Cannot unsee the beauty of Catholicism

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Your original post is full of innuendo about the old liturgy exemplifying that beauty, not to mention about modern churches being « drab ».

It does sound to me like a veiled criticism of the reformed liturgy and modern architecture and architectural reality. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Where I live, many of those beautiful old churches are being shut, and if unable to be repurposed, demolished for the reasons Jim mentions: to expensive to heat in our harsh winters, too expensive to maintain.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The old cathedral style churches were beautiful, but not practical, especially in today’s world.
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Same arguments are leveled agains Catholicism, Christianity, religion and … you fill in the rest.
 
Not the same at all.

We’re talking about buildings, not religion itself.

Jim
 
Is it even possible to ramp up the Churches? Remodeling and ornaments cost a lot of money. Personally I find the Church intellectually beautiful and that’s what keeps me despite the more imperfect exterior, aside from my faith of course. I’m a bit skeptical that beauty wil convince people to accept the hard truths that Catholicism has.
 
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That is a fine church. Now, if only the apparitions of Our Lady of Akita were better known.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The old cathedral style churches were beautiful, but not practical, especially in today’s world.

Wheelchair bound people still can’t get into the church at my old parish, because the elevator is constantly out of order, or there isn’t anyone around who has the key to unlock it.

The parish in my new town, didn’t have an elevator or ramp, so because my son has cerebral palsy, we joined the parish in the abutting town, as it had a ramp. That was over 35 years ago. The parish finally built a ramp, but it was expensive and really doesn’t look good outside of the church.

Also, heating the old cathedral style churches took enough oil to heat a neighborhood of houses. So much for cutting on fossil fuel, and the electricity bills were horrendous.

I’ve visited new churches built in the last 25 years and they are beautiful, practical and comfortable.

Jim
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Yes, old churches are not easy to retrofit for wheelchair access. However, it can happen. Our Cathedral was built in the 1800s and has wheelchair access for mass (it doesn’t really have wheelchair access for the meeting rooms - but they are rarely used).

As far as heating & AC, many new churches take almost the same amount of energy because they still have vastly high ceilings. However, they may or may not be better insulated though.

My point, there are plenty of new Churches that have been built in the old style but work for today’s modern world. For example:
BTW - the elevator issue at your old parish really just sounds like poor management.
 
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ontheway1 said:
So, the Catholic Church, universal by nature and definition as it always has been, did not become 'truly universal", as you put it, until it became sensitve to other cultures, about 60 years ago?
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there is no fight here. If you feel the old way is more beautiful that is OK as an opinion but not as a fact. That is all anyone is saying.

The church has always been sensitive to other cultures. It’s not a new thing.
 
Not directed at you in particular or your comment, but here is something I came upon in the National Catholic Register. A quote from an exorcist about beauty and the devil:

“Satan is always attacking us through our senses,” he said. “So the liturgy itself needs to be a holy assault on our senses: our sight, our touch, our smells and hearing. We have prayed as a Church with all these sensual things, because she learned through millennia that this is what repels the enemy.”
“We are moved by beauty,” he said. “It stirs our souls—beautiful music, beautiful prayers, flowers, beautiful tones… the devil hates everything beautiful and the bells are specifically used to draw attention to the divine worship of God.”
 
The OP might like this page with vatican links to 3d tours of the major roman basilicas.

Sacred Architecture

Unfortunately, google is dropping flash support very soon and these wont work.
 
I have visited a few recently and liked what I saw. There are plenty of beautiful churches in America as well. Some of them are modern. It is not about their age.
 
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