Thanks for the articles, Brendan! Stroik is one of my favorite architects. I’m glad you enjoyed my posts.
I like a lot of the classical/traditional work being done at the moment, by Stroik and such. Some of it doesn’t quite go as far as I would like (one can ‘push the envelope’ in Classicism as much as one can in modernism–look at Borromini, the real one, not myself, and Gaudi for example), but I think this is a time to go out and build ‘canonical’ and ‘correct’ churches, like the immediate post-Tridentine period which gave us the Gesu, the real yardstick for church building of the next couple of centuries. Once we have the standards of iconography back (and also once the public realizes that traditional design does not always mean dropping St. Patrick’s in the middle of LA–though dropping it elsewhere would be appropriate sometimes, depending on the setting), we’ll be able to advance a bit more surely in the organic development of Church design. Note I say organic–this doesn’t mean the crazy outside interventions that crop up so much.
The reason I say this, I concern myself with development, is that some of the recent criticisms and replies about the Ave Maria chapel have claimed it as an authentic outgrowth of church design. I don’t think it is: the application of Gothic motives is a little bit naive, and it resembles more an 18th-century neo-Gothic warehouse than a church. Plus, living in Fla, with high winds and hurricanes and heat…yuck. Sure, they can cool it, but think of the bills! When you can make it easier to cut maintenence costs with an energy-friendly design (as are most tradionally-built churches), do it. Also, it’s hardly Frank Lloyd Wright-ish as many have claimed (and even if it were, given Wright’s rather human-based church design at Unity Temple, I’d be a bit worried about the iconographic implications).
Organic development is good, but we need to look long and hard into the past before we push too far ahead. Traditional architecture is not ‘revivalist’ but seeks to use the past in a living sense rather than simply slapping on columns thoughtlessly.
I think, with Catholicism becoming truly international, the interlacing of native and indigenous motifs with a more canonical and classical or traditional background could truly be striking–that sort of interplay and interbreeding in the New World brought out the wonderful Mission style, for example. Can you imagine a Nigerian-inspired baroque church? Or a Polynesian Gothic chapel? Wow. That’d be something. The exchange has to be real, and studied: it’s not just slapping an indian horse blanket onto an altar and saying hey, aren’t we multicultural! (On the other hand, a fiddleback Roman chausible worked with, say, Zuni pueblo motifs in silk and gold would be very striking…)
Regarding Julia Morgan, incidentally, as a fantasy cathedral builder: check out this prospective design for Oakland Cathedral by a Notre Dame student (yup, I’m at ND too, but haven;t done anything this cool…yet). Here it is, Christ the Light Cathedral by Domiane Forte:
nd.edu/~jforte/east_elevation.htm
Also, regarding parish shopping: some dioceses have abolished parish boundaries and have personal parishes instead. Ideally (and probably legally speaking) you should stick to your home parish geographically, but, well, these are difficult times. (I guess it comes down whether to stick around and try and improve it or just jump ship…)
Matt Alderman, aka Borromini
holywhapping.blogspot.com
Could you tell the others who are close and visit where it is at? I checked all the tapestries on the site and clicked the window for closer view. None of them listed Luther. Each one has the names of the individuals depicted on the tapestry itself. He’s not on those. Is it a picture of him somewhere else?
