sacred architecture issue 4 2000

SACREDARCHITECTUREFall 2000

Journal of the Institute for Sacred Architecture

DOMUS EUCHARISTICAThis worship, given therefore to the Trinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, aboveall accompanies and permeates the celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy. But it must fill our churchesalso outside the timetable of Masses. Indeed, since the Eucharistic Mystery was instituted out of love,and makes Christ sacramentally present, it is worthy of thanksgiving and worship. Pope John Paul II

Over the years, church buildings have received numerous titles: domus Ecclesiae, domus Dei, temple of the mosthigh, image of the eternal, holy place, and body of Christ. John Cardinal Newman called churches gospel palaces.In this Jubilee year dedicated to the Eucharist it is appropriate to reflect on the domus Eucharistica, the church as aEucharistic house. Our churches are the places we gather to eucharist, to thank God for His marvelous gifts. Thepsalmist exhorts us to Enter his gates with thanksgiving and enter his courts with joy. A church building which iseucharistic should foster our thanks by bringing to our eyes those things which we have to be thankful for in salva-tion history.

In constructing a new church, the community dedicates a building to prayer, and the building itself becomes a thankoffering. It has been often remarked that God does not need church buildings. Perhaps, but from biblical times Hischildren have sawn fit to erect monuments, tabernacles, temples and churches in His honor. What do we make of themany faithful who have built shrines in thanks for answered prayers? A domus Eucharistica can be likened to a giftoffered by a bride to her bridegroom. Through its particular architecture and iconography, the eucharistic house canrepresent the giver as well as the beloved. If we think of the church as the finest gift we can give, it will be a beauti-ful jewel.Eucharistic architecture is an architecture that supports and proclaims the Paschal mystery. As the source and thesummit of all that we do, the liturgy of the Eucharist, deserves buildings that embody Christs death and resurrec-tion. The architecture of the domus Eucharistica must focus us on the altar, which is the place of meal and sacrifice,as well as on the liturgy in heaven. It must help us to remember the Last Supper as well as making Christs sacrificepresent. Our participation can be full, conscious and actual if due reverence is given to the design and placement ofthe other liturgico-sacramental elements: the font, the confessional, the ambo, and the tabernacle. Paintings, sculp-ture and symbols can reinforce the multiple foci of the domus Eucharistica as well as offering us a visual foretaste ofthe liturgy in heaven. To emphasize Christ present in His Church, his minister, the Eucharistic species, the sacra-ments, the holy Scriptures and in prayer and song the church building is conceived of as a unified whole permeatedwith the beauty of the Savior. Ultimately the domus Eucharistica will be directed towards the oriens, the Holy Cityof Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of theholies and of the true tabernacle.

This reminds us that our tabernacles are prefaces which, if beautifully crafted and through physical orientation re-connect us with the oriens of our worship. Since the Middle Ages, one of the ways saints and mystics have under-stood the church building has been as a place to adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Vatican II makes this tradi-tion explicit in defining a church as a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved. And thisis one of the reasons why Catholics are drawn to churches even outside of the liturgy, because they sense that God istruly present there in a way he is not in other places. The tabernacle at the center of the domus Eucharistica remindsus of His presence that will be with us until the end of the age.

And who is responsible for the emphasis on ornate tabernacles and eucharistic adoration outside of mass? Much ofthe credit must be given to the Poverello. Much Eucharistic piety, as well as emphasis on the design and placementof the tabernacle can be traced to St. Francis of Assisi and to the Franciscan renewal. Francis asked the Friars toshow great respect for the Blessed Sacrament and that the liturgical practices of St. John Lateran, where the Eucha-rist was reserved on the altar, were to be followed. On his deathbed he urged his followers, above everything else, Iwant this most holy Sacrament to be honored and venerated and reserved in places which are richly ornamented.Contrasting this with the poverty of the mendicant life underscores the great honor Franciscans gave to the Sacra-ment in their decoration of the domus Eucharistica and ornamentation of the tabernacle. Francis love of the body ofChrist in the Eucharist overflowed into his love of Christ in the least of his brothers.

As a sacramental people, Catholics take the art and architecture of our churches very seriously, believing that archi-tecture re-presents the faith we celebrate. Thus the placement and design of the tabernacle of reservation signifiesChrist present in the Blessed Sacrament. Architectural principles as well as examples from history seem to confirmthe wisdom of the sensus fidelium. In the domus Eucharistica what could be more natural than to enthrone the Lordin a worthy tabernacle at the head of the church. As Cardinal Ratzinger has written, the Eucharistic Presence in thetabernacle has the effect, of course, of keeping the Eucharist forever in the church. The church never becomes alifeless space but is always filled with the presence of the Lord, which comes out of the celebration, leads us into it,and always makes us participants in the cosmic Eucharist. This living presence in the tabernacle makes of thewhole church a place of reservation. The tabernacle itself is a small domus Eucharistica that the whole church imi-tates in its richly ornamented offering of thanks.

Duncan StroikNotre Dame, Indiana

Fall 2000

On the cover: View of the interior of the Wieskirche, Bavaria, Germany, 1746, by the Zimmerman brothers

SacredArchitecture Fall 2000 3

Fall 2000SACRED ARCHITECTUREVol. 3, No. 2

Issue 4

C O N T E N T S

E D I T O R I A L2 Domus Eucharistica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Duncan Stroik

N E W S4 Revision of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal The Church of the Transfiguration Built of

Living Stones New Vatican Museum entrance opens The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Renovation of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Mt. Sinai claimed to be discovered

F E A T U R E8 Catholic Architecture and New Urbanism:

An Interview with Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James C. McCrery

A R T I C L E S12 Antoni Gaudi: Gods Architect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Rose13 The Spirit of Mediator Dei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denis McNamara19 The New Church of San Juan Capistrano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patrick James Reilly22 Eucharisticum Mysterium 55 and the Four Modes of Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Timothy V. Vaverek27 Catholic Identity, the Building, the Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William J. Turner

E X H I B I T I O N S29 The Triumph of the Baroque at the National Gallery of Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by Catesby Leigh

B O O K S31 REJOICE! 700 Years of Art for the Sacred Jubilee, Art and Crusade

edited by Maurizio Calvesi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by Michael Morris, O. P.32 The Renovation Manipulation by Michael S. Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by Christopher Carstens33 The Altars and Altarpieces of New St. Peters by Louise Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . reviewed by Meredith J. Gill

C O M M E N T A R Y34 On Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ralph McInerny

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 contempory Catholic architecture. SACRED ARCHITECTURE is published bi-annually for $9.95. 2000 The Institute for Sacred Architecture.Address manuscripts and letters to the Editor.EDITOR: ADVISORY BOARD:Duncan Stroik John Burgee, FAIAP.O. Box 556 Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap.Notre Dame IN 46556 Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B.voice: (219) 631-5762 fax: (219) 271-0522 Ralph McInernyemail: [email protected] Thomas Gordon Smith, AIA

4 Fall 2000 Sacred Architecture

The long awaited revision of the Gen-eral Instruction of the Roman Missal,which accompanies the Roman Missal, hasbecome available in Latin from the VaticanPress. According to an analysis issued bythe Bishops Committee on the Liturgy, thecomposition of the present Instruction,which replaces the 1975 edition, remainsgenerally unchanged, although there aremany minor and some major alterations.The Instruction treats the renovation ofchurches when an old altar, impossible tomove without compromising its artisticvalue, is so positioned that it makes theparticipation of the people difficult. An-other fixed and dedicated altar may beerected, and the old altar is no longer deco-rated in a special way, and the liturgy is cel-ebrated on the new fixed altar. The revisedInstruction speaks of a cross with the figureof Christ crucified upon it positioned eitheron the altar or near it and clearly visible,not only during the liturgy but at all times,recalling for the faithful the saving passionof the Lord, and remaining near the altareven outside of liturgical celebrations. Thesection on the place of reservation of theBlessed Sacrament has been adjusted andexpanded. Two options for the location ofthe tabernacle are given: 1) either in thesanctuary, apart from the altar of celebra-tion, not excluding on an old altar or 2)even in another chapel suitable for adora-tion and the private prayer of the faithful,which is integrally connected with thechurch and is conspicuous to the faithful. Itis more fitting that the tabernacle not be onthe altar on which Mass is celebrated. Anew introductory paragraph has beenadded to the section on sacred images set-ting their use in an eschatological frame: Inthe earthly liturgy, the Church participates

in a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy, whichis celebrated in the holy city Jerusalem, to-wards which she tends as a pilgrim andwhere Christ sits at the right hand of God.By so venerating the memory of the saints,the Church hopes for some small part andcompany with them. Throughout the re-vised Instruction there is an increased em-phasis on the care of all things destined forliturgical use, including everything associ-ated with the altar and liturgical books.Thus the tabernacle, organ, ambo, priestschair, vestments, sacred vessels, and all li-turgical elements should receive a blessing.The original Latin text can be obtained onthe internet from http://www.nccbuscc.org/liturgy/current/missalisromanilat.htm. An ap-proved English version has not yet beenmade available.

Art can effectively communicate the

history of the covenant between God andman and the richness of the revealed mes-sage, John Paul II said at the plenary as-sembly of the Pontifical Commission forthe Cultural Patrimony of the Church inVatican City on March 31, 2000. John PaulII called Christian art a particularly sig-nificant cultural good. He emphasizedthat The Church is not only the custodianof the past, and constantly increases itsown patrimony of cultural goods to re-spond to the needs of every epoch and cul-ture. He made further recommendationsabout the quality of new art, that its vari-ous expressions develop in harmony withthe Churchs mind in the service of its mis-sion, using a language capable of announc-ing the Kingdom of God to all.

Twenty Cathedrals are being reno-vated in the U.S., according to Fr. CarlLast, former head of the Federation of Di-ocesan Liturgical Commissions. Amongthe Cathedrals undergoing major renova-tions are San Antonio, Detroit, Milwaukee,New Orleans, Memphis, Kansas City (Kan-sas), Covington, Savannah, Wheeling,Colorado Springs, Lafayette, and Hono-lulu. Other dioceses such as Houston,Laredo, Oakland and Los Angeles arebuilding new Cathedrals. In addition to re-pairing roofs, restoring stained glass andartwork, and replacing electrical and me-chanical systems, many of these projectsare proposing major redesigns of the naveand sanctuary, removal of historic ele-ments, and simplification of iconography.Some of the renovations have met with ob-jections from preservationists, laity, andother people in their communities. Thecost of the Cathedral renovations is pre-sumed to be over $150 million, while thetotal cost of new Cathedrals could be wellover $230 million.

The Church of the Transfiguration was

dedicated on the feastday this June with afestive celebration that included banquets,fireworks, concerts, and specially commis-sioned music and dance. The Communityof Jesus, an ecumenical community of 325members in the Benedictine monastic tradi-tion, is located in Orleans, Massachusetts,on Cape Cod. Their new abbey church ispart of the master plan for the communityand adds a worship space which accom-modates a full choir, orchestra, a 10,000-pipe organ, procession and sacramentalspaces, and up to 540 worshipers. The ico-nography planned for the church is rich inbiblical scenes and symbols of faith in castbronze, mosaic, stained glass, marble, lime-stone and fresco. The apse mosaic, plannedto be 55 feet high, will illustrate the risenChrist and the Four Evangelists. ArchitectWilliam L. Rawn III of Boston, based hisdesign for the church on the Early Chris-tian basilica type at the request of the com-munity, who wished to relate to the timebefore Christianity was divided. The 12,000square foot church is built with concretewalls sheathed inside and out with Minne-sota limestone, Douglas fir roof trusses 55feet above the ground, and a Vermont slateroof. The liturgical elements of altar, ambo,font and tabernacle were designed byKeefe Associates. Built for approximately$10 million, with an additional $3 millionscheduled for artwork, it is thecommunitys desire that the church serveas a model for other new churches aroundthe country.

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SACRED ARCHITECTURE NEWS

The Church of the Transfiguration, Orleans, MA, was dedicated this past June

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The Chicago Tribune noted a new trendtowards public religious art in the Chicagoarea. A 33 foot tall stainless-steel sculptureof the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the NewMillenium, has been trucked from parish toparish for more than a year. It even in-spired another donor to commission a mas-sive statue of Jesus, the Icon of the DivineMercy, which was unveiled recently at St.Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago. It isscheduled to go on permanent display justfeet from the southbound lanes of theKennedy Expressway this fall.

Built of Living Stones is the new name

of the Bishops Committee on Liturgydocument on art and architecture. Thedraft document, previously entitled DomusDei, was reviewed at the June meeting ofthe BCL and a number of changes weremade, according to Fr. James Moroney, Sec-retary of the BCL. After a special Augustmeeting to review the revision, the Admin-istrative Committee considered the docu-ment in September. The Committee judgedthe document to be ready for full debateand a possible vote at the November meet-ing of the American Bishops.

The new entrance for the Vatican Mu-

seums is now open, allowing access for20,000 visitors a day. In the inaugurationceremony, Pope John Paul II said that thecompletion of this project is proof of theChurchs will for a dialogue between faithand art. This is the most ambitious of thearchitectural projects undertaken by theHoly See for the Jubilee year and cost $23million.

Fr. Andrew Greeley criticized church

renovations and modern liturgists in anaddress to the Religious Education Con-gress in Los Angeles this Spring. The nov-elist and sociologist said that Unfortu-nately, since Vatican II, a highly authoritar-ian and doctrinaire perspective has in-fected many liturgists: All the beauty of thepast should be eliminated-only the pulpit,the altar and baptistery, nothing else. Ourbeautiful altars were stripped. With thebattle cry we cant do Vatican II liturgy in apre-Vatican II church, this kind of liturgisthas written off 2,000 years of Catholic artis-tic expereience, 2,000 years of Catholicheritage. You tell people when theyre do-ing this-removing statues, stations of thecross, vigil lights-that they are offendingthe Catholic people; and they say, if youreright, you dont need an opinion poll tomake a decision; you dont need to consultpeople. The liturgy, and the celebrationof all the sacraments, he said, quoting PopeJohn Paul II, must be appealing: We haveto do them so beautifully that people out-side the Household of the Faith will givesecond thoughts about the Church.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the An-gels in Los Angeles is planned for dedica-tion sometime in 2002. The $163 millionstructure is built on a massive 64,000square foot foundation uniquely engi-neered to withstand major earthquakes with a nave one foot longer than St.Patricks in New York. The monumentalnave will seat 3,000 people and will havean 85 foot tall ceiling, a 200 foot ambula-tory and 24,000 square feet of alabaster inits windows.

The Charlemagne corridor of St.

Peters was dedicated in January 2000. Inkeeping with the Jubilee message of con-version, it is a place of recollected prayer,flanked by two lines of confessionals in thismonumental passage that rises to the ba-silica.

At least in the United States, it seems

eucharistic teaching and preaching havebeen neglected, eucharistic adoration hasbeen discouraged outside of the Mass andeven the Mass sometimes lacks the prayer-ful attitude it deserves said Francis Cardi-nal George of Chicago. In his address atthe International Eucharistic Congress inRome this June, the Cardinal said thatthere is a growing desire among theCatholic people for more clarity and in-sight into our eucharistic faith and prac-tice. Because it is not simply a re-enact-ment of the Last Supper, the Eucharist inthe tabernacle is worthy of the same ven-eration as the Eucharist on the altar duringMass. The cardinal said the eucharisticspirituality Catholics are called to live andto share with others must follow the stagespresent in the Mass itself: asking forgive-ness, listening to Gods word, intercedingin prayer for others, offering gifts, conse-

crating them, sharing in communion andgoing forth in mission.

During the Eucharistic Congress in

Rome, Pope John Paul II said that withoutthe Eucharist, it is impossible to under-stand the witness of missionaries and mar-tyrs over the last twenty centuries. The cel-ebration of the Eucharist, he said, is themost effective missionary action that theecclesial community can make in worldhistory. The Pope said the Eucharist givesbelievers the courage to be agents of soli-darity and renewal, responsible for chang-ing the structures of sin in which individu-als, communities, and sometimes entirepeoples, are trapped.

Earlier this year, the National Gallery

in London featured an exhibition entitledSeeing Salvation: The Image of Christ,which aimed to put Jesus back at the heartof art history. The National Gallerys direc-tor, Neil MacGregor, in explaining the rea-son for the exhibit said that Christianity isthe fundamental element of western cul-ture. The vast majority of these pictures arefrom British collections: it is our job to re-mind the public that it owns these aston-ishing things.

John Paul IIs Letter on the anniversary

of Aachen Cathedral referred to the tiesthat unite the Catholic community spreadover the world with the Church of Romeand the Holy City of Jerusalem. The Cathe-dral, dedicated to the Virgin, was built in800 at the request of Charlemagne, whowas crowned that same year in Rome byPope Leo III. Aachen Cathedral also con-tains four precious relics that Jerusalemgave Charlemagne and that recall with

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, under construction in Los Angeles, California

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profound reverence events in thehistory of salvation. The fourrelics are fragments of the new-born Jesus diapers, the clothJesus wore around his waist onthe cross, the dress Mary wore onChristmas Eve, and the cloth ofJohn the Baptists beheading.

The Archdiocese of Milwau-

kee has unveiled a $10 millionplan for the renovation of the Ca-thedral of St. John the Evangelist.The plan for the landmark 1847structure, which includes aglassy atrium, a cloistered court-yard and extensive changes tothe cathedrals sanctuary, drewpraise from city officials andcriticism from others. Along withreplacing the churchs outdatedmechanical, sound and lightingsystems, the original sanctuarywill be removed, and a new altarwill be placed in the middle ofthe nave. Seating capacity, now740, would be increased to morethan 900, with chairs arranged in theround. The architect for the project isHammel, Green & Abrahamson and the li-turgical consultant is Rev. Richard Vosko.

The 1931 statue of Christ the Redeemer

that overlooks Rio de Janeiro is being re-stored. The project is being funded by theBrazilian Environmental Institute, thenewspaper O Globo, and Banco Real. Atitanium mesh will be placed in the interiorof the 125 foot statue to conduct electriccurrent, preventing salt from damagingChrists robe.

Brazils oldest church has been redis-

covered on a hill considered sacred by theinhabitants of Porto Seguro. Vestiges of theChurch of St. Francis, constructed between1503 and 1515, were discovered in Marchof this year. Up until the 1970s, Mass wascelebrated on the hill, although no oneknew exactly where the ruins were buried.Researchers of the University of Salvadorof Bahia made the find of the outside walls,the base of the belfry and the main altar.Chronicles of the time refer to the Churchof St. Francis as being part of the first urbannucleus established by the Portuguese inBrazil.

The mystery of beauty was the subject

of a Lenten Meditation addressed to PopeJohn Paul II. Fr. Cantalamessa, the Capu-chin who delivered the series of medita-tions, quoted an Orthodox author: God isnot the only one covered in beauty. Evilimitates him and makes beauty profoundlyambiguous. Referring to Genesis, hespoke of Eve, who was seduced by beauty;she realized the fruit was beautiful, desir-

able, aesthetically attractive. This meansthat, although truth is always beautiful,beauty is not always true. This ambiguityis overcome by Jesus, who redeemedbeauty by depriving himself of it for thesake of love in the mystery of his passion,death and resurrection. In this way, the Sonof God demonstrated that there is only oneprecious thing: the beauty of love thatpasses through the cross and is purified bythe cross. Rather than closing ones eyes be-fore ambiguous beauty, they must beopened wide to look at the transfiguredChrist. Fr. Cantalamessa ended by para-phrasing Fyodor Dostoyevski: It wont bethe love of beauty that saves the world, butthe beauty of love.

The congress Abbeys and Monaster-

ies in Europes Roots was held inConques, France, on June 8, 2000. It waspart of the Campaign for a Common Pat-rimony of Europe, promoted by the Euro-pean Council, and was organized by thePontifical Council for Culture and the Eu-ropean Center of Art and Medieval Civili-zation. Pontifical Council President Cardi-nal Paul Poupard called the congress an in-vitation to study the value and importanceof abbeys and monasteries in the making ofEurope. Moreover, through this initiative,the Vatican reaffirmed its profound interestin Europes cultural and religious patri-mony and its desire to protect and make itaccessible to the greatest possible numberof people.

A Second Floating Russian Orthodox

Church has been provided by the Catholiccharity Aid to the Church in Need. Thefirst such ship has been serving on the

Volga River since May, 1998.On July 11, 2000 a second wasconsecrated in Volgograd inthe name of St. Nicholas by theRussian Orthodox Archbishopof Volgograd and Kamyshin.These church-boats are in thespirit of the 35 chapel carsinstituted by Aid to theChurch in Needs founder, Fr.Werenfried van Straaten, thebacon priest, in Germany af-ter World War II. The agency isworking with the Orthodox inresponse to the desires of theHoly Father for the unity ofChristians. At present, its workstands as one of the few ex-amples of successfulecumenism with the RussianOrthodox.

Over 3,000 artists met with

the Pope on the feast ofBlessed Fra Angelico. The art-ists listened to the Popes callto conversion in the most diffi-

cult work of art of all: the sculpturing ofChrists features on the stone of ones ownheart. The artist who can do this pro-foundly is the Holy Spirit, but he requiresour correspondence and docility, thePope said. At this point, the Pontiff intoneda beautiful song about Michelangelos cu-pola. Everyone present followed the wordswith attention, gazing on the beauty of theBasilica transfigured by the clear middaylight. Seen from outside, it seems to curveagainst the sky over a community recol-lected in prayer, as is the love of God. Fromwithin, instead, with its vertiginouslaunching to the heights, it evokes thework of elevation toward the full encoun-ter with God. John Paul II proclaimedBlessed Fra Angelico patron of artists onFebruary 18, 1984.

New England Jesuits are considering

restoring the historic South End BostonChurch of the Immaculate Conception,fourteen years after they had dismantledmany of its artistic elements. The BostonGlobe reports that the Jesuits are drivenby concerns over the structural soundnessof the churchs roof and by the fact that aonce-dying congregation is now flourish-ing.

While the Renaissance Revival church,designed by Patrick C. Keely in 1861, stillhas a 19th century pipe organ consideredone of the best in the world, 30-foot-highetched-glass windows, and rosette-strewnpale blue coffers on a barrel-vaulted ceil-ing, many elements were lost in the reno-vation fourteen years ago. Pews wereripped out and destroyed, the pulpit bro-ken and put in a closet, the communion railhidden, and Stations of the Cross andpaintings of Jesus, St. Andrew and St. John

Rendering of proposed changes to Milwaukees Cathedral ofSt. John the Evangelist

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removed. The restoration would be espe-cially significant in view of the long and bit-ter legal battle over the Jesuits right to re-move much of the buildings interior. In1991 they won a precedent-setting rulingfrom the state Supreme Judicial Court,which held that it was unconstitutional forthe city to regulate changes to a church inte-rior by declaring it a historic landmark.

Mount Sinai is claimed to have been

discovered at Mount Har Karkon, in the Is-raeli Negeb desert. In his book, Mysteriesof Mount Sinai, Emmanuel Anati writes,we found the altar and 12 boundary postsat the foot of the mount. Those 12 pillarsare mentioned in the pages of the Bible [Ex24:4]. Then, some 60 meters away, the re-mains of a Bronze Age camp. This is alsomentioned in the Old Testament . . . In aprotruding commemorative burial moundwas an altar, and underneath, the vestigesof a fire. On the altar there was a whitestone in the shape of a half moon, the sym-bol of the moon god Sin.

Austrian archeologist Renate Pillinger

of the University of Vienna revealed the dis-covery in Ephesus of Christian cave paint-ings representing St. Paul. In 1995, a cavewas discovered a few kilometers away fromthe citys ruins. Inside the cave, there arepaintings depicting the Transfiguration anda sequence inspired by the Acts of theApostles, refering to St. Thecla and St.Pauls preaching. Pauls portrait is one ofthe best-preserved frescoes in the cave. It istoo early to state that the caves discoveryarcheologically confirms Pauls presence inEphesus, which other sources, such as theBible, consider indisputable.

The Basilica of the Agony in the Gar-den of Gethsemani in Jerusalem wasrobbed in February. The robbery in the Ba-silica was well planned. Two early twenti-eth century bronze deer were removed.The statues were life-size and located highin the tympanum of the buildings faadeat the foot of the cross.

Cardinal Adam Maida plans to spend

$20 million during the next three years todraw Detroit area Catholics back toBlessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit.Renovation plans include the addition of anew glass-and-steel wing to the north sideof the neo-Gothic church. The wing willbe near the main altar and flood the centerof the gray limestone building with sun-light. To meld the old with the new, anenormous stained-glass window will besuspended in the heart of the new wing.Stone arches around the altar will be trans-formed by curving metal-mesh sheets toform a multilayer abstract backdrop forthe Mass. Seating will expand from 800 to1,200. Much of the renovation budget isset aside for repairs. The badly-needed re-placement of the roof is almost finished.Archdiocesan officials and architectGunnar Birkerts are finalizing buildingplans and deciding where a redesigned al-tar, pulpit and archbishops chair will beplaced. The major portion of the new con-struction is expected to begin in May 2001and end by early 2003.

Fr. Rasko Radovic, parish priest of the

Serbian community of Trieste, in Italy, de-nounced the destruction by Albanians ofmore than 80 Orthodox churches andmonasteries in Kosovo, since the arrival ofthe U.N. administration. Some of thebuildings dated back to the 13th century

and were part of a considerable artistic andcultural heritage. Fr. Radovic said he didnot understand why the UNESCO, whichwas so active during the Balkans War, hasremained silent.

Reconquering Sacred Space 2000: TheChurch in the City of the ThirdMillenium will be held at the PontificalUniversity of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome,Italy, December 1 and 2, 2000. The confer-ence will include lectures by an interna-tional group of architects, theologians, andhistorians on the contemporary renaissanceof Catholic architecture. An exhibition onnew traditional Catholic churches will beheld at Palazzo Valentini December 1-20,and a catalog of the exhibition will be pub-lished by Il Bosco e la Nave. The conferenceand exhibition is being sponsored by theAgenzia per la Citta, publisher Il Bosco e laNave and the Institute for Sacred Architec-ture. For information please [email protected] or [email protected].

Peter and Paul: History, Devotion, and

Memories of the First Centuries, is an ex-hibition running from June 30 until Decem-ber 10, 2000 at the Cancelleria Palace inRome. It will focus on the time when thetwo apostles were in Rome. The exhibitionwas organized by the Pontifical Council forthe Laity and the Directorate of Monu-ments of Vatican City. Heavy assistance iscoming from the Friendship Meetingamong Peoples, an organization which ispart of the ecclesial movement Commun-ion and Liberation, which for years has or-ganized travelling exhibitions on historicaltestimonies of the faith. Vestiges from thecatacombs and basilicas: commemorativetablets, sarcophagi and gilded glass aresome of the items on display. Objects werechosen to reflect the life and motivations ofearly Christians: their relations with thepre-existing Jewish community in Rome;their confrontation with the polytheistworld; their vision of the beyond; movingtestimonies that, as Francesco Buranelli, di-rector of the Vatican Museum recalled, re-veal how the devotion to martyrs was al-ready deeply rooted. The Eternal Cityowes virtually everything to Peter andPaul, explained Archbishop CrescenzioSepe, secretary of the Vatican Jubilee Com-mittee. Without the message of these twoapostles, the history of this city would haveended, in all probability, at the end of theRoman Empire. Indeed, without knowingPeter and Paul, one cannot understand allthe signs that the Church has left in streetsand squares of the city of Rome.

The $65 million Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. is expected to

open in November.

CONFERENCES &EXHIBITIONS

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certainly should be reflected in its architec-ture. A number of issues are important inchurch design today in the various de-nominations, but the buildings also need toreflect their role in the community.

SA: Why, if at all, should Catholics beinterested in New Urbanism?

EPZ:Many aspects of New Urbanismhave to do with the goals of religion in gen-eral, but some in particular are related toconcerns which grow out of a RomanCatholic spiritual and intellectual founda-tion.

I will offer three topics as examples: en-vironment, society, and economy. The firstis environmental, and responsible steward-ship is an inherent part of understandingour role on the planet. Being a good stew-ard of the environment is very much a part

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CATHOLIC ARCHITECTUREAND NEW URBANISM

AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH PLATER-ZYBERK

James C. McCrery

Aerial view of proposed village center with a church

E lizabeth Plater-Zyberk is dean of theUniversity of Miami School of Architectureand a partner in the design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company. She is an ardent promoterof New Urbanism, a movement that has beensuccessful in designing new communities astowns rather than subdivisions and revitalizingolder communties. Among Duany Plater-Zyberks best known projects are the towns ofSeaside in Florida, Kentlands in Maryland anddowntown West Palm Beach, Florida, alldesigned to be pedestrian-oriented with schools,churches, libraries and shops within walkingdistance of homes.

Sacred Architecture: Why is itimportant for Americas towns, cities, andcommunities to include significant churchbuildings?Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk:Churches are an importantplace for community lifetoday. The very large,suburban congregationwith multiple activities isproviding a focus forcommunity in a landscapewhich otherwise does nothave one. In the poor urbanneighborhood, the churchprovides any number ofcommunity supportservices, including outrightsocial services such asfeeding the hungry. Acrossthe range of communities,churches are playing a veryimportant role incommunity life and itsquality.

SA: How does the ar-chitecture of the churchwant to reflect that?

EPZ: The church as aplace of civic gathering

of the New Urbanisms core value system.I found it gratifying to read recently thatsome priests are preaching that urbansprawl is irresponsible.

The second topic, perhaps more obviousto Catholics, is the social context. New Ur-banism is concerned with structuring thephysical environment to promote a senseof community while enabling individualautonomy and empowerment, whether al-lowing children to walk to school or se-niors to live independently within theirhome community. An important aspect ofcommunity is interdependence and con-nectivity. By the proximity and interactionfostered by the physical environment, oneunderstands the role one plays in the com-munity.

The third topic regards the economiccontext. The New Urban-ism proposes a frame-work for an economic sys-tem that is supportive ofindividuals in community.The economic picture isone of collaboration, di-versity, and establishingor enabling institutions,the workplace and com-merce that facilitate thecommunity and ensure itslongevity.

Were living in a timein which commercial ac-tivity is extremely short-lived. Main Street is dy-ing at the hands of canni-balistic retail develop-ment. This does not pro-mote a sense of commu-nity, and is not related toany sense of responsibilityfor people. We think thephysical environment canreflect a better way, a bet-ter philosophy.

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SA: What role do you see the CatholicChurch being able to play in aiding the de-sign or development of new towns?Should it have a role in it at all?

EPZ: That is a very interesting ques-tion. I think the Catholic Church can playan important role in the revitalization ofneighborhoods. But I am not sure that itneeds to play an initiating role in newplaces, except insofar as the Church may beinterested in building a kind of ideal com-munity.

There is a design role that should beplayed by the Church exemplifying thecivic role, the community-focused role thata Catholic Church plays in neighborhoods.And the biggest impediment to this designrole is dimensions. From my own experi-ence of designing one church in a suburbanpart of Miami and my understanding ofcommon practice, I find that these churchesare very big.

The big, suburban church that we de-signed had to seat 800 in the main sanctu-ary and then be able to expand to 1,000 or1,200 for special occasions in the Churchyear. Of course, you have to have parkingfor all of those people. Then usually thereis a small office component, and a commu-nity room, and possibly even a school.Consequently, the church campus is verylarge.

Even in their smallest permutations,

these campuses require an enormous siteand the isolation of buildings amidst park-ing lots, like other institutions in suburbia.However, large dimensions can be miti-gated. There are alternative solutions. Inthe new traditional neighborhood, the NewUrbanism, the parking is shared with com-mercial establishments that are not usedmuch at night or on Sundays. In Canada,public and parochial schools share facili-ties. They are developed by the govern-ment and Church, and they share the bigticket items, things like libraries or playingfields, that also happen to take up a lot ofspace.

In several Canadian projects, we foundthere was a feasible way to put schools to-gether in the greenbelt between the severalneighborhoods from which they draw theirstudents, who can walk to school. The in-stitution on the edge, rather than at thecenter of the neighborhood, is the least dis-ruptive of its walkability.

In the New Urbanism, that is, in a com-pact, pedestrian-oriented community, di-mensions and measures are extremely im-portant. The way we build churches nowsometimes seems contradictory to the goalof making these places pedestrian-friendlyand acceptable.

In older neighborhoods where thereusually are already churches, the initia-tives may have less to do with the building

itself reacting to its role in the physical fab-ric and more with revitalization. Renova-tion should not be accomplished in such away that the building becomes defensiveagainst hostile surroundings, or that it be-gins to take apart the neighborhood bysuburbanizing the urban fabric around it.

I have often thought that wealthy, sub-urban congregations could adopt congre-gations in the inner city and do some con-crete projects, like building and rebuildinghousing for people in those places. I amsure that this already goes on in variousparts of the country. But all involved haveto pay attention to the fact that the struc-ture of the physical environment is impor-tant. Not only for increasing the economicvalue of the place over time, but to pro-mote good community.

SA: From your experience with churchprojects, what are some of the issues in de-signing a new church building, whether itbe in an established neighborhood or in anewly planned development?

EPZ: We designed a little church in aneighborhood in Miami. It was initiated bya pastor who thought that if he franchisedsmaller chapels, creating what he calledmissions within his large parish then hemight be able to influence behavior inthose areas which werent within walkingdistance of the big church.

So, we designed one on a 50 x 100 foot

Masterplan for the Kentlands, Maryland, by Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company

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lot in a traditional style. It is very simple,its vernacular details refer to the colonialprototype of Puerto Rico, the predomi-nant ethnicity of the neighborhood. Afront building at the sidewalk has a smallprayer chapel and an office for social ser-vices. Above the entry area is a smallapartment for a concierge, a caretakerkeeping an eye on the neighborhood. Be-hind this is a courtyard, as you might findin a traditional Caribbean or Mediterra-nean building, and then beyond that is thenave, which seats about 200.

SA: How many of these franchisedchapels are in this parish?

EPZ: The intention was to have four.SA: Amazing, and how large is the

parish?EPZ: It spreads out over a large area

that has both industrial and residentialneighborhoods in it.

SA: That is a fine example of originalthinking on the part of pastors.

EPZ: The pastor, Father JoseMenendez, a Cuban with a terrific amountof charisma, is at work in this parish withstruggling but very energetic immigrantneighborhoods. On his own initiative, heraised the money to buy a $40,000 lot. Thelot was sandwiched between a caf withloud, bawdy music and a crack house.The first thing he did was erect a woodencross and put a sheep in the lot, becausethis was going to be called Mission SanJuan Bautista. The cross and the sheepboth survived there for many months. Heconvinced various people who felt a con-nection to this neighborhood, the ownersof the local grocery store, and some con-tractors whose employees live in thisneighborhood, to contribute their timeand money. It was built entirely with do-

nations of materials, time and money. Ittook four or five years to complete.

Father Menendezs great belief was thatthe church should be filled with art and beas embellished as any other church. Hedidnt like the industrial lamps that wespecified, so he began seeking out thechurch furnishings himself. There is a foun-tain in the courtyard, which also serves as abaptismal font, constructed with marbleslabs he salvaged. He thenconvinced a Cuban sculptor todo a small statue of Saint Johnthe Baptist that stands on thefountain. He convinced apainter to do a mural on theceiling of the sanctuary. It is aheavenly scene full of peoplefrom the neighborhood.

The church design symbol-izes the progression from theprofane to the sacred. Aftercrossing a short front yard ofgravel, the desert, one entersthe front building and walksover a mosaic floor of a coiledsnake with an apple in itsmouth, depicting the Gardenof Eden, the first sin. You arestepping on the snake as youbegin your procession fromthe profane to the sacred.

Father Menendez found aJewish artist from MiamiBeach to do this mosaic ofEden. The project manager,Oscar Machado, is of a thirddenomination. So, here wehave a piece of art commis-sioned for free by a Catholicpriest, executed by a Jewishartist, with a man of another

denomination as the art director, all look-ing at Pompeiian mosaics for inspiration.

SA: That is a great American story.What are things for the patron, thecongretation, and architect to be concernedabout in the commissioning of a church?Anything absolutely crucial?

EPZ: Outside of the urban context,there is one crucial issue. That is the con-versation or conflict between tradition andmodernism. In the Church this conversa-tion exists, and it is marked by conceptionsof pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II.There is a dominant directive towardsopenness, post-conciliarism and modern-ism.

There are design advisors within thechurch at large who will be very explicitabout what this post-conciliar attitudemeans: dont do what you would havedone before, dont enter on axis, thecross should not be on axis, and so on. Onthe other hand, many people still have aninclination to the traditional form and avery emotional attachment to the history ofthe church, its ceremonies, its rituals, andits buildings.

The modern/traditional discussion isunavoidable and very challenging. It re-quires a sorting out of intellectual goalsand the emotional or visceral effect that aspace can have on a peoples spiritualstance. Obviously that wasnt so much achallenge in the old Church. But I findthat truly challenging today, not just interms of design, but in terms of dealingwith the politics of the client and working

Street facade of Mission San Juan Bautista, Miami, Florida, by Duany Plater-Zyberkand Company.

View of the courtyard of Mission San Juan Bautista

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ciding what to take back in order to fosterchange. But a lot of people do feel the lossof historical attachment. Certainly, ourteaching about the Church and the body ofChrist on earth has to do with its history.Christ existed at a very specific time in his-tory, creation was time-based. Every reli-gion brings along its history, so why not al-low that physical continuity to occur?

By the same token, we shouldnt pre-clude the spiritual opening that discoveryand the new can provide.

So, it is still not an easy time to figurethings out stylistically. We should certainlyhave the opportunity to rebuild or to carryon the traditions of building of a specificplace. The exhibit, Reconquering SacredSpace, that opened in Rome in November1999 has some terrific examples of tradi-tional design, but it represents a fraction ofchurch building today.

SA: Do you mean to say that it is okayin America to evoke an architectural styleor place in time that isnt American?

EPZ: Yes, or even one that is tradition-ally American. Our early Puritan heritage,religiously based, produced some wonder-ful models of churches that should be ac-ceptable to us for reinterpretation. At vari-ous times in American architectural historywe referred to earlier times for spiritualreasons. American Neo-classicism con-nected the new land to the democracy ofancient Greece. In the early Renaissancethe Italians were excited by the forms of aprior time that was pagan, cleverly inte-grating ancient classical elements with theRoman Catholic imagery of the period.

There is a rich tradition of Christian ap-

with any kind of committee.SA: From your experience can

you say that working with commit-tees is beneficial? Are you able tocompare working with a single pa-tron or a particularly strong leader ofa committee versus a band of semi-interested parishioners? Do youhave a preference?

EPZ: I havent had the fullrange of experience. FatherMenendez was basically a sole cli-ent. Father Greer, the Good Shep-herd pastor, did have a committee,but he played a strong leadershiprole. The committee was eager to ex-pedite the church because for 12years theyd had only a communityhall.

I could give one word of adviceabout committees. Bring the conver-sation to intellectual issues and prin-ciples and be very explicit as a de-signer about what different formsrepresent. Be very involving. It isnot always easy for designers to ex-plain what they do, but the more ra-tional you can be, the better.

SA: Fantastic advice. Lets goback to your comment earlier aboutdimension. Do parish priests and commit-tees think too grandly when they commis-sion churches that must seat 800, stand1,200 and accommodate 100 priests in thesanctuary? Would it be better for commu-nities to have several small churches orparishes than one large one?

EPZ: Well, in Miami the Archdioceseis a wise steward and does not let parishesbegin projects before they are ready to payfor them. In terms of size, I do think thatsmaller would be better. But locations andthe shortage of priests can create problems.

SA: A question on style. What do youthink about the way the Catholic Churchhas planned and designed its church build-ings during the last 30 years?

EPZ:This has not been an outstandingtime for church architecture or any otherkind of architecture. That is a statementthat stands alone. Maybe we could lookupon this as a transitional time. We wereasked to deal with all sorts of new issuesafter the Council, and now we are in ashakeout time. Hopefully we can learnfrom those first attempts and efforts.

SA: Ive attended other conferenceswhere it has been suggested that afterVatican II in the United States there was avery good atmosphere architecturally anddesign-wise for Iconoclasm to thrive. Haveyou ever thought about a possible link; thatperhaps the two phenomena fed eachother, resulting in a dearth of architecturaland artistic expression?

EPZ: That is why I am being kindabout calling the last thirty years a periodof transition. Because, perhaps you needthese rough moments of discarding and de-

Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Miami, Florida, by Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co.propriation of symbols from prior culturesand prior spiritualities. That is an age-oldkind of inclusivity or appropriation that wedont seem to be allowing ourselves now.One must acknowledge that for all thehopefulness of multiple interpretationsthat the abstractions of modernism pro-motes, the turning away from representa-tion, from evolution, is not an enrichmentat all.

SA: So, then what should be done withall of these abysmal churches out there?What do you have to say to the priest whohas been committed by his bishop to a par-ish that isnt going to build anything soon,but who has an empty hall in which to cel-ebrate the Mass?

EPZ: This is actually the design chal-lenge of our time, not just in the realm ofchurch architecture. A great deal has beenbuilt in recent decades which doesnt lenditself to addition, renovation, and enhance-ment. It is so autonomous, so aggressivelyindividualistic that it is hard to imaginehow to engage it. This is something thatwe need to be teaching designers: how todeal with the suburban context, individual-istic forms and buildings that are far apartfrom each other with little hope of spatialrelationships. In the case of such a church,a parish priest should look for a very sensi-tive and clever designer who can begindealing with the situation incrementally.

James McCrery is an architect in Washing-ton, D.C.

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ANTONI GAUDI: GODS ARCHITECTMichael Rose

All the great cathedrals have taken cen-turies to complete. The Cathedral ofthe Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) inBarcelona, Spain, is no exception. Begun in1883, only half of this imposing church isnow complete. Construction work, how-ever, steadily continues as donations keepcoming in to support the work. Architectsestimate that the church will take at leastanother 40 years to complete. Some say itcould take as many as 150 years.

Sagrada Familia is the most renownedbuilding designed by Spanish archi-tect Antoni Gaudi, whose cause forbeatification was opened last year bythe Cardinal Archbishop ofBarcelona. The cathedral is a testa-ment to the architects faith. In someways, Gaudis Barcelona church re-sembles the great cathedrals of theMedieval age: Sagrada Familia wasbased on the plan of a Gothic basilicawith five naves, a transept, an apse,and ambulatory.

It is designed with soaring tow-ers, capped by spires, and is repletewith dense symbolism throughoutthe structure. Gaudi, however,wanted to create a 20th century ca-thedral, a synthesis of all his archi-tectural knowledge with a visual ex-plication of the mysteries of faith. Hedesigned faades representing theNativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrec-tion of Christ; and eighteen towers,symbolizing the twelve Apostles, thefour Evangelists, the Virgin Maryand Christ. The Christ tower, the tall-est, when completed will stand some500 feet high. To date, eight of theeighteen towers are completed. Eachis of a unique spiral-shape coveredin patterns of Venetian glass and mo-saic crowned by the Holy Cross.

Gods ArchitectMy client can wait, was Gaudis

genial response to his helpers whendelays occurred due to his constantchanges to the original plans. Gaudi al-ways acknowledged that his ultimate clientwas God, whom he felt was in no hurry.The architect wanted the finest and mostperfect sacred temple for his client. Hetruly worked ad majorem Dei gloriam, for thegreater glory of God.

Gaudi, known as neo-Medieval in hisday, developed a unique style of building.His work is characterized by the use ofnaturalistic forms, and his approach cameto be known as the biological style.Sagrada Familia is known for its conicalspires, parabolic arched doorways and

freely curving lines. As in most of his work,Gaudi has created the impression the stoneused was soft and modeled like clay orwax.

Gaudi directed the construction of thechurch from 1883 until his sudden death in1926. He became so involved with thechurch that he set up residence in his on-site study and devoted the last 14 years ofhis life to this most important of all hisprojects. He regarded Sagrada Familia as agreat mission. On June 7, 1926, Gaudi was

hit by a street car. Three days later he diedat the age of 74.

When he died, the people of Barcelonapopularly proclaimed him a saint. Therewas great commotion. Even though helived in a reserved manner, removed fromthe world, rumor of his sanctity had al-ready spread. No newspaper, not even themost virulently anti-Catholic, attackedhim. The director of the Museum of theBarcelona Archdiocese wrote an article call-ing Gaudi Gods Architect. His architec-ture is an expression of his Christian com-mitment. From the very beginning of the20th century Sagrada Familia became an

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Construction of Sagrada Familia continues

icon of the city of Barcelona, just as theEiffel Tower is an icon of Paris. And afterthe architects death, the people ofBarcelona regarded him as a patron of theirgrand city.

There have even been documented con-versions resulting from the architecture ofSagrada Familia. The most prominent in-volved two Japanese men. One is architectKenji Imai. He arrived in Barcelona twomonths after Gaudis death. He was travel-ing all over the world to meet the great ar-

chitects of the day, but by the time hereached Barcelona Gaudi was deadand buried. Even so, Imai was notdisappointed. Sagrada Familia madesuch an impression on him that,when he became a professor in Japanhe gave several lectures on Gaudiand, finally, converted to Catholi-cism. The other convert is sculptorEtsuro Sotoo, who worked for yearsfashioning statues on Barcelonas ca-thedral, and ultimately became aCatholic.

The Work ContinuesAfter Gaudis death, work contin-

ued on the church until 1936. Thesewere the days of the bloody SpanishCivil War. The Communists, whohated all things Catholic, set fire toGauds study which held his notesand designs for Sagrada Familia.Many of these were destroyed, butthe project resumed in 1952 using thesurviving drawings and models tocontinue the work. Today, the con-structed part is open to visitors aswell as the small museum that exhib-its Gaudis original plans and mod-els.

Later this year, Cardinal RicardMaria Carles of Barcelona will inau-gurate Sagrada Familia with a sol-emn Mass on December 31, the Feastof the Holy Family. The 150-foot-high central nave is scheduled to be

totally roofed by that date. Referring to theBasilicas beauty, Cardinal Carles told aSpanish newspaper: for me it transmits anevangelical message, very much Gaudisstyle. Perhaps for that reason, AntoniGaudi is regarded still as Gods Archi-tect.

Michael S. Rose is editor of the St.Catherine Review and author of The Reno-vation Manipulation: The Church Counter-Renovation Manual. He can be reached byemail at: [email protected].


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THE SPIRIT OF MEDIATOR DEITHE RENEWAL OF CHURCH ARCHITECTURE BEFORE VATICAN II

Denis McNamara

It is generally thought byliturgists and theorists ofliturgical architecture thatlittle occurred in the area ofrenewal of church designbefore the Second VaticanCouncil. The architecturalmodernism of the post-Con-ciliar era has therefore oftenbeen thought to representthe Councils artistic inten-tions. However, before theCouncil, church architecturehad already undergone sig-nificant change in responseto the Liturgical Movementand Pius XIIs encyclicalMediator Dei (1947). State-ments of popes, architects,and pioneers of the Liturgi-cal Movement point to a li-turgical and architecturalcontext which presents avastly different approach toarchitecture than the starkinteriors presented by manyarchitects after the Council.Despite the prevailing beliefthat architectural modern-ism was the only availableoption for the modernchurch, the early twentiethcentury provides consider-able evidence of representa-tional, historically-con-nected and often beautifularchitectural designs re-sponsive to the same prin-ciples canonized in thedocuments of Vatican II.Sacrosanctum Conciliumgrew directly out of theideas expressed in the Litur-gical Movement and Media-tor Dei, and must be read inthat context to convey a fullunderstanding of the authentic spirit ofVatican II regarding liturgical architecture.

The Liturgical Movement inAmerica

Architects and liturgists of the earlytwentieth century proclaimed an almostunrelenting criticism of Victorian ecclesias-tical design. It was, they argued, the prod-uct of a pioneer mentality in American Ca-tholicism in which poor and under-edu-cated patrons hired uninspired architectsand purchased low quality mass-producedliturgical goods from catalogs. In response,

architect-authors like Charles Maginnisand Ralph Adams Cram called for moreadequate ecclesiastical design and furnish-ings. At the same time, the LiturgicalMovement began to establish its presencein the United States. The movements lead-ers believed that American liturgy had suf-fered under an individualist pioneer men-tality as well, leading to a minimalist litur-gical practice and general lack of under-standing about the place of the Eucharisticliturgy in the life of the Church. The Litur-gical Movement mingled with the pre-ex-isting traditionally-based architectural de-

sign methods of the 1920sand 1930s, and over the nextseveral decades wroughtconsiderable improvementin ecclesiastical design.

One of the earliest Ameri-can mouthpieces of the Litur-gical Movement was theBenedictine periodical OrateFratres, a journal of liturgyfounded by Benedictinemonk Virgil Michel andbased on his studies of phi-losophy and liturgy in Eu-rope in the 1920s. One of thejournals first articles, en-titled Why a LiturgicalMovement?, was written byBasil Stegmann, O.S.B., whowas later to become an activeparticipant in the Americanliturgical discussions.1 Heexplained the need for litur-gical reform to an Americanchurch still generally un-aware of European develop-ments. Stegmann cited PiusXs 1903 Motu propio whichexpressed the popes mostardent desire to see the trueChristian spirit flourishagain and which claimedthat the foremost and indis-pensable fount is the activeparticipation in the mostholy mysteries and in thepublic and solemn prayer ofthe Church.2 Stegmanncalled for all members of theChurch to become intimatelyunited with Christ and formwhat St. Paul calls mysti-cally the body of Christ. Themovements new concentra-tion on the baptistery, altarand improved participation

naturally lead to changes in church design.Other features of the Liturgical Movementincluded a profound spirit of fidelity tothe Church, a patristic revival, a new in-terest in Gregorian chant, the use of the Lit-urgy of the Hours for laypeople and themore frequent following of Latin-vernacu-lar missals.3

The early proponents of the LiturgicalMovement sought to improve liturgicalquality by putting the primary features ofthe liturgical life in their proper place. Pre-viously, the prevailing individualist ap-proach to liturgy meant that worshippers

Victorian ecclesiastical design: St. Marys Church, New Haven,Connecticut by James Murphy, 1874


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not only failed to follow along with the li-turgical action, but often busied themselveswith other things, often pious enough, butunrelated to the Eucharistic liturgy.4 Withrelatively little interest in making the litur-gical action visible to the congregation, al-tars were sometimes set in deep chancelsand attached to elaborate reredoses thatoverwhelmed their tabernacles. Variousdevotional altars had their own taber-nacles, which quite often doubled as statuebases. Overly large and colorful statuesonly compounded the problem. With theBlessed Sacrament reserved in multipletabernacles, the centrality of the Eucharisticliturgy as a unified act of communal wor-ship became less clear. Since clarity ofChurch teaching on the Eucharist and lit-urgy were key features of the LiturgicalMovement, architecture changed to serveits ends.

Liturgical Principles and ChurchArchitecture

The Liturgical Movement called for clar-ity in representing the centrality of the Eu-charist and the pious participation of themembership of the Mystical Body of Christin the Eucharistic liturgy. At the most basiclevel, architects of the Liturgical Movementwanted to raise the quality of American li-turgical life. By making the liturgical regu-lations of the Sacred Congregation of Ritesmore widely known, they hoped to bringabout consistent practice in order to in-crease the reverence for the Mass and otherdevotions. Their concerns were not merelylegalistic, however. Intimately connectedwith these goals was the desire to increase

the active and pious participation of the la-ity, and architectural changes followed al-most immediately to serve that end.

Maurice Lavanoux lamented in a 1929article in Orate Fratres that American archi-tects and liturgists often failed to veil thetabernacle, ordered low quality churchgoods from catalogues, and designedreredoses that enveloped the tabernacleand thereby failed to make it suitablyprominent.5 Art and historical continuitystill had their place, but now the two pri-mary symbols, the altar and crucifix,would dominate. Lavanoux asked that art-ists treat the altar with proper dignity, notsimply view it as a vehicle for architec-tural virtuosity. He quoted M.S.MacMahons Liturgical Catechism in de-scribing the new arrangement of the altaraccording to liturgical principles. Insteadof the old Victorian pinnacled altar with itsdisproportionately small tabernacle,MacMahon wrote,

the tendency of the modern liturgicalmovement is to concentrate attentionupon the actual altar, to remove the su-perstructure back from the altar or todispense with it altogether, so that thealtar may stand out from it, with itsdominating feature of the Cross, as theplace of Sacrifice and the table of theLords Supper, and that, with its taber-nacle, it may stand out as the throneupon which Christ reigns as King andfrom which He dispenses the bounteouslargesse of Divine grace.

The intention to simplify the altar origi-nated in a desire to emphasize the activeaspect of Mass and clarify the place of the

reserved Eucharist.Advocates of architectural and liturgical

clarity received a new mouthpiece with thepremiere of Liturgical Arts magazine in1931. Its editors wrote that they were lessconcerned with the stimulation of sumptu-ous building thanwith the fostering ofgood taste, of honest craftsmanship [and]of liturgical correctness.6 The resistance tomere sumptuous building and the empha-sis on honesty were means by which the Li-turgical Movement sought to correct the ar-chitectural mistakes of the nineteenth cen-tury while maintaining a design philoso-phy appropriate for church architecture.This call for honesty and simplicity was tobe extraordinarily influential for two rea-sons: first, it was echoed strongly inSacrosanctum Concilium, and second, with achanged meaning it became the leitmotif ofModernist church architects.

Specific architectural changes appearedquickly in new construction and renova-tions. Altars with tall backdrops were re-placed by those with a solid, simple rectan-gular shape and prominent tabernacles.Edwin Ryan included instructions on thedesign of the appropriate altar in the inau-gural issue of Liturgical Arts.7 He asked forliturgical correctness and included animage of two prototypical altars fulfillingliturgical principles. The rectangular slabof the altar remained dominant, and thetabernacle stood freely. Its rounded shapefacilitated the use of the required taber-nacle veil. The crucifix remained dominantand read prominently against a plain back-drop. The tester or baldachino emphasizedthe altar and marked its status. Ryan madeit clear that these suggestions were notmeant to limit the creativity of the architectand that within the requirements of litur-gical correctness and good taste the fullestliberty is of course permissible. A builtexample from the firm of Comes, Perry andMcMullen gave the high altar of St. LukesChurch in St. Paul, MN a figural backdrop.The sculpture group stood behind the altarand not on it, was dominated by the cruci-fix, and contrasted in color with the largetabernacle. Clarification of the place of thealtar and the tabernacle did not necessarilymean a bare sanctuary and absence of or-namental treatment.

Another influential journal, ChurchProperty Administration, provided informa-tion on the liturgical movement and its ar-chitectural effects. With a circulation ofnearly 15,000 in 1951 that included 128bishops, 11,007 churches and 802 architects,the magazine reached a popular audiencebut included numerous articles on architec-ture which evidenced the ideals of the Li-turgical Movement. Michael Chapmanpenned a piece called Liturgical Move-ment in America in 1943 that spoke of li-turgical law, tabernacle veils and rubrics,but his underlying thrust grew out of thecontext of the liturgical movement. ThePrototypical liturgical altar from Liturgical Arts magazine, 1931

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changes at the altar, he claimed, weremeant to direct the attention of our peopleto the inner significance of the Action per-formed at it. The simplification of the al-tar and sanctuary was intended to help thealtar resume its functional significance asthe place of Sacrifice; its very austerityserving to focus the mind and soul uponHim who is there enshrined, rather than onthe shrine itself.8 Chapman also critiquednineteenth century architects for reducingtabernacles to mere cupboards and reiter-ated that liturgical law forbade the none-theless common practice of putting a statueor monstrance atop a tabernacle.

The common abuse of using tabernaclesas stands for statues and altar crucifixes be-came one of the immediate issues to re-solve. This small but significant problemtied directly to the Liturgical Movementsaim to clarify the place of the Eucharist inthe life of the Church. Maurice Lavanouxlamented with a sense of shame that hehad once designed an extra-shallow taber-nacle so that the back could be filled withbrick as an adequate support for a statue.9Altar, tabernacle and statues were meant tobe brought into a harmonious wholethrough placement, treatment, and num-ber. The various parts would amplify thetrue hierarchy of importance without di-minishing the rightful place of any indi-vidual component of Christian worship orpiety. One author in Church Property Ad-ministration titled his article Eliminate Dis-tractions in Church Interiors, and sug-gested that all things which distract atten-

tiveness and reduce the powerof concentration be removedor improved.10 As H.A.Reinhold, one of the pioneers ofthe liturgical movement, put it,liturgical churches would putfirst things first again, secondthings in the second place andperipheral things on the periph-ery.11

In the years leading up to theSecond Vatican Council, muchdiscussion continued concern-ing the appropriate churchbuilding and the kind of designit required. The great majorityof architects and faithful held totheir traditions without fear ofappropriate updating. Whilecertain Modernist architectsbuilt high profile churchprojects, such as Le CorbusiersNotre Dame du Haut (1950-54)and Marcel Breuers St. JohnsAbbey in Minnesota (1961),most church architects avoidedthis type of modernism. Evenin 1948 when Reinhold sug-gested the possibility of semicir-cular naves, priests facing thepeople, chairs instead of pews,and organs near the altar and

not in a loft, he would preserve his moretraditional sense of architectural propriety.Before the Council, a middle road of archi-tectural reform emerged, one that sharedideas with the Liturgical Movement andMediator Dei.12

The Spirit of Mediator DeiIn his 1947 encyclical Mediator Dei, Pius

XII praised the new focus on liturgy. Hetraced the renewed interest to severalBenedictine monasteries and thought it

would greatly benefit the faithful whoformed a compact body with Christ for itshead (5). However, one of the introduc-tory paragraphs explained that the encycli-cal would not only educate those resistantto appropriate change, but also addressoverly exuberant liturgists. Pius wrote:

We observe with considerable anxietyand some misgiving, that elsewhere cer-tain enthusiasts, over-eager in theirsearch for novelty, are straying beyondthe path of sound doctrine and pru-dence. Not seldom, in fact, theyinterlaid their plans and hopes for a re-vival of the sacred liturgy with prin-ciples which compromise this holiest ofcauses in theory or practice, and some-times even taint it with errors touchingCatholic faith and ascetical doctrine(8).Pius was concerned with abuses of litur-

gical creativity, a blurring of the lines be-tween clerics and lay people regarding thenature of the priesthood, and the use of thevernacular without permission. In mattersmore closely related to art and architecture,he warned against the return of the primi-tive table form of the altar, against forbid-ding images of saints, and against cruci-fixes which showed no evidence of Christspassion (62). Mediator Dei offered strongrecommendations for sacred art as well, al-lowing modern art to be given freescope only if it were able to preserve acorrect balance between styles tending nei-ther toward extreme realism nor to exces-sive symbolism(195). He deploredand condemned those works of art, re-cently introduced by some, which seem tobe a distortion and perversion of true artand which at times openly shock Christiantaste, modesty and devotion (195). Je-suit Father John La Farge, chaplain of theLiturgical Arts Society, lost no time in tak-

High altar, St. Lukes Church, St. Paul, Minnesota

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Blessed Sacrament Church and Rectory, Sioux City, Iowa, 1958

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ing the words of Pius XII to the readers ofLiturgical Arts in 1948, even before the offi-cial English language translation was avail-able.13

By the 1950s, the use of contemporarydesign methods had begun to merge withthe liturgical movement and provided anew set of buildings which have receivedlittle notice in the liturgical and art histori-cal journals. With a few notable excep-tions, most architects worked within the re-quests of Mediator Dei while adapting newmaterials and artistic methodologies tochurch design. Despite some argumentsagainst a supposed false and dishonestuse of historical styles like Gothic, archi-tects continued to either build overtly tra-ditional churches or use new idioms whichmaintained a logical continuity with thosethat came before. Architects like EdwardSchulte and others who echoed Pius XIIscall for moderation in liturgical innovationfound few allies in the architectural media.Without much fanfare, they simply contin-ued to design church buildings that servedthe needs of the day.

Schulte, a Cincinnati architect and one-time president of the American Institute ofArchitects, took an approach to church de-sign that truly grew organically from thatwhich came before. His Blessed SacramentChurch in Sioux City, Iowa appeared inChurch Property Administration in 1958 andprovided a dignified and substantial an-swer to the problem presented by the archi-tectural Modernists: how to make a mod-

ern church which es-poused new ideas in litur-gical design.14 The gener-ous openings of the westfacade and the single im-age of Our Lord in theBlessed Sacrament em-bodied noble simplicity asexpressed by the Liturgi-cal Movement withoutsacrificing content or re-sorting to an industrialaesthetic. The interiorpresented a large sanctu-ary with a prominent tab-ernacle, a dominant cruci-fix, all of it at once appro-priately ornamental andwithout distractions. Thelimestone piers supportedvisible truss arches whichfulfilled much of themovements demand forhonesty in construc-tion. The adoring angelspainted on the ceiling ap-propriately enriched thechurch in a style whichcopied no past age.Schulte satisfied the de-mand to focus attentionon the high altar by plac-ing his one side altar out-

side the south arcade. Most strikingly, heplaced the choir behind the high altar, sat-isfying the requests of those such asReinhold and others to restore what manyliturgical scholars believed to be an ancient

arrangement.Another novel yet historically continu-

ous approach to the Liturgical Movementproduced the Church of the Holy Trinity inGary, Indiana. Published in 1959, it used astyle called modern classic but partookof the ideas generated by the LiturgicalMovement. Architect J. Ellsworth Pottergave the exterior a campanile, porticoedentrance, and a dignified ecclesiastical airgrowing from continuity of conventionalecclesiastical typology. The plan proved adeparture, however, turning the nave 90degrees and putting the sanctuary againstthe long end. This arrangement gave all ofthe congregation direct sight lines to thesanctuarys prominent tabernacle andforceful imagery. By providing seating for432 with only 12 rows of pews, the churchbrought the congregation of Holy Trinitycloser to the main altar.15 Fulfilling the Li-turgical Movements requests for an in-creased prominence for Baptism, the bap-tistery was a substantial chapel-like room.Instead of competing with the high altar,another special shrine was pulled out fromthe main nave and given its own smallchapel. The desires of the Liturgical Move-ment were incorporated within a churchwhich otherwise maintained a recogniz-able architectural continuity with olderchurches. It grew organically from thosethat came before.

In one other example, an article entitledDignified Contemporary Church Archi-tecture appeared in Church Property Ad-ministration in 1956 and presented theChurch of St. Therese in Garfield Heights,

Interior of Blessed Sacrament Church, Sioux City, Iowa

Holy Trinity Church, Gary, Indiana, 1959

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Ohio.16 Designed by Robert T. Miller ofCleveland, the building used a palette re-calling his early days as a designer of in-dustrial buildings but nonetheless main-tained a sense of Catholic purpose. Thevery large church seated 1,000 people, us-ing materials of steel, concrete block, andbrick. Despite the incorporation of indus-trial building methods, the architect wascontent to let the modern materials be ameans rather than an end. The tall campa-nile proved visible for miles and the westfront of the building offered a grand entry.A well-proportioned Carrara marble statueof St. Therese in a field of blue mosaic withgold crosses and roses was surrounded byan ornamental screen inset with Theresiansymbolism. A dramatic three-story facetedglass window with abstracted figural im-agery gave the baptistery a grandeur it de-served. The sanctuary received dramaticnatural lighting over the high altar and itsprominent tabernacle. Images of Josephand the Virgin form part of the scene, butwithout altars of their own. The symbol-ism in the aluminum baldachino joinedwith the precious materials of the altar toestablish its proper status. The altar car-ried the simple but essential messageSanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Modern ma-terials came together with a decorous ar-rangement of parts to form a dignified con-temporary church.

These churches were built in the spiritof Mediator Dei. They eschewed the claimsof some for unusual shapes, banishment ofornament, and the use of exposed indus-trial materials. Despite the prevailing no-tion that the post-war United States sawnothing but modernist architecture, in 1954three traditional churches were beingbuilt for every one modern church.17Ironically, Modernist architect-heroes dis-proportionately found their way into thesecular press, impressed other architectsand persuaded building committees. Nomatter how clearly the traditional archi-tects adopted features of the LiturgicalMovement, they could not compete withthe excitement of the stylistic avant-garde.The Modernist critique of traditional archi-tecture reached all levels, from educationalinstitutions to popular culture to chanceryoffices.

While leading architectural journalspraised the latest concrete designs, WilliamBusch, a liturgical pioneer and collaboratorwith Virgil Michel in the Liturgical Move-ment, asked readers to understand the truenature of a church building. In 1955 hepenned an article entitled Secularism inChurch Architecture, discussing the termcontemporary and its associations withmodern secular buildings. Secularism inchurch architecture, he feared, would leadto buildings which would lack the archi-tectural expression which is proper to achurch as a House of God and a place of di-vine worship.18 Furthermore, he denied

claims of some architectural modernists bywriting:

A church edifice is not simply a placefor the convenient exercise of prayerand instruction and for the enactment ofthe liturgy. The church edifice itself is apart of the liturgy, a sacred thing, madeholy by a divine presence through sol-emn consecration: it is a sacramental ob-ject, an outward sign of invisible spiri-tual reality.19The concept of the church building as a

skin for liturgical action, as would bepresented later in documents like Environ-ment and Art in Catholic Worship (BCL,1978), was absolutely proscribed. In fact,Busch criticized architect Pietro Belluschi,who would become one of the major forcesin American church architecture, for seeinga church as a meeting house for people.He asked instead:

Where is the thought of church architec-ture as addressed to God? And where isthe thought of Gods address to man inhallowing grace? Are we to imaginemodern society as in an attitude of moreor less agnostic and emotional subjectiv-ism, and unconcerned about objectivetruth and the data of divine revelation?20H.A. Reinhold, a prominent voice of the

Liturgical Movement, also urged modera-tion. He asked that architects neither can-onize nor condemn any of the historicstyles, rather, appreciate all of thesestyles of architecture, each for its ownvalue.21 Although he spoke of full par-ticipation of the congregation he cau-tioned against centralized altars.

Other writers and architects had differ-ent ideas, and many church architects whoignored Mediator Dei often received consid-erable notoriety. Articles in Liturgical Arts

became more and more clearly alignedwith a progressive notion of liturgical re-form at the same time that architecturalmodernism under architects like LeCorbusier and Pietro Belluschi were takinghold. Even before the arrival of the SecondVatican Council, Liturgical Arts was dis-cussing abstract art for churches, present-ing images of blank sanctuaries, and en-couraging Mass facing the people.22 Mod-ernist architects and liturgists who privi-leged what Pius XII called exterior par-ticipation in reaction to the individualismof the previous decades held the majorityopinions and established the normativeprinciples of new church architecture.23

The language of the Liturgical Move-ment found its way into the documents ofVatican II and remains relatively un-changed despite the variety of architecturalresponses that claim to grow from it.Phrases such as noble simplicity and ac-tive participation were formative conceptsin pre-Conciliar design which nonethelessallowed for a traditional architecture, onesuitably elaborate yet clear in its aims. Incontrast to the conceptions of post-Con-ciliar architecture promoted by architec-tural innovators, the 1940s and 1950s pro-vide contextual clues for the architecture ofthe Liturgical Movement. It is reasonableto ask whether the writers of SacrosanctumConcilium had the larger history of the litur-gical movement in mind when they calledfor noble beauty rather than mere extrava-gance (SC, 124).

Similarly, in understanding Vatican IIsstatement giving art of our owndaysfree scope in the Church (SC, 123),it can be remembered that Pius XI (reigned1922-39) had chastised certain modern art-ists for deviating from appropriate art even

Interior of St. Mary and St. Louis Priory Chapel, St. Louis, Missouri, by Hellmuth,Obata and Kassabaum. Featured in Liturgical Arts, November, 1962

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Dr. Denis McNamara is an ArchitecturalHistorian and the Assistant Director of the Li-turgical Institute at the University of SaintMary of the Lake in Chicago.

NOTES1 Basil Stegmann, O.S.B., Why A Liturgical

Movement?, Orate Fratres 2 (27 November1927): 6-10.

2 Stegmann, 6.3 For a thorough explanation of the priorities

of the early Liturgical Movement, see SergeKeleher, Whatever Happened to the LiturgicalMovement? A View from the East, in StratfordCaldecott, ed., Beyond the Prosaic (Edinburgh:T&T Clark, 1998), 69-96.

4 Jesuit father Keith Pecklers has aptlyelucidated the Liturgical Movements history ina recent book. See The Unread Vision: The

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Altar, Church of St. Therese

Church of St. Therese, Garfield Heights, Ohio,1956

as he argued that the Church had alwaysopened to door to progressguided by ge-nius and faith.24 Moreover, the verywords of Pius XIIs Mediator Dei which readmodern art should be given freescope in the due and reverent serviceof the church found their way intoSacrosanctum Concilium. The propercontext for this free scope comes inrelation to Pius other exhortationsfrom Mediator Dei: preservation ofimages of saints and the representa-tion of the wounds of Christ on thecrucifix (62), the priority given tointerior elements of divine worship(24), the encouragement ofextraliturgical devotions (29-32),the warning against seeing ancientliturgical norms as more worthythan those developed subsequently(61) and the prohibition of the tableform of the altar (62). Mediator Deiappeared only 12 years before plansfor the Council were announced, yetalmost immediately after the Coun-cil, architects and liturgists were de-fying its requests. Even Paul VI cri-tiqued artists for abandoning theChurch, and for expressing certainthings that offend us who have beenentrusted with the guardianship ofthe human race. While he askedartists to be sincere and daring, healso said to them:

One does not know what you aresaying. Frequently you your-selves do not know, and the lan-guage of Babel, of confusion, isthe result. Then where is art?25Paul VI asked of artists the same

thing that the Liturgical Movementasked of architects: clarity and lackof confusion. In spite of great effortsto the contrary, architectural and li-turgical disorientation has character-ized the period since the Council,and many search for ways to reestab-lish that clarity. Understanding thespirit of Mediator Dei and its result-ant architecture may prove very use-ful.

That the artistic recommenda-tions of Vatican II grew so directlyout of the context of the LiturgicalMovement and the recommenda-tions of Mediator Dei gives credenceto the idea that some of what came beforeVatican II might provide insight into un-derstanding what the Council fathers in-tended. The liturgical architecture of thedecades before the Council need not be ig-nored or seen as outdated relics of a pastage. In fact, forty-five years later, pre-Con-ciliar church architecture inspired by theLiturgical Movement might yield signifi-cant clues for proper implementation of therenewal.

Liturgical Movement in the United States ofAmerica 1926-1955 (Collegeville, MN: LiturgicalPress, 1998.)

5 Maurice Lavanoux, An ArchitectsDilemma, Orate Fratres 3 (14 July 1929),278-279.

6 Editorial, Liturgical Arts 1 (Fall 1931).7 Edwin Ryan, D.D., The Liturgical

Construction of the Altar, Liturgical Arts 1(Fall 1931), 29-33.

8 Michael Andrew Chapman, LiturgicalMovement in America, Church PropertyAdministration 7 (Second Quarter, 1943), 7.

9 Lavanoux, 280.10 Charles J. Johnson, Eliminate

Distractions in Church Interiors, ChurchProperty Administration 10 (January-February 1946), 11-13.

11 H.A. Reinhold, The LiturgicalChurch, Church Property Administration 4(June-July 1941), 8.

12 Reinhold, 8.13 John LaFarge, S.J., Editorials,

Liturgical Arts 16 (February 1948), 39-40.14 Church, Rectory and Convent for

Iowa Parish, Church Property Administration22 (March-April 1958), 56-59. For anotherexamples of Schultes work see Church ofChrist the King in Dallas, Church PropertyAdministration 20 (May-June 1956), 48-51,162.

15 Holy Trinity Church in GaryIndianaCloser Proximity of Congregationto Altar, Church Property Administration 23(July-August 1959), 53.

16 Dignified Contemporary ChurchArchitecture, Church Property Administra-tion 25 (May-June 1961), 60-67, 199.

17 William Busch, Secularism in ChurchArchitecture, Church Property Administra-tion 19 (November-December 1955), 33.

18 Busch, 31.19 Busch, 32.20 Busch, 33.21 H. A. Reinhold, Speaking of

Liturgical Architecture, Church PropertyAdministration 18 (September-October 1954),27.

22 See Liturgical Arts: Theodore Brenson,Abstract Art and Christianity, May 1954;Peter F. Anson, Mass Facing the People,November 1955; Roman J. Verostko,Abstract Art and the Liturgy, August1962. The August 1962 issue also illustratedmodernist churches including a brick andsteel box by Murray-Jones-Murrayarchitects at Sts. Peter and Paul Church inTulsa, OK, with abstracted art and liturgical

design by Frank Kacmarcik.23 Pius XII wrote in Mediator Dei of interio

sacred architecture issue 4 2000

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