself and me to the experience of cel-ebrating Mass in this place. The sanctuarywas raised a few feet from the floor of thechurch, and the roof rose above the sanctu-ary. Heat being what it is, on a hot summerday with a full church it was nearly un-bearable to celebrate Mass there. One day Iwas walking with the maintenance man inthe back rooms of the church and noticedthe compressors for the air conditioning. Iasked him how long they’d been broken.“Broken?” He looked at me and smiled.“They work just fine. It’s just that they costtoo much to run.” I had some choicethoughts about the people who designed achurch with windows that couldn’t beopened!

Someday the new church you’re con-templating may be in a poor neighbor-hood. The pastor may not be able to affordto run the air conditioners or pay a mainte-nance person to scoop the leaves out of thegutters or check the flashings on the roofevery week. The building should remainstanding and be usable!

These two concerns—the readability ofa church design as a Catholic church andthe mechanical-structural integrity of thebuilding, are the easy ones. Yet they havenot been addressed! Before we even beginthe discussion on interior design, let us besure the building will still be here lookinglike a church when future generations de-cide that our tabernacle and font need toswitch places!

�Rev. Michael Enright is a pastor in Chicago.

St. Stanislaus Kostka, Chicago, Illinois,

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A R T I C L E S

The style of church building in an age re-flects many things, not least how the

universe is perceived by that age. Just asthe Gothic cathedral can be read as a micro-cosm of the medieval universe, so can thecontemporary church building be read as amodel of the contemporary universe.Therefore the argument for adopting “cur-rent norms for the design of liturgicalspaces,” for example, is also an argumentthat the church building should model theuniverse that this age thinks it lives in. Inthis relativist age, that universe is inher-ently materialist and deeply hostile to theDivine.

The modern age is said to have begun in1915 with the publication of Einstein’s gen-eral theory of relativity. The body of ideaswhich constitute modernism may havebeen around prior to that date, but it tookrelativity to give the body its form and cos-mic context. In response to the already fa-mous Michelson-Morley experiment whichshowed that light does not obey Newton’sabsolute laws of motion, Einstein dis-missed the absolutes. From that momenton, the universe would be a purely subjec-tive affair. All points of view would beequally valid and value would be ascribedby the observer alone.

The relativist universe is therefore —(1) boundary-less, because every

part of it and every place in it has equalvalue and boundaries, and divisions be-tween places are unnecessary.

(2) homogeneous, because withoutboundaries and divisions, places merge to-gether into one vast space that is the samethroughout.

(3) directionless, because in un-bounded, homogeneous space there’s no-where special to look and no particularplace to go.

The result of all this is a universe that isempty and meaningless. Since there is noobjective truth or reality to be found outthere, since infinite and unbounded spacehas room enough for every possible pointof view and yet none of them can raise astir in all that emptiness, the only directionto look is inwards.

It is often argued that in the medieval or,more accurately, the Ptolemaic universe theEarth was positioned at the center ofthings, and therefore people in the MiddleAges must have believed that everythingin the universe revolved around Man andthe Earth. The argument continues that wein the Modern Age know the truth: we andour planet are truly nowhere and utterlyinsignificant in a universe that extends to-wards infinity in every direction.

But in the Ptolemaic universe the Earth

appears diagrammatically to be the centralsphere among all the spheres. But if thediagram is read three dimensionally, theEarth’s real status as the furthest spherefrom God becomes apparent. In theMiddle Ages the Earth was believed to beat the lowest point in the universe in keep-ing with Man’s fallen status. It is the mod-ern universe—where the only valid truthsare those which originate in human con-sciousness—that is truly human-centred.

Modernist church design is—(1) boundary-less, since every at-

tempt is made to diminish or dispense withdivisions between parts of the building.This is most obvious in the merging of thesanctuary and the body of the church bothvisually and by generating a traffic be-tween the two with lay people frequentlyentering the sanctuary and the priest leav-ing it.

(2) homogeneous, since the typical

RELATIVISM BY ANY OTHER NAMEMoyra Doorly

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Interior of Pius-Kirche, Meggen, Switzerland, by Franz Füeg, 1964-66.

Chapel at Ronchamp, France, by LeCorbusier, 1950-55.

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A R T I C L E S

contemporary church has few divisions be-tween spaces and the overall aesthetic isone of sameness. The various areas of thebuilding are difficult to distinguish fromeach other; and by dispensing with statues,wall paintings, carvings, etc. in favor of theunadulterated modernist aesthetic, the dis-tinct impression is of one single space thatcan be taken in at a glance.

(3) directionless, since there’s littleto attract the eye or move the body for-ward, and the sanctuary and altar arepushed forward into the body of thechurch with the people gathered around.This configuration is, in effect, a circularone; and even in a church building that hasnot been reordered, the mere fact of turn-ing the priest to face the people creates acircular form. Circles are essentially non-directional, closed, and inward-looking.

The result of this is an inward-lookingcommunity in which the immanent takesprecedence over—or even excludes—thetranscendent. The contemporary Church

worships in relativist space, space whichhas to—by its very nature—exclude orradically diminish the concept that any partof it may be special or worthy of being setapart, that any part of it may be sacred.And in the absence of any meaningfulspace without, the only option is to look in.

The influential “Environment and Artin Catholic Worship” (EACW), producedby the American Bishops’ Committee onthe Liturgy in 1978, summed up as much asany document could the post-Vatican IIstyle of church building. In this documentthe Council’s emphasis on Christ’s pres-ence in the community at worship is fur-ther explained and EACW goes as far as ac-tually making “the assembly the primarysymbol of worship.”

The liturgical environment, claimsEACW, draws on the “community’s recog-nition of the sacred,” and “it’s own expres-sion,” more than on liturgical or theologicalprinciples. And so there it is, in black andwhite—as well as in concrete, steel and

glass—the relativist church, so emptied ofthe transcendent that the people are its firstsource of meaning.

It wasn’t until after the Second VaticanCouncil that the Church adapted the lit-urgy to the modernist style. For the firsthalf of the twentieth century, new churcheswere built which were unmistakably mod-ernist but which retained traditional litur-gical forms.

The Bauhaus School was founded in1919 in Weimar, Germany by the architectWalter Gropius. Many important modern-ists taught there in order to create a clean,pure style for a clean, pure future. Stylesand traditions were considered obsoleteand the talk was of “starting from zero.” Anew aesthetic was to be found through theuse of honestly expressed materials. Allforms of decoration were out.

The architect Le Corbusier published“Towards a New Architecture” in 1923, atext which was to become one of the twen-tieth century’s most influential works of ar-chitectural theory. The spatial principleswhich inspired them were laid out in thetext: “A great epoch has begun. There ex-ists a new spirit.... There is no longer anyquestion of custom, nor of tradition.... TheStyles are a lie....”

The message was clear. The past wasdead and the future wide open.

Just as relativity had freed universalspace from absolutes, so architectural spacewas to be liberated from traditional con-cepts. New construction methods employ-ing steel and reinforced concrete allowedgreater spans to be achieved without somuch solid masonry. Space could now“flow” because there was no longer anyneed to restrict an activity to an area en-closed by heavy walls. Free flowing spacecould be multi-functional and open-plan.Sliding doors and partitions allowed activ-ity areas—or zones—to be closed off andopened up again as the need arose.

No longer was a building to be consid-ered in terms of connected but individu-ally defined spaces, but as an expression ofunbounded, egalitarian space. Light-weight curtain walling and extensive areasof glazing helped lighten the perimeter ofthe building, and the city was to be liber-ated by abandoning traditional patterns ofstreets, squares, avenues, courtyards, etc.By raising buildings off the ground on col-umns, or “piloti,” space could also flow un-derneath them.

One of the most frequent complaintspeople make about the contemporarychurch building is that “it doesn’t look likea church,” which to the modernist, at least,will only be evidence of “a sentimental at-tachment to outmoded concepts.” Afterall, if we’ve been freed from the limitationsof traditional forms, who’s to say what achurch should look like?

Part of the modernist project has been toturn to the ancients for inspiration. Easter

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Church of Marco de Canevezes, Porto, Portugal, by Alvaro Siza.


A R T I C L E S

Island statues, Mayan temples, the Acropo-lis, all demonstrate the purity of “pri-mary” forms like cubes, pyramids, spheres,and rectangles which have an inherentbeauty due to their geometry alone. Thistendency to look to the farthest past in or-der to develop a style for the future is a fea-ture of much modernist art.

Similarly, the model of the early Churchis often held up as the example to followwhen new churches are commissioned or areordering is proposed. The contemporaryliturgy requires an authentic and relevantsetting, it is claimed, one that reflects thesimplicity and togetherness experienced bythe first Christians as they came together ineach others’ houses or in the simplest ofbuildings.

But the first Christians lived in a direc-tional, bounded, and hierarchical universe.It was Aristotle who proposed that theboundary between the earthly realm(which was subject to change and decay)and the celestial realm (which was immu-table and eternal) lay at the orbit of themoon. The division of the universe intoEarth and Sky was further emphasised bythe distribution of the elements. Below themoon was air, earth, fire and water,whereas above the moon was the fifth ele-ment, or “ether.”

The astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria,who died around A.D. 180, mapped out theorbits of the celestial spheres. From theEarth upwards was the moon, Mercury,Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, andthe “Stellatum,” or sphere of the stars.Then came the Primum Mobile, the “FirstMover;” and beyond that—beyond theninth sphere—lay the Empyrean, the abodeof God.

It was God’s love that caused thePrimum Mobile to turn, which then trans-mitted motion down through the spheres,which made music as they turned. Thiswas a universe moved by the love of God.Like the nine choirs of angels, the spheresincreased in perfection the closer they wereto God. The furthest sphere—the Earth—was also composed of a different elementthan the rest of the universe.

It is difficult to imagine a universe moredifferent from ours. To the Medievals, di-rection really mattered—up and down hadabsolute value. Theirs was a transcendentuniverse that inspired movement and aspi-ration. Where you were in the hierarchywas a crucial matter and every part of thathierarchy was occupied.

This was also a universe that died itsdeath. But was that death as much the re-sult of a human desire to climb from thebottom of the cosmic pile as of the discov-ery of new scientific facts? As C.S. Lewishas pointed out, the universal model of anage is as much a product of the psychologyof that age as of its scientific knowledge.

When the appetite for a new or modi-fied universe becomes strong enough, the

scientific phenomena to justify it will turnup—or so the argument goes. This ispartly because science isn’t nearly as fixedin its theories as it seems. For example,there isn’t enough matter in the universe tosatisfy the laws of gravity which are sup-posed to govern the forces between planetsand stars and keep the galaxies moving.But it is generally assumed that gravity isthis universal force because it is convenientfor the contemporary world to do so.

Similarly the Doppler effect, which ex-plains why the pitch of a car horn changesas the car passes, is employed to explainthe red shift observed in light waves com-ing from stars in the most distant galaxiesin the universe. This red shift is supposedto indicate that these galaxies are movingaway from us, which leads on to the ex-panding universe and the big bang theory.But doubts have been raised that the phe-nomena observed are entirely due to redshift effects. But again this puts too much

doubt into the prevailing scientific mind.The call for the re-sacralization of the lit-

urgy is often heard these days. But this can-not be achieved without the re-sacraliza-tion of space, without a reawakening of theconcept of a sacred universe. The contem-porary mind set might favour relativism,but this will not last forever. Meanwhilepopular culture has moved into space byreworking the myths and setting some ofits most popular adventures beyond theplanet.

The Church does not have to accept therelativist universe. It is acknowledged thatthe liturgy suffers from too great an em-phasis on the immanent. To redress thebalance in favour of the transcendent, theChurch has first to reclaim sacred space.

�Moyra Doorly is an architect and journalist

living in London.

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Matri Misericordiae Church, Baranzate, Italy.


A R T I C L E S

On Monday, 1 October 2001, the HolyFather dedicated the new, permanent

Synod Chapel, located next to the VaticanSynod Hall. The Chapel has reservation ofthe Blessed Sacrament, providing synodparticipants with an area for adoration andprayer during the synodal assembly. Uponarrival and before departing from themorning and evening plenary sessions, theHoly Father with his small entourage andthe General Secretary make a visit to thechapel.

The design and furnishings of the synodchapel are meant to communicate and cel-ebrate the theological concepts of collegial-ity and communion underlying the Synodof Bishops. Its design and furnishings drawtheir primary inspiration from two biblicalpassages: Acts 2:1-4 and John 20:19-29,which treat the bestowal of the Holy Spiriton the apostolic college gathered in the Up-per Room or Cenacle.

Though born at the cross, the Churchhas consistently taught that her initial ven-ture into the world was accomplished onthe day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spiritdescended in tongues of fire upon theapostles, gathered in the Cenacle, withMary, the Mother of Jesus. Since this is aparticularly powerful event in the life ofthe episcopal college as a group, andthereby the Church, the design of thechapel wishes to recreate visually the expe-rience of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:1-4). The in-set stained-glass window in the ceiling por-trays the Holy Spirit as a dove on a triangu-lar golden field to recall the Blessed Trinity,the source of communion in the episcopateand in the Church as a whole. The move-ment of the glass in various tones of red,

yellow andorange high-lights the out-pouring ofthe Spirit intongues offire whichmade theapostles elo-quent wit-nesses toChrist. Fire’sproperty oflight and heatalso corre-sponds to en-lightenment(wisdom) andc o u r a g e(zeal), ele-ments whichcharacterized

the mission of Peter and the apostles.According to biblical evidence, the

Cenacle or Upper Room, the site of the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit as seen above,was also the room in which Jesus cel-ebrated the Passover meal at which he in-stituted the Sacraments of the Priesthoodand the Eucharist. The setting of theCenacle therefore is linked to the sharedepiscopal dignity and the principle of unityof the episcopate and the whole Church. Acentral kneeler recalls the Holy Father, Suc-cessor of St. Peter, surrounded by benchesand kneelers symbolizing the eleven re-maining apostles. The intention is togather the episcopal college “in andaround Peter,” yet all facing the tabernacleand the mystical presence of the Lord, whostands in the midst of the college andbreathes forth his Holy Spirit on them (cf.Jn 20: 19-29).

In lighted niches at the rear of thechapel stand two bronze statues of Sts. Pe-ter and Paul, the patron saints of theChurch of Rome. They are symbolic of theuniversality of the Church in Peter’s mis-sion to the Jews and Paul’s to the Gentiles(cf. Gal 2:7).

The frosted design on the sliding glassdoor of the chapel states the synodal char-acter of the chapel, with a central mitrebearing the apostolic keys to signify Peterand eleven mitres, positioned around the

central mitre, completing the symbolism ofthe apostolic college. To continue the themeof the unity of the apostolic college, the al-tar-support is suggestive of the prow of aboat. The New Testament contains manypassages in which a boat provides the set-ting for significant experiences for theapostles as a group.

The boat is also used as the symbol ofthe entire Church, oftentimes called “theBark of Peter. ” In this sense, the cross withits bronze figure of the suffering Christconveniently completes the mast to Peter’shumble fishing boat. The wind-sweptmovement to the sculpture, including theshroud-like pieces of cloth behind thecross—a hearkening to the shroud and res-urrection—is a further association with thework of the Holy Spirit, Who provides the“wind” for the sails of Peter’s Bark.

The simple bronze tabernacle bears thecustomary shafts of wheat and grapes forthe Eucharist. An added feature is thesymbol of the fish, indicative of Peter thefisherman and the mission of the apostlesas “fishers of men” (Matt 4:19; Mk 1 :17).The design is also continued in the candle-sticks and sanctuary lamp. The fish is alsothe ancient symbol of Christ.

The Marian statue, entitled Our Lady ofHope, recalls Mary, the Mother of JesusChrist, gathered in prayer with theApostles in the Cenacle. She extends herhand to marvel at the wonder of God’sgrace, to welcome the flame of the love ofthe Holy Spirit, to nurture it so that it mayburn constantly and brightly. As truehandmaiden of the Lord and His Gospel,and image of the Church, Mary is Motherof the Apostles and their successors. In ef-fect, theapostles, gath-ered aroundMary in theUpper Room,were as if look-ing into a mir-ror, a mirror inwhich they sawtheir own re-flection as theChurch, theperfect “Brideof Christ.”

�

Msgr. John A.Abruzzese is sec-retary general forthe Synod ofBishops.

THE SYNOD CHAPELJohn A. Abruzzese

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Interior of the Synod Chapel, Rome, Italy


LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME:ON THE CRY ROOM

Peter Dowbrowski

A R T I C L E S

How can anyone oppose a cry room(a.k.a. a “family room”) in a church?

Young parents want it to avoid being em-barrassed by an unruly child and to bewith understanding people struggling withthe same problem. Children like it becausethey can play their games and not be calledto account. Prayerful people encourage itso they won’t be bothered by the problemsof children. And most priests favor it be-cause it’s a physical place to isolate majordistractions at Mass.

However, as a priest for thirty years anda pastor for more than half of them, I op-pose cry rooms on theological grounds.Vatican II identified the Church as the“people” of God (Constitution on theChurch, Ch. 2). A “people” is not just calmadults and well-behaved children. Whenyoung children are segregated out of theassembly into a cry room, the assemblylacks its full identity as a “people.” We en-ter the Church through baptism, so a bap-tized child belongs to the Church as muchas the old lady aggravated by misbehavioror the old man concerned about the“smells.” The Church is “catholic,” whichmeans she embraces all ages as well as allnations. The Church doesn’t segregate byrace or language (i.e. non-Spanish speakersare royally welcomed at a Spanish Mass),and in the same way the Church loses her

visible catholicity when she segre-gates her assemblies by age.

Another theological reason foropposing cry rooms is that thegospel is promised “to your chil-dren” (Acts 2:39). Dividing thechildren from the assembly re-moves them from the space wherethat gospel is given. A “familyroom” puts pressure on families touse it and teaches the children thatthey’re not held to the same stan-dards as everyone else. Therearen’t two Churches (one foradults and the other for familieswith unruly children) so thereshouldn’t be two places where theone Church assembles for herpublic work (Constitution on theLiturgy #10).

A third and more practical rea-son for opposing a cry room is thatthe space it takes can be put toother uses. No church ever hasenough storage or devotionalspace. By taking up an assignedand specific location, a cry room“clutters” the worship space of acommunity and usually has itsown clutter (and unpleasantodors) as well.

Of course, there has to be an

emergency place for an unruly child whenthere’s no other way to establish control.That place should have doors to isolate itsdistractions from the assembly, glass win-dows to provide the parents and childrenvisual contact with what they came to see,and an audio system to let the family hearwhat they’re missing. However, it shouldbe a temporary place, like a vestibule,which has other uses so that once an un-ruly child starts behaving the family can re-turn to the assembly. That family—parentsand children—belong with the rest of us.They’re a visible part of the (gospel) peoplethat we are.

�

Rev. Peter P. Dobrowski is pastor of thechurch of St. Margaret Mary in Bullhead City,Arizona.

Vatican II identified the Church as the “people” ofGod. A “people” is not just calm adults and well-

behaved children.

The Church is “catholic,” which means she embraces all ages. . .


CONGREGATIO DE CULTU DIVINOET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM

Prot. N. 991/01/L

June 30, 2001

His ExcellencyThe Most Reverend Rembert WeaklandArchbishop of Milwaukee

Your Excellency:

This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has now completed its attentive study of the plannedrenovation of the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, which was occasioned by doubts that the project would conformto the relevant canonical and liturgical norms for the ordering of Catholic churches and, in particular, cathedrals, and with this letter itwishes to communicate its conclusions. In reaching this decision, this Dicastery has been most sensitive to Your Excellency’s concern thatall unnecessary delays to the project be avoided.

The first serious obstacle to approving the planned renovation of the Cathedral is the incongruity of the proposed floor plan with thearchitectural structure of the church, that is to say, the general layout of the church with its nave, apse, and natural presbyterium is evi-dently pre-established by the architectural style. Perhaps in the case of a new church construction there could be more latitude for deci-sions about the layout of the church, but this becomes much more restricted in an existing church like the Cathedral.

Moving to the particular points in law, having clarified the doubts concerning the conformity of this project with the relevant canoni-cal and liturgical norms, it is the judgment of this Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments that:

1. Contrary to the norms of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, 1975, nos. 257-258, 262 (cf. also Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani,2000, nos. 294-295, 299), the presbyterium, in accord with the proposed reordering, would lose its internal coherence, as well as a positionwhere attention is naturally focused in the Cathedral. The proposed configuration, in placing a new and visually imposing organ inwhat is the clear natural focal point of the Cathedral, that is, the apse, and in placing the altar, in effect, in the midst of the central nave,fails adequately to respect the hierarchical structure of the Church of God that the Cathedral by its scheme is to reflect and likewise di-minishes the necessary distinctiveness of the presbyterium with respect to the rest of the Cathedral. This difficulty has already been recog-nized and the proposed addition to the plan of a corona over the altar is an attempt to find a remedy by diverting attention from the or-gan. However, it is the opinion of this Dicastery that this provision fails sufficiently to address the grave problem introduced by theorgan’s placement in the apse.

2. The proposed relocation of the tabernacle in what is presently the Baptistry in order to create a Blessed Sacrament Chapel does not,in contravention of can. 938. [section] 2, offer to the people of God a placement in which is truly conspicua, since only with some investi-gation might the chapel be found. Furthermore, it has been determined that this chapel, as a result of its modest dimensions (estimatedat 15 ft. x 20 ft., i.e., approximately 28 sq. m.), does not satisfy the requirement that the chapel be ad privatam fidelium adorationem etprecationem idoneo (Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, 2000, no. 315) since it would restrict to so few the number of the faithful whomight actually take advantage of opportunities for private prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

3. According to the requirement of can. 964, [section] 3, and in light of the recent authentic interpretation of can. 964, [section] 2 (cf.Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, Responsum ad propositum dubium, approved by His Holiness, July 7, 1998,Communicationes 30 {1998} 27), except for a just reason to the contrary, the confessions of the faithful are to be heard in confessionals. Con-sequently, the proposed reduction of the number of confessionals from four to two, seems to be insufficient to meet the needs of the faith-ful, especially in light of Your Excellency’s testimony as to the large number of the faithful that not infrequently participate in ceremoniesat the Cathedral.

4. It is not consonant with the requirement of can. 1187, nor the established tradition, that in or immediately adjacent to the Cathedralimages of persons be incorporated whose cult has not received the necessary approval and extension in law by the Holy See.

As a further point, it would seem to this Congregation that the ancient and venerable high altar together with its baldacchino shouldbe retained, given also that it is a most suitable location for the reservation of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Not unrelated to the foregoing are regrettable instances of statements in the fund raising pamphlet entitled The Cathedral Project whichare inaccurate in asserting that several of the changes have been required by the liturgical law (cf. pp. 16, 20-21).

In light of the foregoing, this Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments hereby remands the plan for theinterior renovation of the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist to the renewed consideration of Your Excellency, bearing in mind theneed for the project to be revised in accord with the above-cited canonical and liturgical requirements. This Dicastery awaits YourExcellency’s considered response in this matter.

With every good wish and kind regard, I am,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Jorge A. Card. Medina EstévezPrefect

D O C U M E N T A T I O N


B O O K S

OUT WITH THE NEW, IN WITH THE OLD

Ugly as Sin: Why They Changed Our Churchesfrom Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces - andHow We Can Change Them Back Againby Michael S. Rose, Manchester, NewHampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 2000.

Reviewed by Dino Marcantonio

Michael Rose brings us an ex-panded analysis of the plight

of contemporary Catholic churcharchitecture and a detailed pre-scription for its recovery in his sec-ond book, Ugly As Sin. Broader inscope than his earlier The Renova-tion Manipulation, this book willeven more effectively increase theconfidence of the movement to haltthe wreckovations of traditionalchurches, and the hope of thoseawaiting a renaissance in newchurch design. It is written el-egantly and is accessible to the lay-man. Clear and simple explana-tions are provided whenever archi-tectural and liturgical jargon can-not be avoided. Nonetheless, thebook is just as useful to the profes-sional architect. To the pastor andbishop it is indispensable andought to be required reading: if notbetter to understand church archi-tecture, at least better to under-stand the flock.

Rose trenchantly initiates thereader who senses instinctivelythat something is amiss with OurLady of Suburbia, yet cannot quiteput his finger on the problem. Us-ing the example of Notre Dame inParis to flesh out his argument,Rose tells us that good church ar-chitecture incarnates the Faith. Tothat end, there are three essentiallaws of church design: verticality,permanence, and iconography.The verticality of the proportions of the ar-chitectural elements (such as windows, col-umns, etc.) as well as the spaces of thechurch building both encourage the soul toaspire and give room for the spirit to as-cend. The permanence of the church build-ing gives witness to the timelessness of theFaith, doing so in several ways: throughthe literal physical durability of the struc-ture; through the general massing, whichought to lend the appearance of stability;and through the architectural forms them-selves, which can convey a sense of perma-nence by situating themselves organicallywithin the continuity of a tradition. Fi-nally, the good church building is icono-graphic: it speaks about specific doctrinesof the Faith.

Having laid this foundation, Rose pro-vides a detailed formal analysis, first of atraditional church, then of a modernistchurch, looking through the eyes of animaginary pilgrim. He shows how the tra-ditional church clearly preaches the doc-trines of the Faith, while the modernist

church offers little more than inconspicu-ousness at the urban scale, and haughtymuteness and ugliness close up andwithin.

Rose also explains the reasons behindchurch architecture’s decline and fall.Echoing Victor Hugo, he claims that con-temporary church design is the unfortu-nate victim of fashion, which typicallycauses more harm than either time or vio-lence. The fashion this time around is Prot-estant theology, particularly as it has beendistilled by the Lutheran architect EdwardSövik. His book Architecture for Worship(1973), which heavily influenced theUSCCB’s unofficially-official document En-vironment and Art in Catholic Worship (1978),is swollen with profundities such as:

...if for one reason or another [thechurch] is reserved for the Liturgy, itwill sooner or later be thought of as the“house of God”; and then it will bethought of as a holy place; and thenother places will be seen as profane orsecular.1

Believe it or not, much of theChurch hierarchy in the UnitedStates embraced such thinking, ef-fectively spelling the death ofchurch design.

The diagnosis complete, Roseprescribes ways to breathe lifeback into church design. He callsfor the restoration of churches thatwere “marred by fashionablerenovations.” This means return-ing the altar rail, removing thedrop-ceiling added in 1973, andhauling the Stations of the Crossout of the old confessionals-cum-storage closets. He calls for therenovation of churches that werenever beautiful to begin with(pretty much everything built af-ter 1965). And in the worst cases,where a church was built withlittle more permanence than a RedCross tent in Afghanistan, he callsfor adaptation to another use andthe construction of an entirelynew church. The hiring of a goodarchitect, of course, is essential inall cases, almost as important asthe elimination of the liturgicaldesign consultant. To that end,Rose supplies us with a list of ar-chitects and artists who haveshown themselves capable of de-signing churches worthy of theworship of God.

To his credit, Rose suggests re-turning to the celebration of Massad orientem in those churches for-tunate enough still to have the old

high altar. The new Missa contra Deum pos-ture, mistakenly taken to be fruit of theCouncil,2 does make keeping the BlessedSacrament in the sanctuary a bit difficult,since it means the priest turning his back toGod. Perhaps out of piety, Rose dissimu-lates the clear connection between contem-porary church design and the liturgicalmovement, which has fought tooth andnail to remove verticality, permanence andiconography from the liturgy, to replacethem with horizontality, change, and vaguesense-experience. He states, for example,that we must return the tabernacle “back toits original position in the center of thesanctuary, behind the altar.” When was thetabernacle ever behind the altar? It’s beenon the altar, or over the altar, for as much as


B O O K S

the past thousand years or so (not countingthe last 30 years in Latin Rite churches), butnever behind.

One can understand his impulse, ofcourse, which is to get us away from theever-not-so-present reservation chapels,which in their typical post-Conciliarform—a closet containing a tabernacle on apedestal, and two chairs in front—havebeen an unmitigated pastoral disaster. Thearguments presented for the reservationchapel have often been specious, most dis-honestly when St. Peter’s is trotted out asthe ideal. As a major basilica built to com-memorate the tomb of St. Peter, and withunusual site conditions, it is no model foryour typical parish church. What alwaysgoes unsaid, of course, is that (1) theBlessed Sacrament is reserved there on analtar of celebration; and (2) that a BlessedSacrament Chapel is traditional only for ca-

thedral, conventual and collegiatechurches—precisely due to the problem ofthe bishop or abbot having his back to theBlessed Sacrament!

Let’s face it, the wreckovation elite arebrilliant for having found the appropriatephysical form for the new liturgy andecclesiology, not as they were envisionedby the Council Fathers, but as they are nowwidely understood and practiced.Sacrosanctum Concilium, for example, doesnot imply the need to spend a single dollaron renovations, yet we are faced todaywith legislation which explicitly forbids thereservation of the Sacrament on an altar.For a full restoration of our architecturaltraditions, liturgy and ecclesiology must insome sense take the lead.

Should Rose have brought this point outexplicitly? Perhaps it is wise that he didnot. For now, his book already represents a

great deal of progress. Indeed, the mod-ernist edifice, or “skin for liturgical action,”is already crumbling. For the rest, we takehope in recent efforts in the Church tospawn a new—ahem, old—liturgicalmovement.

�

Dino Marcantonio is assistant professor ofarchitecture at the University of Notre Dame.(email: [email protected])

NOTES:1 See Edward Anders Sövik, Architecture for Worship(Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1973), pp. 18, 36, 48, and else-where.2 See Cardinal Ratzinger’s recent book, The Spirit ofthe Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2001).

UNEARTHING THE CHRISTIAN HOLY LAND

Ancient Churches Revealedby Yoram Tsafrir, ed.,Jerusalem: Israel Explora-tion Society, 1993. Hard-cover, 358 pages.

Reviewed by David S. Heit

Ancient Churches Re-vealed is the third vol-

ume of the Israel Explora-tion Society’s “The HolyLand Revealed” series.This volume presents theexcavated early Christianchurches of the Holy Land,modern day Israel, andSinai, Egypt. Like the pre-vious books, Jerusalem Re-vealed and Ancient Syna-gogues Revealed, AncientChurches is primarily drawn from articleswhich previously appeared in the Hebrewquarterly Qadmoniot. Most of the articleswere written by the archaeologists whoperformed the excavations discussed. Al-though the editor claims the book repre-sents “the wide spectrum of the field ofChristian archaeology: liturgy, tradition,history, architecture, art, and epigraphy,”as a result of the material’s origins, thebook presents the subject with a predomi-nantly archaeological perspective, lookingat the building sites as artifacts and frag-ments.

The book begins with four brief essaysthat place the ancient churches within alarger world view politically, theologically,and artistically. The individual excavatedchurches are then presented, divided intochapters by geographic regions. The lastchapter is dedicated to monasticism in theJudean desert and Sinai.

It is the introductory essays which willprobably be of the most interest to archi-tects or other non-archaeologists. The firstessay discusses the Roman EmperorConstantine’s focus upon the Holy Landafter his conversion, which acceleratedearly Christian church building in the re-gion. It also discusses the two main churchtypologies—the basilica and the central-ized church—and their origins in secular(mostly Roman) building types. The sec-ond essay discusses the Christian liturgy ofthe Byzantine period, arguing it had devel-oped from—and therefore possessed manyparallels with—Jewish practices of thetime. The third essay returns to discuss ingreater detail the Constantinian churches.Finally, we are presented with a summaryof the crusader building boom of the elev-enth through thirteenth centuries, whenChristian Europe temporarily rescued theHoly Land from the Muslims. In the end,

these essays are informa-tive and useful to obtaina general understandingof early Christian churchbuilding in the region,but no more so thanoverviews offered inmany other period- orstyle-centered architec-tural survey publications(the Taschen series comesquickly to my mind).

Disappointingly, nei-ther the introductoryoverview, nor any otherpart of the book, at-tempts to synthesize newperspectives or conclu-sions about early Chris-tian church buildingsfrom the individual exca-

vations catalogued, though specific sitesare frequently mentioned. And while thebook is abundantly illustrated, the majorityof the photographs and drawings are inblack and white. Most are photographs ordiagrams documenting archaeological ex-cavation sites and the artifacts unearthedthere. Very few attempt to reconstruct thebuilding as an architectural whole, or com-municate the beauty the structure oncelikely possessed.

In the end, Ancient Churches Revealedhas unearthed many individual artifacts,but it fails to successfully piece them to-gether to reveal their ancient splendor.

�

David S. Heit is a practicing architect inSouth Bend, Indiana.

Plan and section of the Eleona on the Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem

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B O O K S

MERE CARING AND A SIMPLE MEAL

The Geometry of Love: Space, Time, Mysteryand Meaning in an Ordinary Churchby Margaret Visser, New York: Viking Press(Penguin Books Ltd.), 2000.

Reviewed by Renée Ryan

A Catholic church is a place of worshipand sacrifice. However, in her de-

scription and analysis of the Roman churchof Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, The Geometryof Love, Margaret Visser overlooks this. Herbook takes the form of a walk through thechurch, its crypt, andits grounds. As theauthor elaborates onthe major featuresand smaller details ofthe church, she givesits general history,and also what shesees as the basic te-nets of the Christianfaith. However, herown understandingof the importance ofthe Incarnation is de-ficient, and this hasramifications for herexplication of the ar-chitectural elementsof the place.

Our first clue thatVisser’s grasp ofChristianity is notentirely firm comeswhen she states whatshe sees as its mainmystery. She pro-nounces, “It takesonly two words tosay the most mind-boggling article ofChristian belief thereis: God cares”. It would be kind to call thisan understatement. The paradoxical andscandalous center of Christian belief can-not be expressed as mere caring. It israther that God loved the world so muchthat he sent his only Son, and that this Sontook on human flesh. Christ’s death onCalvary is the sacrifice of the Mass, whichtakes place in the Christian church. Thisaffects the way that humans articulate thespace of a church.

Visser’s appreciation of the dynamics ofthe space around the altar also indicate anunsteady grasp of the Faith. “At the heartof Christianity,” says Visser, “is a sharedmeal, together with everything meant bysharing a meal.” Today the priest is notseparated and turned away from us, shesays, but is brought “down to the people’slevel and face to face with them. The sym-bolism stresses sharing and dialogue.” The

mass, then, is a gathering turned inward,where priest and congregation are in dis-course with each other. It is not a comingtogether to raise hearts and minds towardGod, but the sharing of a meal. Moreover,she says, the altar and the Eucharist “ex-press Christ’s death.” Again, this is not thecomplete story. The altar may express Cal-vary, but the Eucharist as sacrifice isChrist’s death.

Visser is so concerned with describingeverything in terms of symbolism that shecontinually downplays both the funda-

mentally physical nature of the Eucharistand the transcendent dimensions of theMass. For her, personal communion is notthe meeting of a man or woman with theperson of Christ—in his body, blood, soul,and divinity—but with God as “simple”food and drink, and as “infinite vastness.”While she does say that the altar is theplace where God and man meet, there is nomention of the altar as an opening to theheavens.

This essentially non-sacramental visionof a church carries over into her under-standing of baptism—that baptism is notan indelible mark, but that the baptized in-fant can decide later whether he wants toremain in the church. It also extends towhat is otherwise the main strength of thebook. Visser’s information from history,politics, archaeology, and hagiography iscomprehensive. In the final chapter,

though—which takes place at the tomb ofSaint Agnes and so discusses the story ofher martyrdom—Visser carries out an exer-cise in de-mythologizing. Again, becauseof her de-emphasis of the physical aspectsof Christianity, we are left with an insipidaccount of martyrdom. The idea that somany Roman Christian women could havebeen killed without first being raped is in-comprehensible to Visser, who claims that“an insistence on the literal virginity (asopposed to integrity of mind and soul) asessential to female heroism is no longer ac-

ceptable.” Visserhere gives a di-chotomy betweenthe body and thesoul. Today, sheholds, we shouldnot stress so muchthe importance ofthe virginity ofthese martyrs, butaccept that theywere probably vio-lated, and that thisformed part of theirsuffering and finalm a r t y r d o m .Visser’s assertionhas a decidedlymodern ring to it.Again, physical re-ality is made sub-servient to symbol-ism. To the author,virginity is nothingmore than a sym-bol. Apparently,the virgin martyrswere not so spe-cially singled outafter all.

The Geometry ofLove could have been a great book. It isfilled with information about the earlyChristian church and interpretations of thearchitectural meanings of a church. It is in-teresting for basic historical and archaeo-logical facts, but it fails when it attemptsrigorous analysis. Visser’s church is not aplace for worship and sacrifice, but forcommunal meetings and individual psy-chological comfort. Thus, the hardesttruths of Christianity are neglected, and itis difficult to see precisely how the spacearound the altar is different from that of thedinner table.

�

Renée Ryan is a graduate student in phi-losophy at the University of Leuven in Bel-gium.

Interior of S. Agnese Fuori le Mura, Rome, Italy.

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C O M M E N TA R Y

LEX ORANDI LEX AEDIFICANDIJohn A. Perricone

In no less than six years the Roman Church will celebrate thecentenary of St. Pius X’s encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis.

Sarto’s encyclical boldly identified and aggressively prosecuted aheresy whose virulence the Church had never seen before. In-deed, the Pontiff was not intemperate in applying to Modernismthe epithet, “synthesis of all heresies.“ Its treachery was singledout from all the errors of the centuries because its treachery wasunparalleled. Other heresies set out to mangle one or two truths ofholy religion. Modernism’s goal was to bury religion itself.

As Richard Weaver hastaught us, ideas do haveconsequences. The particu-larly pernicious idea ofModernism soon began toshow its influence upon ev-ery portion of the Church’slife. Since the principal tenetof Modernism was the apo-theosis of man and neuter-ing of dogma, every signthat bespoke the supernatu-ral had to be surrendered.Because one of the most po-tent signs of the supernatu-ral is the Church building,radical redesigns became derigueur. These new configu-rations were not mere newmodern styles, they werestyles proselytizing modern-ism. They shocked, theydisturbed, they intentionallybroke with every architec-tural and artistic traditionthat incarnated the Faith ofour Fathers. And as the as-sumptions of modernismbecame more regnant, so didchurch architecture becomemore sterile, more jarring,more unsettling. Just as me-dieval cathedrals weremonuments to faith, manyof the new churches of theselast hundred years becamemonuments to the death offaith.

The aggressiveness ofthis project reached a feverpitch in the last thirty years.Finding itself safely en-trenched, an emboldened modernism threw its erstwhile discre-tion to the wind and proclaimed itself boldly—particularly in artand architecture. That mighty engine which carried the Faith sopowerfully would now undermine it just as powerfully.

It is a calamitous story, but some of these calamities’ worstenormities were perpetuated against the signs most precious—andin a certain sense, most necessary—to Catholics: their Churches,their art, and—most tragically—their sacred liturgy. This banefulcollapse possessed a certain inevitability, because lex orandi, lexcredendi: what one believes shapes how one prays.

And if I may add to the venerable formula—lex aedificandi. Theway in which one believes and prays determines the shape andstyle of the places where one prays.

Who would teach this ancient truth to a modern world ossifiedin its secularity? Children, of course. Not exactly children, butvery young men and women. God surprised the world with thevoices of young scholars who refused the tyranny of the decadentstatus quo. These men and women possessed an appreciation ofthe deep metaphysical and dogmatic truths underlying the symbi-

otic unity of dogma, prayer,liturgy, and architecture.Like an unexpected armycome to rescue prisonerslong thought lost, came thesetroops of young Catholics:terribly bright, spirited, andintending no pause till theyachieved triumph for HolyChurch. They carried theirnew Old Wisdom like proudmedieval knights on horse-back with banners unfurled,flapping against the winds.

These Catholics are con-spicuously young becauseorthodoxy in the twenty-firstcentury is principally ayouth revolution—aWoodstock in reverse. Mod-ernism is an ideology of theold seeking eagerly to justifyboth its vice and its ennui.Orthodoxy is the adventureof the young who are hungryfor the adventure which is admajorem Dei gloriam. Thosepassionate for the truth arealways young—Introibo adaltare Dei, ad Deum quilaetificat juventutem meam.Each one of this new com-pany of Catholic artists andscholars have devoted muchtime to articulating the im-plications of this ontologicalunity for liturgy, prayer, andart. Each stands in the fore-front of a fresh generation ofartists, artisans, and thinkerswho are excitedly poised toignite a new Counter-Refor-

mation. They are the advance legions of the JohanPauline NewEvangelization.

Like the Berninis and Michelangelos before them, they havebeen enchanted by the dogmas and liturgy of the Church and aregenerously laying before her the bounty of their talents. Each oneknows, after all, as goes the Church—so goes our world.

�Rev. John A. Perricone is the Director of ChristiFideles and serves at

St. Agnes parish in New York City.

Interior of St. Agnes Church, New York, New York.

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